Now that we are allowed to travel again, a bunch of my friends have been visiting Taipei from other countries. As someone born and raised in Taipei and a certified food monster mukbanger, I am confident to say that I have the most comprehensive plan for a full day of fun surrounding food.
Foodie's Guide to Taipei–Lao Tzang Beef Noodles
Address: No. 105, Aiguo E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106 (MRT DongMen Station Exit 5)
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun 11:00-20:00
Phone: (02)2396-0927
First stop, you can’t say that you have been to Taiwan without having beef noodles. Lao Tzang Beef Noodles is near YongKang shopping district. This area is filled with all types of stores with their own distinct style. Everyone can find something to shop for and a place to eat at here. It's especially perfect for foodies because it's filled with snack stores from every country. Aside from stores selling local Taiwanese snacks, you can also find authentic Korean and Japanese grocery stores filled with imported ramen, seasonings, and snacks.
Right across the street, is the world famous DingTaiFeng. Trust me, DingTaiFeng tastes different here and is much better. This is the first and original store. So make sure you go and get some soup dumpling takeout after you have your beef noodles, so that you can skip the long waiting line and still enjoy a hearty meal. And before you get any ideas, no, this DingTaiFeng does not take reservations. So you better fill up first at Lao Tzang.
After all the savory food, you can also head on to the famous fruity shaved ice shops nearby to quench your thirst.
Lao Tzang Beef Noodles has been around for 60 years. You know there is something going on for them when a restaurant has been around for that long. They have won multiple Beef Noodles contests and awards. Their signatures are their tomato beef broth and spicy beef broth. It's also a very tourist-friendly spot with menus that come in English, Japanese, and Korean.
Must-order Signatures
Tendon and Beef Tripe Spicy Beef Noodles
This is called the 3 treasures of beef in Chinese. It's a lavish dish with beef, tendon, and beef tripe–the stomach of cows. The spicy soup is flavorful but not greasy unlike most braised or spicy beef soup. My favorite part is the noodles. They are so nice and chewy they could be ramen noodles! The beef is so tender that they fall apart in your mouth, the tendon is just soft enough but still retains a firm enough texture, topped off with the crunchy and chewy beef tripe, it's a perfect combination.
Smoked Pig Ears (side dish)
These are Ares' favorite. The noticeable smokey taste and the extremely mild spice goes perfectly with the crunchy pig ears.
Foodie's Guide to Taipei–Nanmen Market
Address: No. 55, HangZhou South Road Section 2, DaAn District, Taipei City (MRT GuTing Station Exit 6)
Opening hours: Tues–Sun 7:00-19:00
Further Readings→【TOP 5 stalls at Nanmen Traditional Market】
After all that eating, let's do some shopping before we have space in our stomach again. It's time to hit the traditional market and get some snacks for you to bring back home. These are all great as presents as well. You can't make use of a souvenir, but food? That's the best gift you can bring back from another country.
Nanmen traditional market is where my family always shopped at since I was a baby and I dare say that it is the best traditional market in Taipei. After the renovation, it's also clean, comfortable, and has lot's of parking space. The listed location above is their current temporary location while the original location gets renovated. But all of the stores are the same and will have the same name/signs that can be easily recognized even when they move back. After all, they have been the same for the past 2 decades that I was alive.
Nanmen Market: King Long Jerky-Founding Store
I have been eating their jerky for as long as I can remember. We have to be snacking on pork or beef jerky from King Long every time we sit in front of a TV. And my dad loves their pork floss (rousong). The founder of King Long Jerky started being an apprentice at the age of 14. Then he founded King Long Jerky with his wife in 1976 . Ever since it was founded, King Long has been operating from Nanmen Market. Since they grill their jerky on the spot, a lot of customers are attracted by the amazing smell. This is something that you do not see at other jerky stores.
I am not the only person who is in love with King Long Jerky, they have also received a lot of awards. They were voted Best Present online during the Traditional Market Festival, which proves that they are certified by other foodies in Taipei as well. They were also chosen as Best Present for New Taipei City, they literally snatched an award cross city. King Long Jerky founding store was also rated as a 5-star stall by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Great minds think alike.
