Taiwanese Food: What You Have to Eat

There’s no gentle way to say it: half the reason to come to Taiwan is the food. The cuisine here mixes Chinese, Japanese, and local influences, most of it cheap, and most of it sold on the street or at a night market.

The classics

• Beef noodle soup — the national dish. A rich broth, tender meat, noodles. Every Taiwanese person will swear they know the best stall.
• Soup dumplings (xiao long bao) — steamed dumplings with hot soup inside. You eat them carefully so as not to scald yourself. The famous chain was born here.
• Braised pork rice (lu rou fan) — sweet minced pork over rice, an everyday comfort dish for a few shekels.
• Gua bao — the “Taiwanese burger”: a steamed bun with pork, peanuts, and coriander.

For the brave

Stinky tofu is the entry test: a strong smell, a taste that surprises you in a good way. Century eggs (dark, fermented eggs) and fried oysters round out the crew. If you made it this far, taste it at least once.

Sweet

Pineapple cake is the classic culinary souvenir, along with the bubble tea that was born here in the 1980s. At the markets you’ll also find egg buns and shaved ice in summer.

Want to go deeper? A guided food tour in Taipei takes you to stalls you’d never find on your own. A natural next step: the night-markets guide. Back to the main guide.