What to eat in Tainan? — 10+ best food in Tainan & famous food in Tainan

Tainan, also known as phoenix city, is the culinary center of Taiwan, and many of the dishes were rooted in the oldest city. Eat authentic local dishes in this cradle of culinary delights and give your taste buds an unforgettable flavor of Tainan. The memories of food can never be fully described in words, as they have to be recorded with your taste buds every time you try the food. So, what to eat in Tainan (Tainan what to eat) and where to eat in Tainan? Let’s check our suggested 10+ must-try, best food in Tainan and famous food in Tainan (Tainan famous food) as follows!

So, let’s begin an amazing food tour at the place where Taiwanese food culture originated. If you still do not know what to eat in Tainan, 10 delicious Tainan delicacies are mentioned below.

Beef Soup (Tainan’s classic flavor) (#what to eat in tainan)

Location: Wen Zhang Beef Soup
Address: No. 590, Anping Road, Anping District, Anping, Tainan, Taiwan
Phone: +886 6 228 4626

Beef soup is the most famous Tainan delicacy served with soy sauce and raw ginger, but do not ignore its simple cooking, clear broth, and very thin beef slices. Beef ribs, onions, and cabbage are cooked slowly overnight to make a perfect broth. Especially, with the rich and fragrant flavor, visitors are surprised by this beef soup from the Tainan specialty.

Having beef soup for breakfast gives your body much-needed protein and you’ll be brimming with energy and vitality for the rest of the day. This food is considered a traditional breakfast of older generations at the most famous stalls open from 4:00 am to 6:00 am.

Price: 120 to 150 NTD (3.93 to 4.91 USD).

Milkfish Porridge (an authentic Tainan flavor from a local farm) (#tainan famous food)

Location: Yongtong
Address: No. 60, Minquan Road, Xuejia District, Xuejia, Tainan City, Taiwan
Phone: +886 6 7839308
Opening hours: Mondays to Sundays, 05:20 to 13:30, 15:30 to 20:30

Milkfish is a typical Tainan ingredient, which was distributed by locals and can be cooked into many different Tainan delicacies. So, when visiting the hometown of Tainan milkfish, don’t miss the freshness of milkfish, which goes well with any cooking method.

A famous milkfish place in Tainan that you can try is Yongtong milkfish porridge. This place only serves soup cooked with the freshest milkfish meat, sourced from the locality so that the change uses fresh fish, meat, and fish soup is sweet and delicious without any fishy taste by riding a fine line between salty and sweet. The shop also serves delicious chewy milkfish cakes.

Price: 50 to 90 NTD (1.64 to 2.95 USD).

Steamed Rice Cake (#famous food in tainan)

Location: Xi Gang Ah-Liang Bowl Rice Cakes
Address: No. 326, Zhongshan Road, Xigang District, Tainan City, Taiwan
Phone: +886 6 7952163
Opening hours: Mondays to Sundays 06:00 am to 11:00 am, Wednesdays: closed

Referring to Tainan delicacies, rice cake with ignorance is a mistake. While bowl rice cake in Northern Taiwan is white, in the south, it has the color of soy sauce. If you ask anyone which store has the best “bowl rice cakes”, everyone will tell you Mr. Huang Liang “Wan Guo Liang Zai”. Bowl rice cakes in Taiwan have more than 30 years of history and it has remained so popular because of their unique taste, delicious texture, and a combination of soft and hard ingredients. Moreover, The store is also known for its pig leg peanut soup, which has a sweet and delicious taste. If you take your time at this place, you must try both!

Price: 60 to 80 NTD (1.97 to 2.63 USD).

Migao Rice Cake (#best food in tainan)

Location: Wuming Mi Gao (“No name” Mi Gao)
Address: No. 5, Lane 8, Zhongshan Road, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan 700

Migao is a type of glutinous rice cake and is the top choice of the older generations for a traditional Tainan delicacy. Thin slices of braised pork belly and a generous sprinkling of pork floss (pork that’s been simmered until it breaks into strands, then thoroughly dried in a wok) on the top of soft rice cake. This Tainan delicacy is often eaten with sweet potato leaf soup, historically a peasant food. Nowadays, apart from potato leaf soup, soups with dark green vegetables such as broccoli with a mildly bitter taste are often used to accompany them.

Price: 50 to 80 NTD (1.64 to 2.63 USD).

Danzai Noodles (A traditional Tainan delicacy from the early days) (#tainan what to eat)

Location: Danzai Du Hsiao Yueh
Address: No. 216, Sec. 2, Minzu Road, West Central District, West Central District, Tainan 700 Taiwan

Danzai noodles are a Tainan specialty with a long tradition, which brings back memories of Tainan’s noodle stalls in the early days. Translated as “peddler’s pole noodles,” the dish was invented in 1895 by Hung Yu-tou, a fisherman who sold it from buckets strung on a bamboo pole.

Danzai noodles have simple ingredients. Cooked noodles are combined with bean sprouts, coriander, minced garlic, and minced pork. The meat sauce is simmered for a long time, served with delicious chewy noodles and shrimp meat, bringing an indulgent flavor to both tourists and locals. It is a snack rooted in the history of the ancient capital, recalling the hard times when the fisherman of Tainan had to come up with creative ways of earning money during the off-season.

Price: 70 to 100 NTD (2.30 to 3.28 USD).

Eel Noodles (#what to eat in tainan)

Location: A Jiang Stir-Fried Eel Yi Noodles
Address: No. 89, Section 3, Minzu Road, West Central District, West Central District, Tainan 700 Taiwan

Location: Da’an Eel Noodles
Address: No. 45, Shida Road, Daan District, Da’an, Taipei, Taiwan

A delicious Tainan food, just a few people know, and that is highly recommended by the locals, are eel noodles. Most vendors use farm-raised eels with only the freshest eel and prepare them with the utmost care so that there are no bones or fishy taste remains.