Must-Buy Signatures
Pork Jerky
Our favorite things to buy here is the original flavor pork jerky. We never get tired of the classic flavor and are super addicted. There are 4 other pork jerky flavors: garlic, Thai sour and spicy, black pepper, and red wine. The red wine pork jerky is sweeter than the original and a surge of aroma from the wine is released from your throat at the end. There's also charcoal grilled pork jerky. Those were my favorite as a kid. Aside from the smokey taste, they are also particularly tender because of the fattier meat.
Beef Jerky
I love ripping the beef jerky along the grains (the lines you see in meat that are muscle fiber). And if you suck on the beef jerky from King Long Jerky founding store, there would actually be so much juice. The original flavor beef jerky uses local "warm-body" beef, which means freshly slaughtered meat in Taiwan. The cattle is slaughtered at 1A.M. then they will start roasting it.
There are also spicy and mala (numbing spicy from sichuan peppercorns) beef jerky. They use beef from Australia for these two flavors. Which is a great country to get beef from cause they mostly grass-feed their cattle. These are perfect for people like me who love spicy food.
King Long Jerky-founding store phone: (02)2396-9037
King Long Jerky-founding store stall location: B23, B24
King Long Jerky-founding store official website: https://www.kinglongjerky1976.com/
Nanmen Market: DaLian Food
This is the first store that you see as soon as you walk in through the entrance by the parking lot. They have been around for 30 years and is most famous for the cured meats that they make on their own. They also have all kinds of cured fish.
Must-Buy Signatures
Cantonese sausage
Their Cantonese sausage has received a golden medal award. It's perfect for making Chinese preserved meat rice. Simply stay the Cantonese sausage, slice them, then lay them on top of uncooked rice with some soy sauce in a rice cooker. When the rice is done, you would have a delicious dish.
Jinhua Ham
This dry-cured ham is not only iconic but a staple when it comes to Chinese soup dishes. I've even made Hungarian bableves (bean soup) with this before and got overwhelming compliments from Ares who thought there was no way that I could replicate this dish from his hometown. The smokey, salty meat adds an incredible layer to the soup.
Sugar-free Dried Fruits
Taiwan is the kingdom of fruits. We have every kind of fruit, every season and they are always super sweet and delicious. Which is why you have to try these sugar-free dried fruits. No additional sugar is needed when the fruits have such amazing flavor naturally. The owner of DaLian picks out all the fruits on their own then contracts a factory to produce the dried fruits. You cannot taste these anywhere else.
Dalian Food phone: (02)3393-6913
Dalian Food stall location: B40、B41、B42、B43
Dalian Food official website: https://www.dalianfood.com.tw/
NanMen Market: HoShin
This 70 year-old store has already been passed on for three generations. Their specialty is all types of traditional rice-based snacks. It's a store that everyone has to visit every Chinese New Year or holiday and other celebrations.
Must-Buy Signatures
Pure Rice Cakes
Many rice cakes are made out of not just rice. But these are made from rice and rice only. Ever since we've discovered these rice cakes, they've become a staple in our home during Chinese New Year. In the past, I hated eating rice cake during Chinese New Year until my mom started using the rice cakes from HoShin. I didn't have to wait for my parents to eat them for good luck, I'd reach for them myself.
The rice cakes from HoShin are perfectly chewy but not too hard. My favorite part about them is that, unlike other rice cakes, they do not stick together and become a lump of rice-based rock once they are cooked. And the center is not powdery at all.
ShouTao (Longevity Peaches)
In Chinese culture, peaches symbolize longevity. It's a long story involving our mythology. Which is why you have to eat peach-shaped pastries with red bean paste in the center on your birthday. We've all seen these at traditional birthday parties, bet the longevity peaches from HoShin are special because they are simply massive. And you can even customize words to be written on the outside of the peaches. So, how are we going to eat this massive pastry. Well, after you rip it open, there are a bunch of tiny longevity peaches in the center that everyone can share. This is not only cool to look at but it takes a lot of skills to accomplish. To be able to make a large peach with tiny peaches in the center and have everything be perfectly cooked to their best texture and flavor is not a small feat.
