Street Food Survival Guide - Taipei + Jiufen
Taipei and street food are synonymous. You can’t have one without the other. In Taipei, night markets are the pulse of the city, queuing is an art form, and some foods even have a cult-like following. If you’ve never been to Taipei, I have two words of advice: 1) You must go. Just do it. Book a flight now, and thank me later. 2) The food scene could be a little overwhelming at first, but try everything you can. To go ahead and give you a heard start, we will take you through some of the Taipei street food essentials, from market stalls to street corners.
You Tiao + Soy Milk
Let’s start with breakfast. I have never seen a line for a restaurant start in a food court, run to the door, down a flight of stairs, outside the building, and wrap around two corners. Yet that’s the line people were waiting in to eat at Fuhang Soy Milk. The Taiwanese people love to queue and they love their ‘you tiao’ (literally meaning ‘oil stick’) with soy milk. Basically, the you tiao is a mix between a cruller and a churro, deep fried and crispy, and is popularly served either in, or alongside a big bowl of soy milk. Sometimes, the you tiao is even served on a sandwich. Talk about carb overload. Order one of these, and you’ll be too satisfied to worry about your greasy fingers. Don’t forget to order the traditional ‘shao bing’ (baked wheat cake) and a Chinese Omelet, because calories don’t count on vacation, right?
Thankfully, the line at Fuhang moves fairly quick. They are a well-oiled machine in there. However, if you don’t have time to wait, another great option with a similar menu is Sihai Soy Milk. My advice is to get your food to go, and eat at the nice park just down the way.
Fried Sweet Potato Balls
These amazing bite-sized treats can be found at many of the night markets around Taiwan. We tried them at Happy Sweet Potato Balls at the Shilin Night Market. The closest thing I can relate these to would be doughnut holes, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. These can come plain, or sprinkled with powders in a variety of different. These flavors ranged from chocolate and peanut butter to seaweed and pepper. We tried the plumb flavor and found it to be really delicious!
Cheese, Shrimp + Egg Takoyaki
What could be better than bite-sized balls of warm cheese and egg with a shrimp inside? These Cheese, Shrimp and Egg Takoyaki bites are made in a special molded pan to create the perfect shape and size. You can have them as is, or with a variety of sauces on top. The teriyaki sauce really paired with the flavors in the takoyaki. We stumbled across these while at the Shilin Night Market at a stand marked simply in English with “Cheese + Shrimp + Egg.”
Fried Chicken
Picky eaters are in luck, because fried chicken is a very popular dish in Taiwan. Hot-Star Chicken originally started in the Shilin Night Market, and is now a global chain. (Side Note: Shilin Night Market was our favorite of the night markets we visited). Their claim to fame is their Giant Fried Chicken, which lives up to its name. These insanely large pieces of chicken breast are as big as your face, and can be served plain or with a spicy seasoning. If you’re daring, or just really hungry, you can try and take on one of these guys on your own, but it’s more than enough to split between two people.
If giant chicken isn’t your thing, J&G Fried Chicken sells popcorn chicken bites, as well as other fried menu items to nibble on. While their chicken was really tasty, and a manageable size, we were actually really impressed with their fried squid.
Scallion Pancakes
Don’t let the name pancake fool you, these savory pancakes can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Flaky and crispy, scallion pancakes can be eaten by themselves, or with a mixture of toppings such as egg, spinach, ham, cheese and corn. We can vouch that the egg and cheese, as well as the egg, cheese and corn combinations are delicious at Tianjung Chong Zhua Pancake stand. Added bonus, they fold up the pancakes and serve them in a sleeve to make them street food ready. No forks or knives required.
Crispy Milk Doughnut
These doughnuts are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and sprinkled with a little powdered sugar. They’re good all of the time, but if you pass a Crispy Milk Doughnut location and they are fresh and hot, you’ve stuck gold. These doughnuts are similar in taste to a funnel cake. You can find several stands around the city, including locations near Shilin Market and in the Wanhua District.
Gold Puff
Jiufen is a cute town full of winding streets lined with red lanterns, epic views down to the coast, colorful temples, and of course, street food. So essentially, it’s a must-visit destination and luckily it’s only an hour trip by public transit from Taipei. When you’re visiting this gem, do yourself a favor and make sure to stop by Misty Cakes. While all of their pastries looked amazing, the star of the show is the Gold Puff, which is essentially a sweet potato puree stuffed inside of a pastry. The sweet potato tasted like it came straight out of a sweet potato casserole, and the pastry was fresh. They made the gold puff right on the spot, as she filled the pastry with the sweet potato once we ordered it. If sweet potato isn’t your thing, they also make puffs filled with milk cream, milk chocolate cream, taro cream, and even ice cream!
Peanut Ice Cream Roll
Also while in Jiufen, you should stop by A-Zhuto try a peanut ice cream roll. They roll out a spring roll type wrapper, top it with two scoops of taro ice cream and crushed up peanut candy, and roll it up into a burrito. It may sound like an odd combination, but something about the crunchy, dryness of the peanut candy mixed with the creaminess really goes well together!
Bubble Tea
Taiwan is the home of bubble tea, so it would be a huge mistake to miss out on bubble tea where it originated. Bubble tea can be found at stands, convenience stores and restaurants all across the island, so it’s really hard to choose which one to try. Xing Fu Tang had a great variety of flavors, plus they make their stir-fried brown sugar tapioca pearls in house. While in Taipei and Jiufen, we tried the mango, strawberry, and brown sugar milk teas. Out of these, our favorite was the brown sugar milk.
Mango Shaved Ice
While this shaved ice isn’t exactly street food, it still deserves an honorable mention. Taiwan is known for having amazing mango, and the Smoothie House knows how to take mango to a whole other level. They serve a unique type of shaved ice called snowflake ice, which are smoothly carved ribbons of ice. The shaved ice is piled high, and topped with mango sherbet and huge pieces of mango. Their menu also includes many other combinations of fruit sorbet flavors, including a strawberry and mango mix with a scoop of strawberry sorbet.
While Taiwan’s street food scene may not be the best for your waistline, it is worth indulging in while visiting Taipei and Jiufen. You can find a range of sweet to savory, giant to bite-sized treats to fill your belly and your heart with a bit of Taiwanese culture.
