You can eat really well in Taiwan without ever darkening a doorway.
In fact, some of the best food is out in the streets.
Street food is everywhere in Taiwan and it’s delicious and affordable so you can try lots of it.
There’s nothing better than strolling along, like a moveable menu,
and letting your eyes and nose do the choosing for you.
It’s more than likely you’ll spot a food or two you don’t recognize,
which is great because it’s a chance to try something new.
Marc and I have eaten very well in Taiwan and made lots of other videos about foods,
drinks,
and desserts.
Holy Kapowgabonza.
So check out the rest of our Taiwan series for more.
Let’s start with a very traditional and typical Taiwanese dish:
braised pork on rice.
It’s filling and flavourful and we ate a large, which came with fried shallots,
for only 40 Taiwan Dollars, which is around $1.70 CAD.
Ooh it kind of reminds me of something my parents used to make when I was a kid.
Really?
It has just like a really nice almost… I don’t want to say gravy-like sauce but kinda.
We ate this meal on the sidewalk and shared a table with another man.
If you’re eating on a plastic stool, chances are you’re going to eat well.
Like these noodles we got for 60 Taiwan dollars or $2.50 CAD.
Super, super peanut-y.
We got 10 very satisfying dumplings for 50 Taiwan dollars or $2 CAD
and this dinner was the day we did a rainy road trip to Taroko Gorge
right before we had peanut butter ice mochi for dessert.
I’ll link those videos below as well.
We also visited the night market in Hualien,
which included trying a ‘Taiwan hamburger’ for the first time.
You choose what sort of meat, filling, and sauce you want and they make it to order.
We got braised pork, black pepper sauce, honey mustard, cucumbers, onions, and noodles
and it all comes in a steamed bun for 65 Taiwan dollars or about $2.75 CAD.
When we walked by a stand selling banana pancakes at the Hualien night market, we could not resist.
Obviously this isn’t necessarily Taiwanese,
however, it is one of my favourite street foods in the entire world
and eating them outside a train station in Thailand is one of my top food travel memories.
It’s a thin pancake fried on a grill with sweet bananas
and this one was just 50 Taiwan dollars or $2 CAD.
You can get different toppings on it like honey, chocolate, and peanut butter,
but the best is condensed milk.
If you ever get the chance to try this, do it and please have some for me too.
And speaking of top food travel memories, I think I made a new one in Taiwan.
As usual, it was very unexpected.
It was on the beautiful little island of Xiao Liuqiu
where we had an amazing time driving our scooter around
and swimming with sea turtles.
I’ll think that video too.
One night we had rushed to a lookout point to watch the sunset
and had some food I will never forget.
I just started eating this and I was like
we need to put this in a video because it’s insanely good.
I don’t really know how to describe it except it’s like a deep fried burrito full of cheese and meat
and this one has corn.
This one is chicken there’s also a bacon one.
Look at the packaging, how cute this is.
It’s so salty.
Picture a deep fried burrito with cheese and your pick of chicken, bacon, tuna, or beef.
I need a franchise of this where I live.
You missed the first bite but I was like…
’cause it’s so, so good.
I’m going to find out the name of this place and link it because if you come here
you need to have this in your hand like this.
I did find out the name of the place: it’s called Little Tadpole
and you have to order by 10am
or they will literally be sold out for the rest of the day.
They’re 60 to 70 Taiwan dollars, less than $3 CAD.
However, the best value we found for street food in Taiwan
starts at less than half that price.
It’s roti.
It all starts by spraying the grill with oil and then adding whatever filling you want in the roti.
I got egg with cheese and Marc got Taiwanese basil and egg.
When it’s cooked, it gets folded up and served super, super hot in a takeaway bag.
Xie Xie.
Bye bye.
Bye bye. -Bye bye.
Ooh it’s hot!
It’s very hot.
Oh my god, I can barely hold it it’s so hot.
Let’s try this.
Mmm oh that is really good.
The roti is just perfect.
So squidgy, the texture.
Mmm love squidgy.
Smacking my lips.
He’s like muhaha.
When the sun goes down in Taiwan the night market is just waking up,
and this is where you want to be.
The smells, smoke, and steam in the air
coupled with the sights and sounds of food being prepared
is a full on sensory experience that culminates of course with you TASTING some of that food.
Our favourite night market in Taipei is Raohe
and the best thing we tasted there were pork, leek, and cabbage dumplings
with your choice of spicy or sweet sauce.
Even the container they came in was cute.
They were so good we went back to get more.
And when it only costs 50 Taiwan dollars or $2 CAD for 10 dumplings,
how could you not get seconds?
Whoa!
All those flavours together and this sauce, it’s almost like a Teriyaki sauce,
are blowing my mind.
That might be one of the best dumplings I’ve ever had.
Strong words.
We also got to try something at Raohe that we had been on the look out for:
a unique fruit called a bell apple.
One look at its shape tells you where that name comes from.
We were surprised at the high cost, relatively speaking of course, of a bell apple –
just one was 100 Taiwan dollars or just over $4 CAD.
The taste wasn’t at all what we expect from apples at home in Canada.
The bell apple was less crunchy, more spongey in texture and not very sweet.
We both enjoyed it, though, and if you spot one, I definitely recommend giving it a try.
It’s like if a pumpkin and an apple had a baby.
That’s how it tastes.
There were other highlights walking through Raohe night market too.
Like coffin sandwiches.
Not the cheeriest of names for what is more or less a bread bowl.
These bitter gourds are a very common vegetable in Taiwan.
They’re used in stir fries, salads, soups, or even juice.
These are a traditional snack of skewered strawberries and cherry tomatoes coated in sugar.
You can also find grilled snails,
King oyster mushrooms,
and different meats and organs.
One of my other favourites is a traditional Taiwanese dessert
which is normally stuffed with red bean and other fillings.
The skin is made of sweet potato powder and I just love the chewy texture.
There’s lots more to see at the night market and many, many more street foods to try in Taiwan.
This video is just a taste - pun very much intended, by the way.
I’ll link our other Taiwan videos below so check the description box for more
on what to eat,
where to go,
and what to do in Taiwan.
No matter what you get up to while visiting, though,
you can fill your stomach with unique flavours and textures you’ll dream of long after.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Thanks for watching!