Sweet Rice Cakes
This is definitely one of the best-sellers at HoShin and something you cannot find in other parts of the world. You can barely find it even if you google it in any language other than Chinese. These authentic traditional sweet rice cakes are staples in every family during Chinese New Years. Even when it's not New Years, you can see lots of people lining up for them and there's always a shelf-full of sweet rice cakes that they are constantly refilling.
HoShin phone: (02)2321-4702
HoShin stall location: B01
HoShin official website: https://www.hoshing888.com/
Foodie's Guide to Taipei–Starway Cake
Address: 1F, No. 144, Dali Street, Wanda District, Taipei City (MRT Longshan Temple Exit 2)
Opening Hours: Wed-Sun 13:00-18:00
Phone: (02)2308-8789
Now that we've eaten and purchased snacks, it's time for dessert! The signature of Starway Cake is dacquiose. Known as the cousin of macarons, they are usually seen in smaller biscuit or cookie forms, especially here in Taiwan. Starway makes traditional French dacquiose cake and uses fresh ingredients to create local flavors. They help Taiwanese fresh produce shine in French dessert, creating the perfect fusion.
Their main product in summer is mango dacquiose cake. I came in September, so I had to call ahead to order one of those. Luckily, we have a long summer in Taiwan. The flavor of fall is lavender chestnut dacquiose cake. The combination of the refreshing lavender and buttery chestnuts tell a story of the season's beauty. Once it is winter, there would be strawberry dacquiose cake. Other than the seasonal specials, there are ganache dacquiose and Ireland coffee dacquiose. Ireland coffee dacquiose adapts the flavor palette of tiramisus, adding a splash of whiskey to the cake, and is a must-try for people who love the enjoy a drink or two.
Aside from the 6 and 8-inch cake, Starway Cake also has individual slices available. Six slices would perfectly piece into a 6-inch cake. We also tried a matcha dacquiose since my sister and mother are matcha lovers. The strong matcha taste has the lingering bitterness of matcha tea and a toasty aroma, exactly what my mother loves the most.
Lastly, my favorite things from Starway cake is actually the sablés breton. It looks like a cookie but has a rich yet crumbly texture instead of being hard. I tried the Maqaw may chang sablés breton and salted duck yolk sablés breton. May chang is also known as litsea cubeba or aromatic litsea. In Chinese, we call it mountain pepper. It has a stronger smell but is far less spicy than regular pepper or chili. The maqaw may chang sablés bretons have a very distinct taste. You can smell the citrus notes of the may chang and the numbing spell of the Sichuan peppercorns. They are very mildly spicy, detectable but widely acceptable. When you bite into it, you will come across some crunchy peanuts. There's a hint of saltiness in the sweet sablés bretons.
Must-buy Signatures
Salted Yolk Sablés Breton
These are the most special ones! They use the salted duck yolks from XieXing, which is an ingredient that bakeries in Taiwan fight over every year as mid-autumn festival rolls around. The soft center is packed with flavor and smell. There's a hint of sweetness in the savory and salty sablés bretons. I personally find these to be yolk pastries on crack. Please give me these for mid-autumn festival and stop giving me mooncakes!
Red Jewel Berry Dacquiose Cake
This is my favorite one out of all the dacquiose cake flavors. Using chocolate from the internationally acclaimed Valrhona, it has a thick scent of rose. However, it does not overpower the rest of the ingredients. You can taste the sweet and sour berries, as well as the delicious chocolate.
Mango Dacquiose Cake
I hung on tightly to the end of summer and was just in time to order one of those for my dad's birthday.
The 6-inch mango dacquiose is decorated with full, big slices of mangoes on top, creating a mango rose. The fresh mangoes do not get soft and soggy like canned mangoes, so they are also very easy to cut through. Each slice of cake stays beautifully complete. The layers come with spongey cake, rich cream, and mango jam made with fresh lemon juice. The sweet and slightly sour flavor satisfies a sweet tooth but does not slap you in the face with sugar. My entire family enjoyed it, starting from my dad the birthday boy who doesn't like sour food, my brother-in-law the sugarholic, myself who doesn't like sweets, to my mother who is practically afraid of sugary foods. It's a widely acceptable cake for people of all ages and preferences.
