Must eat food in Taipei — Top 23+ best street food in Taipei & best places to eat them

July 7, 2023

The most famous is LATTEA 綠蓋茶館. This shop is famous for its green tea cover cream. This dish is known to young people by the attack of Gongcha in Vietnam. But LATTEA is the father of this tea. The taste and cream of LATTEA in Taiwan is different, followed by the salty cream style, so not bored, nowhere better. There is a small reminder that the taste of tea is pure, so may be slightly bitter (but extremely fragrant), the tea devotees may be love it so much, but maybe you should choose regular sugar and more ice.

Some places have Lattea’s branches

+ The next to the National Taiwan University (3rd floor of the Eslite bookstore),
+ The area of Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Station, behind the back of Uniqlo Building. Address: 106 Chung Hsiao East Road, Daan District, Taipei City Taiwan No. 16, Lane 216, Sec

Sunmerry Bakery

This shop can be found in any street. The cakes here are rich, so aroma, flavor of butter and eggs, soft and eye-catching. The tart cake of shop is delicious too.

Address: No.186, Section 2, Xinyi Rd, Da_an District, Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: +886 2 2392 0224
URL: http://www.sunmerry.com.tw/

Pineapple Cake

If you traveling to Taipei, you should definitely try pineapple cake. The cake crust is soft (although looks quite firm), pineapple jam inside is so fresh, sweet, very tasty. In my opinion, the quality of the famous pineapple cake bakeries in Taipei is the same, a bit of difference, and the price is the same too. At Ximending street or Raohe market there are also some good pineapple cake bakeries too.

Pineapple cake-taiwan4 — Pineapple cake is one of the best gifts you can buy in Taiwan

Some famous brands

Chia Te Bakery
Address: No. 88號, Section 5, Nanjing East Road, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105
Hours: 8AM–9:30PM
Phone: +886 2 8787 8186

Sunny Hills
Address: No. 1號, Alley 4, Lane 36, Section 5, Minsheng East Road, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105
Hours: 10AM–8PM
Phone: +886 2 2760 0508

Taiwan‘s cold chicken

satay-chicken-salad-1200x566 — Picture: best street food in taipei blog.

This dish is like a salad, there are many kinds of vegetables are boiled, mixed with chilled chicken, can add mushrooms, tofu, boiled eggs … Then add spices such as chopped garlic, pepper, and sauces. This dish sell a lot at night markets. These eateries are usually street vendors, small stalls have no name.

taiwan cold chicken — Credit: must eat food in taipei blog.

Some good eateries such as

+ MRT Gongguan, exit 1, on the right hand, next to McDonald’s
+ Shida Night Market (Near Taiwan Pedagogical University), MRT Taipower, Exit 3.

Beefsteak

This beefsteak is more popular than beefsteak in restaurants, it can be found in any night market, served with noodles, eggs and sauces depending on different restaurants. The difference when compared to beefsteak in Vietnam is the thick steak, not marinated, so it retain the characteristic sweetness of beef.

Mango Shaved Ice

Gao Xiong Po Po Shaved Ice — Mango Shaved Ice

The most famous is at Yongkang Street, voted by CNN as the best mango shaved ice cream in Taipei. The cream layer is shaved thinly smoothed, around covered with fresh mango cubes, at the top is a fatty buffet cream. So delicious. The most famous shop in this street is Smoothie House, but it is always crowded so you have to queue up, and now they have opened a branch nearby so you do not have to concern too much.

Mango Shaved Ice Picture: best street food in taipei blog. — Picture: best street food in taipei blog.

Smoothie House
Address: No. 15號, Yongkang Street, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Hours: 10am – 11pm 1F, 12pm – 9pm 2F
Phone: +886 2 2341 8555
Price: 180 TWD and up / 1 big plate to two people to eat.
URL: http://www.smoothiehouse.com
Getting there: MRT Dongmen Exit 5.

SmoothieHouseinYongKangStreet — Smoothie House

Medium grilled beef

A large beef steak will be cut into small cubes and then grilled medium. Serve with 5 options spices (pepper, rosemary salt, lemon or teriyaki sauce or xinjiang turmeric).

beef grilled raohe-night-market2 — Grilled beef at Raohe night market. Credit: must eat food in taipei blog.

Every night market also sells this dish (usually grilled beef vendor will stand next to fried chicken vendor, at any market).

Beef steak dice cooking and flamed on bbq grill oven at Shilin Night Market

Flaky Scallion Pancake

The restaurant is located in front of the restaurant of Vietnam Thanh Ky, there are always many people lined up to buy cake. The cake crispy but tough, salty taste, diners can choose as many taste such as eggs, cheese, ham … as you like.

Tian Jin Flaky Scallion Pancake
Address: No. 1, Ln. 6, Yongkang St., Daan Dist, Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: +886 2 2321 3768
Opening Hours: 9:00am – 10:30 pm Daily
Getting there: MRT Dongmen Exit 5, opposite the mango shaved ice cream shop.

Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle

This dish may be satisfy the most fastidious people with Taiwanese food. Actually I do not know what ingredients is inside, but it is roughly has oyster (thin slices, like rice leaves), thinly noodles, pour treacly soy sauce mixed with coriander, after purchase finished will have a shelves of all kinds of chutneys for your choice. This dish is super famous in Ximending street, passing through where gather a lot of people as the Yuan soldiers, surely there is Ay-chung at there. We come here on a little cold winter day, order each one a bowl of Ay-chung, eat noisily, eat all the mouth and still can not stop because it is too delicious, this is one of the dishes tasting mouth we most. Most of the sales will be take away, so there are no tables and chairs, only a few chairs for the elderly to eat. Medium size (50 TWD) and large size (75 TWD), the cup in the picture is medium size, enough for one person to eat but still full.

