Taiwan Top 10: Food Spots
TAIWAN TOP 10: BEST FOODS
MY TOP 10 TAIWANESE FOODS
If you’ve ever talked to someone about Taiwan, there’s a 99.9% chance they mentioned the food. As a follow up from my recent post: Taiwan Top 5: Things to Do in Taiwan, I ended up filtering out a lot of really great adventures because they were all… centered around eating.
But now there’s a whole page dedicated to it all: F0000000D.
If you’re unfamiliar with Asian food and food carts, then most of these dishes will probably seem unappealing. Lots of smells, textures, flavors you wouldn’t normally squish together.
Here are some of my must-try foods in Taiwan.
10. FISH BALLS
NIGHT MARKET | SAVORY | SNACK
Fish balls (麻辣魚蛋 ) Let’s ease into the food countdown with something we’re all familiar with: fish balls. Commonly found in udon, oden, and other Asian soup-based dishes, fish balls are a savory snack that is easy to enjoy.
There is no fishy smell, and they are super warm and flavorful. The texture - soft and chewy - might be off putting at first, but it’s definitely something you can get used to.
9. PUFFY TREATS
FOOD STAND | SWEET | SNACK
Puffy treats (雞蛋仔). One of the best eat-and-walk snacks ever created. You can find these treats almost anywhere, but the ones we got were from Jiaoxi.
You can choose from an array of batters, toppings, syrups, etc. and gauge how sweet you want yours. They had some tea-flavored ones as well that were much more muted than, for example, honey.
Personally I recommend anything with condensed milk.. :)
8. POTATO CHEESE
XIMENDING food stand | savory | big snack
Potato cheese A super strange yet surprisingly savory dish. Fried potato hash, ham, egg, corn, and Chinese sausage drenched in… Kraft cheese..? Nacho cheese..? Very orange cheese.
Highly recommended to split between two.
7. taiwanese sausage (on a stick)
PLACE | SAVORY | SNACK
Taiwanese Sausage (台灣香腸7). Probably one of my favorites. Simple yet mouthwatering. Super easy. Choose your sausage base, spice level, and any additional toppings.
We got a couple variations (including the spicy.. which was super spicy), and but my favorite was the original with garlic slices (pictured above). Sorry non-meat eaters. :(
6. YAKULT SLUSHIE
FOOD STAND | SWEET | DRINK
Yakult Slushie I WISH WE HAD THIS IN AMERICA!!! OR JAPAN!!! AHH!!! Everyone’s favorite drink, Yakult, made into slushie form. You know how everyone was raving about Yakult shochu and how it was the best thing ever?
Wrong.
Iced slushie with sweet Yakult flavoring on a sweltering hot day in Taiwan... life really can’t ge better.
5. FRIED CHICKEN
FOOD STAND | SAVORY | BIG SNACK
Taiwanese Fried Chicken (炸雞排): If you’ve ever been to Vivi’s Bubble Tea, you’ll know they have bomb fried chicken.. especially the salt & pepper type. Taiwanese fried chicken is packed with layers of flavor and texture. A highly underrated must-try dish.
4. STINKY TOFU
FOOD STAND | SAVORY | SNACK
Stinky Tofu (烤臭豆腐): If you’ve ever walked through the pits of a Chinese market, you’ll know the jarring scent of stinky tofu. It sneaks through the oils, smoke, and sweat of any crazy market and has a strange lingering smell.
Just like durian eaters - you love it or hate it. Either way it’s definitely worth a try. It doesn’t taste as bad as it smells!
MANGO SHAVED ICE
RESTAURANT | SWEET | DESSERT
Mango Shaved Ice: A big jump from stinky tofu, mango shaved ice at this spot is to die for. They give you a huge (actually, really large) bowl of fluffy and dense shaved ice topped with mango ice cream, drizzled syrup, and chunks.
The mangoes are refreshing and tasty and lack that artificial touch most dessert fruits have. Woop! A two person hitter.
CHILI ICE CREAM
RESTAURANT | SPICY | DESSERT
Chili Ice Cream: You know how there are hot sauce speciality shops in New Orleans, where you walk in and hot sauce samples line the store front to back? This chili ice cream would fit right in, sitting right where all the super-spicy sauces are.
This chili spot in Jiaoxi had chili-infused beer, ice cream, and toppings in varying degrees of spiciness. We decided to try the spiciest ice cream - and holy shit, it was actually spicy. They (spicemasters Zoe and Kai) cried!!
Highly recommend. Asian spice is nothing to mess with.
OYSTER PANCAKE
FOOD STAND | SAVORY | MEAL
Oyster Pancake (蚵仔煎): My absolute favorite dish in Taiwan. Even though it might not appear the most appetizing, it’s definitely tasty. Chunks of oyster mixed with an egg-based (?) batter, this speciality if very similar to Japan’s okonomiyaki.
It comes topped with a red sauce that, surprisingly enough, isn’t spicy! It’s a little sweet and tangy and compliments the oysters well.
10/10 recommend this dish - definitely can’t get something like this at home.
There it is!! My top 10 dishes in Taiwan. Even though I stayed less than a week in Taiwan, I made sure to try as many different foods possible. Everything was so, so yummy - and most things tasted familiar which made it much more enjoyable.
Until next time!