Taiwan

Taipei §

Special thanks to Wen for many of these suggestions!

Food §

• San Jiao Bing
  • Small shop serving shaved ice and transitional dessert soups. This was the best dessert I had in Taiwan.
  • Make sure to order the oolong shaved ice.
• Fuhang Soy Milk
  • Very popular traditional breakfast spot that serves soy milk (savory and sweet), Chinese pancake with egg and a bunch of fresh bread items like Chinese donut.
  • Go early ~9am so that things don’t sell out. There is usually a line.
  • I would order both types of soy milk, pancake with egg and sesame bread with donut and egg.
• Wang’s Broth
  • This is the place you get your braised pork over rice and other delicious braised stuff. I would also order a bunch of sides like the veggies and meat soup.
  • Alternative option: # Huang Ji Braised Pork
• 饞食坊
  • Hip taiwanese style izakaya. Really good meat dishes and nice alcohol options. We got the mullet wine.
  • The noodles are really good but spicy.
• Hong Shuijiao Beef Noodle Restaurant*
  • Beef noddle soup, which is a dish you must have in Taiwan.
  • Alternative option: # Liao Jia Beef Noodle Restaurant
• Raohe Night Market
  • Taiwan is known for it’s night markets and this is one of the best ones. Great opportunity to try many dishes like stinky rice, pork rib medicinal soup, black pepper bun and more.
  • Check out this Eater article about it: # Raohe Night Market Is Taipei’s Must-Hit Street Food Destination
  • # 御品元冰火湯圓-台北饒河店 is a storefront there that has amazing tang yuan over ice (sesame balls). Definitely recommend stopping for dessert.
• Din Tai Fung Xinyi Restaurant
  • A must have in Taiwan and not just for the soup dumplings, everything is amazing there.
• Guiji Taipei Nanxi
  • You can get good boba anywhere really but this is a pretty good one if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
  • I got the red oolong milk tea.
• Tian Jin Onion Pancake
  • Street stall selling fluffy scallion pancake with egg!
• 泔 米食堂
  • A sort of hidden place that has a clean tasting, farm to table style set menu. Might need to call in advanced for a reservation.
• Shin Yeh Taiwanese Cuisine
  • Staple restaurant serving traditional taiwanese dishes done well. Definitely get the three cup chicken, radish omelette and almond tofu dessert.
• Cabbage Rice and Pork Rib Soup*
  • “The cabbage rice and pork rib soup is amazing!! The food are so pure and fresh, it’s good for a light meal or getting yourself ready to explore Yangping North Road night market. Since they might not speak English, you can show them this: 「高麗菜飯和排骨湯一份」” - Wen
• 柴寮仔米苔目
  • “This place is a local favorite and known for their rice noodle (dry and soup ones are both good) and their appetizers. Daikon, tofu are delicious but you gotta try some pork like 肝連肉 or 嘴邊肉, somehow taiwan pork is just less smelly and more delicious.” - Wen
• 時寓*
  • Really good beef noodle place!

Coffee Shops §

Taipei has really good coffee and cozy bookstores to relax at! They open late but also close late ;)

• 浮光書店
  • Really nice bookstore to spend some time at. Vibes as good as their warm milk tea. Right next to it is the more serious version with really old-school decoration 北風社.
• PARC CAFE 泊咖啡
  • There are good coffee shops everywhere but if you happen to be in this neighborhood, they have the best latte I’ve tried in Taipei. And you might see their cute husky!
• Halfway Coffee
  • Indie cafe where students go to study. Lots of seating and cozy drinks.
  • Check out the indie comic book store Mangasick nearby.
• boven
  • Very nice magazine bookstore. Staying for the day is a bit pricey but definitely worth taking a peak. Make sure to also check out the famous moom photo bookstore nearby.
• Wisteria Tea House*
• woodensounds & Garnet Cru*
• Simple Kaffa Flagship Store

Tainan §

Tainan is definitely worth doing a trip to via the high speed rail. It’s the food capital of Taiwan and has very cute alleys to explore. It doesn’t have subway but it’s pretty walkable.

Food §

• 無名米糕
  • Little shop in an alley that serves traditional taiwanese/tainanese dishes in small bowls.
  • Get the sticky rice with minced pork and fish floss rice, oyster vermicelli, milkfish belly vermicelli with soup, one of the noddles, nabeyaki egg noodles, boiled vegetables (yam leaves), pan-fried milkfish belly, a soup and some braised items (bean curd and more).
• BĀN TÊ
  • High quality amazing boba spot. I would get the iced hojicha tea with pearls. They don’t make them very sweet so I recommend getting higher than default sweetness.

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* haven’t been myself but recommended by someone I trust!