Ay Chung Flour Rice Noodle ximending (1) — Large bowl

Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle
Address: No. 8-1號, Emei Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108
Hours: 9AM–11PM
Phone: +886 2 2388 8808
Getting there: Nearest MRT station: Ximen

Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Rice)

This dish may be too familiar to us, because the braised pork rice in Vietnam is also very popular? However, the taste and processing way in Taiwan will be different, the pork can eat in original pieces but often will be shredded and pour fatty pork gravy on top, rice also cook in different way. Not to mention this dish must be served with Taiwanese style pickles, sour, sweet, perfect match with braised pork rice, you can eat a few bowls if without restraint. Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan is one of the most famous restaurants in Taipei, diners queues are quite crowded but you do not worry if have to wait because people to eat here will be standing up after finish rather than sit for so long.

Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan
Address: No. 10, Section 1, Roosevelt Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100 (Near Chang Kai-Chek Memorial Station)
Phone: +886 2 2396 0808
Opening hours: 8 AM-1AM Daily
Price: Small bowl: 30 TWD / Medium (40 TWD) / Big (50 TWD)

Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan Photo: must eat in taipei 2018 blog. — Photo: must eat in taipei blog.

Soy Milk Breakfast

This is a popular traditional breakfast of Taiwanese. At the first sight, you will think that this is a porridge dish served with youtiao (Chinese fried churros, Chinese cruller, Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut) until the shop owner brings out, you will know that is soy milk soup (hot soy milk with salt, onions and served with youtiao). If you have not eaten familiar, the taste is very strange, not sweet, but not salty, slightly oily. But if you eat a few scoops, you will feel quite tasty and aromatic. This type of breakfast is sold everywhere, where you see the smoke up and sells a lot of youtiao, certainly have soy milk, and in addition to soy milk soup, the shops will sell more dumplings, shuijiao…One of the best shops in Taipei is Yong He Soy Milk King 永和豆漿大王 (or Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang).

yonghe soy milk king taipei taiwanese soy milk breafast (20) — Credit: must eat food in taipei blog.

Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang
Address: No. 102號, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Hours: 24 hours/7 days a week
Phone: +886 2 2703 5051
Price range: Under 150 TWD

Grilled Rice Cake (Freshly Grilled Taiwanese Mochi)

Freshly grilled Taiwanese Mochi in Cheese — Photo: must eat in taipei blog.

Rice cakes are baked on the charcoal until you hear the cracking sound. Surely many people have enjoyed a lot of different versions of this cake but believe us, this version of Grilled Mochi Limited Edition is definitely have to try if you go to Taiwan. To add more flavor to the cake, there will be many types of sauces such as sesame sauce, teriyaki sauce, black sugar, etc. … salty or sweet taste all are enough, so you can freely to choose for your taste. Price about 30 TWD/cake, eat about 2 cakes will full, so it will not hurt your wallet.

Okinawa Japanese Grilled Mochi 沖繩日式碳烤麻糬
Address: 49 Er Mei Street, Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan
Hours: 12:00 – 22:00 daily
Getting There: Go to Ximen Station, Exit 6. Go to the Body Shop outlet, the mochi stalls nearby.

Gua Bao (Pork Belly Bun)

Dubbed as Taiwanese Hamburger, Gua Bao is a super famous bun (probably only after bubble milk tea) that if you come to Taiwan, you definitely have to try. The bun is made from a special powder, quite picky to produce a white translucent color, smooth and typical aromatic flavor, look like a hamburger but eaten quite like dumplings. The kernel of bun is varied such as beef, chickens, fish, etc. But the most popular traditional kernel is still the braised pork meat. The price is about 50 TWD/cake. If you want to eat this “hamburger”, do not forget to visit Lan Jia, famous restaurant, sells more than 3,000 Gua Bao per day.

Lan Jia Traditional Taiwanese Snack
Address: No. 3, Alley 8, Lane 316, Section 3, Luosifu Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Hours: 11AM–12AM. Closed on Monday
Phone: +886 2 2368 2060
Getting There: Nearest MRT: Gongguan Station

Shabu Shabu Hot Pot

We do not understand because of traveling in the cold season or hot pot in Taiwan delicious that we super happy after eating this meal. Eating hot pot here each person will be have a pot of broth and a seperate combos of vegetable, meat will often share if go with in large group. Overall very tasty and polite. Our favorite place is cheap, but far away from the center, if you do not want to go far away to eat hot pot, you can eat in the center in some restaurants like Orange Shabu Shabu House, hearsay this is the best place to eat Shabu Shabu hot pot in Taipei, or who enjoy a little bit of spicy, visit the Red99 Mala Spicy Hot Pot.

Shabu Shabu hot pot taipei2 — Credit: must eat food in taipei blog.

Orange Shabu Shabu House
Address: B1, No. 135, Sec. 1, Daan Rd., Daan Dist, Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: +886 2 2776 1658
Hours: 11:30AM–11PM

Red99 Mala Spicy Hot Pot
Address: No.7, Lane 131 Yuanji Street, Da’an District, Taipei 106, Taiwan (near the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall Metro Station, Exit 1).
Phone: +886 2 2772 3938
Taipei City Hall Branch: No.9, Ln. 42, Yixian Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City (near Taipei City Hall Station, Exit 2)

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