Foodie's Guide to Taipei–XieXing Egg
Address: No.2, Alley 172, KangDing Street, WanHua District, Taipei City (MRT Longshan Temple Exit 3)
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 8:00-12:30, 13:30-18:00
Phone: (02) 2331-0059
Further Readings→【How to Pick Fresh Eggs?】
Well, we just had some salted yolk sablés breton at Starway Cake, so it's time to visit where those famous yolks came from.
XieXing has been around for 71 years. This storefront in WanHua has been open since the first generation founded the business. This area used to be filled with old Japanese-style houses, after they renovated the buildings, they kept it around to commemorate their history. As of now, their main line of business is wholesale.
The residents nearby are also familiar with XieXing. When I went there, we saw a lot of elderlies that live nearby come get eggs. They are all long-time regulars that come almost every day.
All of XieXing's eggs come from designated and exclusive ranches that they work with. Each batch has to be certified by veterinarians and all the eggs here are shipped directly from the ranch every morning, which means they are the freshest you can get. Of course, they have SGS certification and meet Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS) from the National Animal Industry Foundation, too.
The ranches that they work with all uses floor feeding. It's a method of raising hens where they can freely move around a roofed barn and get sufficient exercise. This also prevents the hens from potentially being infected with avian influenza from the excrement of the various migratory birds that come to Taiwan. It's the easiest way to be cruelty-free and ensure the health of both the hens and consumers.
Must-buy Signatures
Red Soil Salted Eggs
XieXing is most known for their salted duck eggs. XieXing's salted duck eggs are made through traditional methods of covering eggs with Yilan red soil and take around 25–35 days to be made. This is very rarely seen nowadays. Most salted eggs are made by soaking duck eggs in salt water and brining it for 10-20 days. But the current owner of XieXing visited the factories that produce salted duck eggs and realized that the brining method creates a lot more food safety concerns. Plus, salted eggs made through the red soil method have better texture and taste. So they persisted in their traditional ways though it is more troublesome and time-consuming, hoping to bring everyone salted duck eggs that are more satisfying and safer to consume.
I don't normally like salted eggs, they usually taste like someone robbed a salt production company and is trying to get rid of the evidence. But XieXing's salted yolks are not deadly salty like the other ones and are super addictive, I honestly can't stop.
Emerald Eggs
With their light greenish gray eggshells, these are eggs from Silky Fowls! Those "black-boned chicken" have higher activity levels than other chickens, hence Emerald Eggs contain more protein than any other eggs.
Different breeds of chicken, like people with different body types, have different diet plans that are suitable for them. There are different health issues that are commonly found in certain breeds that can be fixed or prevented through their diets. Which is why XieXing has a different formula for each breed of hens.
The grain-fed silky fowls have an addition of seaweed and expensive viable bacteria in their food. Which is not only rarely found in chicken food, but hard to come by even in health supplements for humans.
Century Eggs
I know a lot of non-Taiwanese people are terrified of century eggs. But listen, you simply cannot talk about duck eggs and not talk about century eggs. They look scary, but they are delicious. A reminder from the owner: if a century egg tastes chemical and especially hard and chewy, do NOT eat it. A lot of century eggs in the earlier days are made from soaking the eggs in strong base and could even result in heavy metal residue.
XieXing's century eggs are made by soaking the duck eggs in baking soda, tea leaves, and salt solution. They are all led-free century eggs. There are individually packaged Pine-Patterned Century Eggs and Healthy Century Eggs that come in a box of six. There isn't much of a difference between the two aside from the manufacturer. What's special about Pine-Patterned Century Eggs is that there are basic crystallizations that form in the eggs and creates a beautiful pine tree-like pattern. (basic as apposed to acid, not as in Instagramming pumpkin spiced latte on October 1st)
And I have to mention the Emerald Q Century Eggs from XieXing. I've previously explained in another post that Q means chewy in a good way in Chinese. Those are the only century egg made from chicken eggs on the market. They are made out of the Emerald Eggs from silky fowls and have a bouncier texture than duck century eggs.
Foodie's Guide to Taipei–More Information
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