Working up an appetite with a morning hike up Jiantan Mountain Park.
So much amazing food. So many fun places to go to eat good food: shopping malls, night markets, little hidden restaurants in office building basements.
We dove right in with Xiolongbao (soup dumplings) at Din Tai Fun, famous for this dish and with many locations around the city.
From our first meal we were captivated. We are so happy to be able to travel in Asia again. Taiwan only opened back up to tourists in October 2022 with no 14 day quarantine required. This is our first trip to Taiwan and yes, we are already talking about when we’ll come back. Hopefully for a bike tour. We mention that to everyone we chat with to get as many tips and recommendations as possible.
Elevenses here means iced coffee for Rich and an iced matcha milk for me. At Cho Cafe in the Wanhua District.
We’re walking and taking transit everywhere we go. Walk, museum, walk, snack. Walk, lunch, walk, bubble tea.
Hot and sour soup, greens, and pork leek dumplings in beef soup.The beef soup was delicious. The dumplings devine. At Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles.The workers were so nice to us at this place. They helped us order and the young man who brought my soup and dumplings asked if I liked spicy. Why yes, I do. He brought me a little dish of something spicy from the condiment bar.Google translate is such a good addition to travel in countries where you don’t speak any of the language, this translates as spicy butter. Yes please.One more photo of the delicious hand cut noodles in Rich’s soup. I failed to get a photo of the chef making these noodles when we walked in, and of course when we left he wasn’t there.
Taipei is justly famous for its night markets. We’ve gotten to four so far, and the mix of food and goods for sale, families, groups of youngsters, bright lights, and divine smells is intoxicating. Ok, I admit that when passing a stinky tofu stand the aroma is a bit overwhelming, but we did try the stinky tofu with lunch one day. Not bad. The taste is milder then the scent.
Even with so many food opportunities at the markets, there are fan favorites. Look for the lines and join in. This line is for Gua bao, or the Taiwanese Hamburger (刈包)Replenishing the bao supply.Rich waiting and watching. The line moves quickly.
四兩刈包-台北創始總店/Si-liang Taiwanese Gua Bao, in the Zhongzheng District was our choice but many places make versions of this.
Here you can see the bao, the peanut powder, and the coriander. There is also pickled mustard greens.The meat, pork belly. Fat, lean, or half and half. We got half and half.The delicious result. Many customers were buying multiple bao and riding off on scooters. We found a small park and sat and enjoyed. Boba tea break!
Taipei is also loaded with tea stands. Bubble tea. With boba. With jelly cubes. With any base tea or fruit juice you could hope for. Green tea, black tea, milk tea. Again, such patience from the staff. It’s nice to be in a place not overwhelmed with tourists. Type of tea, level of sweetness, quantity of ice. Be ready with those decisions.
Taiwan is working to get rid of single use plastics, so all the bubble teas we’ve gotten have been in paper cups, this one welcoming the upcoming lunar new year of the Rabbit. Yes, still plastic straws but we save ours and reuse them. Many customers have their own tea containers and places offer discounts if you bring your own container.
Ok, another night market – this one really at night. And a Saturday night to boot! We expected crowds, and crowds there were. It was a bit overwhelming, but we dove in and immediately got in line for Fuzhou Black Pepper Buns (福州胡椒餅). Don’t let the lines discourage you, they move quickly and the staff have this down to a science.
Rahoe Street Night Market. The line for black pepper pepper buns. The goal. Get those buns in your belly! Yes, those are Michelin notations you see in the sign. We’ve never been to a Michelin starred restaurant, these Michelin noted places are more our style. These buns are cooked in a tandoori style oven, stuck to the edges. Closer photo of the buns, clustered like bats in the oven.And halfway through this very hot, very delicious treat. The sesame encrusted bun did a good job of containing the filling.
Saturday at the night market was crowded. But people here are good with crowds, very collaborative.
If you saw something you wanted, you just pulled over to the side.It was too crowded for this little dude, they got a lift up out of foot zone.
A note on all the masks, Taiwan lifted the outdoor mask mandate December 1st, 2022. Would you have guessed that from our photos? Probably not. People don’t seem all that eager to unmask outside yet. We mostly follow the crowds and mask when we’re in busy areas or in line for food, but when it’s just us walking around we go mask free.
One more fun food to share.
We have so many more photos and experiences to share, but I’m going to wrap up this post with one last food.
What are these little balls on skewers? So many possibilities. Octopus? Sweet potato and cheese? Meat? None of the above. Fried milk. Delicious. Halfway between a custard and ricotta cheese. The perfect end to an evening of snacking.
Eating our way through the markets reminded us of our recent time in the Basque area of Spain, and wandering the towns eating pinxtos. Similar ease of ordering, point and gesture if you don’t speak the language, hand over money, thank you and step away.
The well fed and Happy Travelers in front of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
21 years car free, 11 years serving on transit boards helping SF and Caltrain move forward, and now, traveling the world. Happy doesn’t begin to describe how I feel when traveling with my hubby TravelRich.
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