Eating and the food of Taipei

Taiwan’s social history can be tasted in its food, and its cuisine is a grand mix of Asian traditions. The Japanese period brought with it a love for sashimi, wasabi and other Japanese flavours. The huge variety of tofu is a culinary testament to the people who fled the communists from every corner of China and brought with them their own local specialities. And from the more distant past there are influences from the original Chinese settlers, the aboriginals, the Polynesians.

But because there are so many different styles, ingredients and traditions all mixed together, Taiwanese food is slightly lacking in character. It is neither sweet nor sour, savoury nor spicy, and at the cheaper end of the scale, the dominant flavour is MSG.

But don't be disheartened! There are still many Taiwanese classics which will leave you with both a sense of satisfaction and a craving for more.

Click the links below to find out more about Eating and the food of Taipei

• Street food
• Buffets for vegetarians and meat lovers!
• Eating at Restaurants

Taipei Eating: Street food

Probably the first kind of food you will encounter is street food. Like any south-east Asian country there is a huge variety, vegetables, meat, seafood, fish and sweets of every kind can be bought on the roads and alleys of Taipei. One of the best things about street food is you get what you see, and you don't need any Chinese to order it. Just point and pay! Here are a few things to look out for.

A firm although slightly pricy (100NT/$3+) favourite is the grilled squid(烤魷魚) served with a variety of different seasonings. You can also find deep fried squid, but its generally flavoured with MSG, ruining the taste somewhat.

A healthier treat on the street is chopped guava(芭樂) seasoned with plum and sugar. You'll see a small wagon with green pear like fruits. Inside guavas are a delicious pink, crunchy but not too crunchy, slightly sweet, slightly sour, and absolutely delicious.

The ubiquitous sausage(香腸) (25NT/80c+) are also worth a try, but remember to have them with a clove of raw garlic for the truly Taiwanese experience.

A guaranteed foreigner's favourite is the danbing(蛋餅) (25NT/80c+). An omelette pancake that is filling and cheap for a filling snack on the go. I have never met anyone who doesn’t like these.

Places to easily find street food
Although street food is everywhere, you might have not have time to experience the full range of specialiaties on offer. The best place to experience a lot of different kinds street food is at Longshan night market. They have everything imaginable, the price is reasonable and most importantly, the locals love it too!

Shilin nightmarket is another good place to go for food, but it is definitely very touristy and a little more pricy. They have an excellent selection of weird and exotic fruits like star-fruit and dragon fruit: the bastard child of a strawberry and blackberry. Weirdly delicious, and a little expensive (100NT/$3+ for a portion)!

Taipei Eating: Buffets

Although, there's not that much to say about buffets, they are so wonderful, they deserve their own post.
My first encounter with a buffet was on the bus from the airport to my hostel. I remember looking out of the window and seeing beautifully illuminated buffet restaurants with piles of food. I remember wondering about the dynamics of such a place and how much I could physically eat if I ever went there.

After a little investigation, the dynamics became very clear. There are buffets where you help yourself and you get charged by weight (not your weight thank god!) and there are buffets where you get served and pay by dish. Where you help yourself, you just help yourself. When you pay at the end, and they assume you want rice and charge between 5-10NT. If you don’t want it, you have to tell them.
In the buffets where they serve you, rice is sometimes free, and you also pay at the end.
Both types have free soup and sometimes tea!

By far, the best meat lover's buffet is the Taipei University Hospital Buffet. For less than 100NT ($3.20) you get fried rice or noodles, soup, tea, and literally a mountain of food selected from about 100 different dishes with meat, fish, vegetables, tofu, anything you can dream of!

I feel sorry for vegetarians, but in Taiwan they can count their lucky stars! There are also vegetarian buffets where they have such convincingly real looking vegetarian food, you will be sceptical just by looking. But if you look around you will probably see a couple of buddhist monks enjoying the food, so even though it might look like, taste like and smell like meat, it isn't!
I visited three vegetarian places. One near the Taipei Main station (as recommended by lonely planet), one near Shandao Temple MRT, which is a little cheaper, and just as tasty. I also went to one on Heping Lou. The one on Heping Lou (Near Shida) is a total rip off for foreigners and I would not recommend it.

Taipei Eating: restaurants

Taipei has a huge number of restaurants. Noodle places can cost from as little as 40NT/$1.30 and up, and with a side dish of vegetables for 20NT+ $0.75, it easily becomes a full meal.
The best area in central Taipei in terms of affordability, quality and variety is between the main train station and the 2/28 Peace Park(二二八和平公園) eat like a king for under $5 dollars!

