Taiwanese Food Guide: Must-Eat Taipei Food
Expedia: Asia’s Food Havens – Starter Kit
In this series, Expedia highlights the best food to try in each city, as recommended by locals. Start here to find out the most popular local dishes and the best places you should go to try them.
Must Eat Taipei Food
Must Eat Taipei Food: Oyster Omelette
A hot favourite among Taiwanese street food. Oyster omelette known locally as 蚵仔煎, pronounced “oh-ah-tzen”. Oysters and crispy bok-choi green veges wrapped in a thick tasty omelette. It’s topped with a red sauce that makes all the difference, as each stall has its own secret recipe for this red sauce.
CC 2.0 / Prince Roy
Best Oyster Omelette in Taipei:
Easily found in night food markets across Taiwan. A great market to try is Taipei’s Shilin Night Markets.
Alternatively, wait your turn at Yuan Huan Bian for a local favourite oyster omelette restaurant.
No. 45 Ningxia Rd
Datong District, Taipei
Must-Try in Taipei: Bubble Tea
In Asia, we love love love our bubble tea. If you’re a fan yourself, you’ll love Taipei. Bubble tea is absolutely everywhere! The classics like milk tea are of course something you must try and compare yourself from brand to brand. But here are a few of our favourite bubble tea stores and their signature drinks.
CC 2.0 / Toby Oxborrow
Boba tea (aka bubble tea or pearl tea), are variations of tea with chewy tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup. As you sip your cold desert tea, the little pearls travels up a fat straw along with your flavoured tea, creating an interesting chewy texture.
These days bubble tea, despite the name, is not limited to just tea. You can have fruit flavours, milkshakes, coffee, yakult-mixes and more.
Best Bubble Tea in Taiwan:
It really comes down to personal preference. Some have better frothy finishing to their drinks, whereas others do the fruity flavoured teas much better. Keep your eye out for these 3 top Bubble Tea brands in Taiwan and sip your way through to your own favourite.
Chun Shui Tang (春水堂)
The birthplace of bubble tea. Good for Pearl Milk Tea. If you prefer a café-like environment to sit down and enjoy your tea over a chat, Chun Shui Tang is your place.
50 Lan (50嵐)
Good for tea latte, hazelnut milk tea, black tea macchiato.
Chen San Ding
A local favourite. Signature drink – fresh brown sugar bubble milk. Pearls are made with fresh tapioca. Expect long queues.
Famous Food Street Market in Taipei: Ningxia Night Market (宁夏夜市)
Street markets are all about the little snacks – or xiao chi. Shilin Night Market is Taipei’s largest and most well-known nightmarket, on Danan Road. A smaller one that is more popular for local Taiwanese is the Ningxia Night Market. Head to Ningxia for a more authentic Taiwanese night market experience, with a good selection of food with far less crowds.
CC 2.0/ llee_wu
If you are travelling with young children, the little ones will enjoy the live ‘gaming’ stalls. They can, for example, can catch little fish or play pinball in an open-air arcade style.
Try: Apo Rice ball, oyster omelette, Taiwanese sausage, Liu’s Yam Ball, Tainan savory rice pudding, rice cakes, imagawayaki, sugarcane juice
Ningxia Night Market
Ningxia Road
Datong District
Open 6pm – midnight
Nearest train stations: ShuangLian (雙連) station, ZhongShan (中山) Station and TaiPei Station.
Photos: Various photographers under CC2.0 license, Shutterstock
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