When I think of Taipei or Taiwan, I think of food!
I wish I have stayed longer in Taiwan, and I mean stayed longer like lived there for a few months, then I am able to taste all the local food.
Every major neighbourhood in Taipei has its own night market. But unlike the night markets in cities such as Bangkok and Hong Kong where vendors sell items such as western brand clothing to fake Swiss army knives and Louis Vuitton’s…. in Taipei, these general merchandise goods are eclipsed by the massive street food scene. Everywhere is food! Night markets in Taipei are therefore street food night markets.
Of course, I went gaga and took lots of pictures of the different foods I saw!
As a rule, one must visit the night markets in Taiwan with a hungry stomach. The night market is going to be your dinner place. Perhaps a walking dinner if you like where you will have a starter of something quintessentially Asian whilst getting your bearings, a fried seafood snack. Followed by the main course of a steaming bowl of spicy beef noodles and a plate of side veggies in a sit-down makeshift eatery. Then some hot pork bun to chew on for good measure. If there is still room for dessert, there’s lots of sweet stuff on offer. There’s also plenty of fruit juices and shakes to seal the night market dinner.
Sadly, that is not how my evening went in Raohe St. Night Market. I wish I have a bigger stomach but eating the above will make me end up in a comatose state.
Earlier in the day, I had a lovely afternoon tea ceremony at Shi Yang Cultural Restaurant in the mountains. I drank litres of tea and towards the end of the afternoon, my stomach started feeling funny and airy. So after tea, I decided to stop by in Xinyi District for some Char Siew noodles and Jandui/Buchi at Tim Ho Wan.
After the very late lunch, I went back to my hotel in Ximending to freshen up and rest a bit. Around 20:00 I took the metro to Songshan District. My plan was to just go around Raohe St. Night Market. Explore, enjoy and take a lot of photos and perhaps eat something. I was not that hungry but I cannot leave a night market without tasting at least 1 food item.
This is the problem with having a small stomach. The desire to eat stays in the mind.
In Raohe St. Night Market, I was very surprised to see the wide array of food served. There was so much that I had trouble choosing which one I should try. Ah, a very positive problem indeed.
There were 2 items I wanted to taste, the hairy crab and the minced pork bun, but they had waiting queues. Especially the pork bun that had a very long queue of waiting customers. This food stall makes the pork buns from scratch for everyone to see and they stick the flour buns on the side of a traditional burning oven fired up by charcoal. It’s amazing to see how the product was made.
I was also eyeing the beef noodles, the speciality of Taiwan, but I can’t handle anything heavy such as noodles, meat and hot soup. So I passed and decided to do the beef noodles for tomorrow evening.
So I decided to try the deep-fried crablets and pork belly, mainly because this stall can sell them in small portions. I asked for a small portion of both as I intended to eat them as a snack. I don’t know but I had a fried thing craving that evening, haha. It happens once in a blue moon.
Here is what I ate:
At home here in the Netherlands, I rarely eat deep-fried food as I do not have a deep-fryer nor do I ambition or want to own one. In all honesty, I find deep fryers really gross, but I do not mind eating deep-fried food from time to time, such as going to KFC at least 2-3 times in a year. And of course, when I am travelling to Asia. What a conundrum =)
And oh, I finally tried the very popular, everywhere you see it advertised in Taipei, the fresh bitter melon drink. The bitter melons in Taipei were huge, something I have never seen before. #GMO? Back in the Philippines when I was growing up, we eat bitter melons with scrambled egg for breakfast. So I was a bit hesitant to drink this but was curious enough to try it.
The bitter melon drink verdict? Mwah. There might be health benefits to the bitter melon vegetable but it was nothing special at all. Maybe if a bit of sugar was added, it would have probably made the difference?
More pictures of Raohe St. Night Market below. Hope you enjoy them!
Travel Period: January 2017
Destination: Songshan District (Taipei), Taiwan
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
All pictures were taken by a point and shoot pocket camera or a smartphone.