Noodles(麵)
Restaurant food has all the variety of night market food, and of course Beef noodle soup(牛肉麵) is the Taiwanese classic. With tender cubes of beef in a hearty soup, you can't go wrong with this. In fact the huge selection of different noodles makes every noodle dish a rarity. My absolute favourite are the big noodles chopped off a massive block of dough. Often you will see the chef preparing these at the front of the restaurant.

Other classics
I personally love Pork Braised in Soy Sauce(爌肉飯). This often includes rice and a side dish of vegetables too. Finally the thick soups like Dumplings in sour and spicy soup(酸辣湯) are so warming and hearty that you almost get that Christmas feeling from them.
These were my favourites but Taipei has so much more to offer, its worth making the most of your time there, eating as much as you can!

Prawn (shrimp) Fishing

I had heard about prawn fishing before I came to Taipei, and was keen to try it out. Although not located in the centre, there are at least two areas where it is possible. If you're not a vegetarian, then this is the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Taipei.
Fishing for prawns is relaxing, satisfying, exciting, and totally Taiwanese.

Getting there
The easiest way to get to the prawn fishing place is to catch the MRT to Shilin station, take exit one and walk straight down to the main road and catch bus 255 at the bus stops on the right to Waishuangxi Bridge (外雙溪橋). The prawn-fishing place is right next to this stop (it's a long building with a big entrance).
you can also catch the 小18, 小19，市民小巴 from Jiantian MRT station as well as the 棕13 from Dazhi MRT station.

Introduction
When you arrive, don't be too surprised but they don't speak English and they aren’t very helpful, but it’s pretty easy to figure out what you do. You pay 500NT ($18) and get a fishing rod, knife, hook and bait (some liver and dried-shrimps). This is for 2 hours of fun! You pay at the end, so if you go over time, they'll charge you then. Also, if you lose the hook or finish your bait, just ask for me for free.

Step 1: Getting started
Choose a pool and get some chairs and have a seat. You will notice that other people have nets where they put the prawns they have caught. Where we went, they were hanging on the wall, so get a net and tie it to the hooks near the pool and drop it in.

Step 2: Baiting
Although different people say different things, it was clear that the prawns prefer the liver, and me and my friends found out that a combination of dried-shrimp and liver is the best.
If you have sausage fingers this can be fiddly: cut the liver pretty small (no bigger than the size of the largest dried-shrimp) and hook it firmly on to the hook. Then gently put the line and hook into the water.

Step 3: Catching
When you feel a bite, don’t do anything, you should feel a few tugs, and then just gently pull the line with shrimp out of the water. If you pull too hard, or react too quickly, the shrimp might get away. When you have him, don’t be scared of his weird claw-arms (it really doesn’t hurt if he pinches), and unhook his mouth. Then put him in the net that you got earlier, to await his doom.

Step 4: Waiting
The amount of prawns you catch is not so dependent on your skill as a shrimper, but rather on how many of them there are in the pool. You will notice that the owner will periodically restock the pool’s supply by tipping a large crate of live prawns into the water. So sit back, relax and enjoy a beer or two (you can get them from the fridge, and they’ll charge you later) while you gradually catch your next meal.

Step 5: Preparation
When you’re done, hand in your gear in exchange for some skewers and wasabi-soy sauce. You’ll be directed to the grills and a huge pile of salt. This next bit is definitely the hardest part, and its better just get it over with.
Part one is to skewer the (still struggling) catch of the day. You do this by holding it firmly in your left hand by the back, and shoving (for lack of a better word) the skewer under the tail through its abdomen (because I have a better word) and into its head. If you get the head, you will most likely kill it quickly, and it will stop struggling.
Part two is to salt them up. Put them on the salt mountain, turn them around a few times so they’re nicely salted and while you’re doing the others, just leave them in the salt.
Part three is to fire up them grills (you might need assistance) once they’re salted and cook them. The warm light of the fire will calm your nerves and as they turn a delicious red, you will forget what you just did to your dinner.
They should take about 5 minutes to cook, turning them around occasionally.

Step 6: Eating
Head over to the tables with your freshly caught supper, dip them in the sauce and enjoy! The place I went to didn’t offer any other dishes or meals, except instant noodles, so it might be worth bringing your own accompaniments.