There are two types: dry-fried eel noodles and eel noodle thick soup, depending on the vendor. You can choose between rice noodles, egg noodles, or wheat noodles. These are cooked and stir-fried separately to have a crisp outer layer and flavored with black vinegar and soy sauce before being whipped up with a clump of oil noodles in broth with wood ear mushrooms. Be it the chewy texture from dry-frying, Tainan’s eel noodles will surely satisfy you.

With eel noodles, it’s all about the eel. The chewy eel and handmade noodles have an enjoyable salty taste. A bowl of delicious eel noodles depends on the texture of the eel and the cooking temperature. With the refreshing mouthfeel in thickening the sauce, large noodles made from eggs, and chewy, sweet eel meat, a bowl of hot eel noodles is sure to become a highlight of your Tainan trip.

Price: 120 to 160 NTD (3.94 to 5.25 USD).

Tainan Grilled Sweet Potato

You will find many vendors on the roads/streets for another Tainan specialty grilled sweet potato. You must try grilled sweet potatoes in trays and baskets with the fragrant yellow potatoes.

Peeling off the crispy potato skin, they are the sweet potato molasses flowed out, looking extremely delicious. The prices are calculated by weight and affordable. Therefore, if you are wondering what to eat in Tainan to save money, try this food.

Price: 10 to 20 NTD (0.33 to 0.66 USD).

Braised Pork Rice (#tainan what to eat)

Address: Zhu Jiao Fan Restaurant, Nanmen Road

A dish that is a bit heavy on the stomach, but is also a Tainan specialty that you should not miss is braised pork rice. This is also a family food, which is found in long-historically traditional restaurants in Tainan.

The pork is very tender and juicy, and the fat just melts to the bottom of your rice bowl. By the time you finish all the meat, the rice has soaked up all the savory juices. This food is usually served with hot steamed white rice, grilled pork ribs with pickles, stewed bamboo shoots, and more. To avoid getting bored while eating, try ordering more vegetables or a light bowl of soup with tofu.

Price: 50 NTD (1.64 USD).

Zongzi (#what to eat in tainan)

Location: Liujia Zongzi Specialty Store
Address: No. 439, Section 2, Ximen Road, West Central District, Tainan 700 Taiwan

Location: Zai Fa Hao Zongzi
Address: No. 145, Chongming Road, East District, Tainan, Taiwan
Phone: +886 06 2223577

Location: Yuan Huan Ding Cai Zong Rou Zong
Address: No. 40, Fuqian Road, West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan
Phone: +886 6222 0752

Zongzi is a tetrahedral-shaped pocket of sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. Tainan locals take great pride in the difference between their cuisine and that of Taipei. And no dish shows that pride more than Zongzi sticky rice. Northern Zongzi is usually richer with more seasoning, but Tainan Zongzi connoisseurs believe in showing off the natural flavors of the ingredients with this dish.

The rice is lightly seasoned with soy sauces and stir-fried, the pork is marinated and browned, salted egg yolk adds brightness, boiled peanuts bring silkiness, and dried baby shrimp, shallots, and shiitake mushroom with the fragrance of the bamboo leaves create a distinct herbaceous flavor. The perfect texture for Zingzi should be fine, chewy, and moist.

Northern Taiwan Zongzi is steamed, but it is boiled. It’s customary in Tainan to top with sweet peanut powder and a handful of cilantro, then serve with a drizzle of soy paste and sweet chili sauce.

Price: 50 to 80 NTD (1.64 to 2.63 USD).

Yi Mian and Yangchun Noodles (#must eat in tainan)

Although Tainan cuisine is best known for its rich and spicy flavors, Yi Mian and Yangchun noodles differ from others. These 2 Tainan delicacies are two of the favorite Tainan street foods for those who prefer a refined and frugal palate. Yi Mian is a type of yellow noodle made by combining flour and egg yolk. This noodle dish was first produced in Tainan. That is a reason why the locals are enamored with the delicacy of their homeland.

The Yangchun noodle recipe is so simple. Yangchun can be translated as just simple, and the food is just that. Yangchun noodles usually consist of simple noodles with clear broth. Even so, the Yi Mian and Yangchun noodle stalls in Tainan have more than 50 years of their business. Therefore, you can enter any stalls to enjoy these specialties without getting uncertain about the taste.

Price: 60 to 90 NTD (1.97 to 2.96 USD).

Here are the top 10 Tainan delicacies that the locals extremely beloved. Through this post, we would like to introduce the visitors who are planning to prepare a trip to Tainan, Taiwan. Enjoy indulging yourself with all the city, offers from these delicious specialties.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, to and from Tainan you can refer to

• Kaohsiung Airport Transfers (KHH) for Tainan
• Tainan Private Car Charter
• Private Multi-City Car Charter for Taiwan
• THSR One Way Ticket to or from Tainan
• Tainan Classic Attractions Day Tour
• Tainan Historic Sites Pass (Tainan Station Pick Up)
• Double-Decker Sightseeing Tour Bus in Tainan
• [10% Off + 1 Extra Free Day] 4G SIM Card (TW Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan from Chunghwa Telecom
• 4G SIM Card (TPE Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan from Far EasTone Telecom
• 4G WiFi (TW Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan
• [Sale – Taiwan Food Promo] Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Discounted Ticket from Taipei
• Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Consecutive Unlimited Pass (2 or 3 Days)
• Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Discounted Ticket from Taoyuan
• THSR Exclusive Discount One Way Ticket from Taoyuan (Two Tickets for the Price of One)

Are you looking for more Tainan travel guide, best places to visit and top things to do in Tainan: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Let’s check it out at here.