24 hours to taste Taiwanese cuisine

Taiwan is not too big, only about 1/9 the size of Vietnam. Moreover, traveling in Taiwan is extremely convenient with many different means of transportation from high-speed train (HSR), subway (MRT), bus to train or taxi. All are ready to take you to explore every corner!

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10:00 AM, Taipei – Good morning!

Taiwanese people usually start their day quite late. Around 9 or 10 am, in the center of Taipei, you can still see people lining up to buy breakfast. Take the Kuo-Kang bus from the airport to the center, start your day with a traditional breakfast at the famous breakfast shop in the Da-An commercial district: Full Want with egg rolls with corn and cheddar cheese, onion crepes with Teppanyaki beef, served with a cup of soy milk or green tea.

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These are dishes that you can easily find at any breakfast shop in Taiwan. Hot scallion crepes, thin crispy skin overlapping each other, fragrant smell of baked dough, rolled with spicy pork, or beef with Teppenyaki sauce will surely make anyone crave at first sight. This is a familiar choice for breakfast or snack whenever hungry.

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Alternatively, you can try a peanut butter sandwich. It may sound a bit 'uncool', but Taiwanese peanut butter is incredibly delicious, something any Taiwanese person would have loved as a child.

After breakfast, you can take the MRT to Dadaocheng, which means 'vast field,' an old Taipei neighborhood with over 150 years of history. Dadaocheng Port used to be one of the busiest cargo ports in Taiwan. Here you can find shops selling tea, Chinese medicine, camphor, etc.

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Dadaocheng is home to a large number of ancient architectural works including tube-shaped townhouses, offices and temples. You can read a whole story of Taipei’s history when observing the streetscape through the typical architectural style of each historical period from the Qing Dynasty, Japanese occupation, to the period of trade with Western countries…

12:30 PM, Taichung – Go to the traditional market to eat mom's cooking

From Taipei, take the HSR train from Taipei to Taichung in just 54 minutes, you can immediately visit the traditional Taiwanese market: Taichung Second Public Market to fill your empty stomach. As an indispensable part of Taichung's history, Taichung Second Public Market was built in 1917 and still exists today, after 100 years. This place is famous for selling extremely delicious traditional dishes such as black tea, hand-shaped dumplings, noodles, vermicelli, ... and especially Lu Rou Fan pork rice.

Taiwanese people have a saying that when you come to Taiwan, you must eat “beef noodles and pork rice.” Lu Rou Fan is a traditional Taiwanese braised pork belly rice dish. Depending on the region, people prepare this dish in two different ways: either by cutting the pork belly into pieces, separating the fat and lean layers, or by mincing the pork belly and stewing it. The pork belly is taken from the belly of the pig, and consists of layers of meat and fat, mixed together. Without this layer of fat, Lu Rou Fan would not have its unique characteristics.

For many people, Lu Rou Fan is not only a delicious dish, but also a special thing associated with childhood, with the image of grandmothers and mothers standing and cutting meat to cook rice in a small kitchen. Stepping into the middle of the market, choosing the humble Arashi rice stall of 'Lan mama' (Lan mama) - as people around me often call it, my first lunch in Taichung was a bowl of hot, white rice, covered with minced pork, stewed in brown sauce, sprinkled with a little onion. Sitting on a stainless steel chair, enjoying 'mother's lunch' is how locals enjoy their comfortable breaks in the middle of the day.

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4:30 PM, Tainan – Lazy day to have afternoon tea

From Taichung, take the HSR train for about two hours to reach Tainan City. Previously, from 1683 to 1887, this was the capital of Taiwan. Therefore, when you come here, you will see many ancient architectural works such as Anping Old Street, Confucius Temple, etc. Walking along the center of Tainan, you may have to exclaim: "It seems that no one here is interested in business! The front houses are all empty."

Trang thông tin du lịch và phong cách sống Travellive+

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Tainan is a laid-back, nostalgic city for 'lazy days', where you can leisurely cycle through the alleys, queue up for a char siu bao, or sip a cup of pearl milk tea with friends on a hot afternoon.

One of the 'check-in' places for food lovers is Hanlin Tearoom, Tainan - the first place to make Taiwan's unique pearl milk tea. In 1986, Mr. Tu Tsong - the owner of a tea shop - came up with the idea of dropping round, transparent tapioca balls into a cup of hot black tea, mixed with milk. The milk tea with the fragrant aroma of tea, the light taste of milk and the chewy, fun-to-chew pearls later created a famous culinary wave that spread throughout the world. So much so that the Taiwanese government said that this is the country's signature dish.

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At Hanlin Tearoom, you can enjoy the original version of bubble tea: including a pot of hot milk tea, two small cups, and a bowl of black and white tapioca pearls next to it. If you like the familiar cold milk tea, prepare your stomach in advance because the milk tea here is as big as a beer glass!

Taiwanese people also like to order a small dessert to eat with their milk tea. One of the ten most popular desserts here is the brown sugar mochi with red bean paste, or peanut butter mochi. If you don’t have time to go to Tainan, there is still a Hanlin Tearoom in Taichung where you can enjoy old-fashioned pearl milk tea (hot tea).

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8.00 PM – A tour of Taiwan's night market

A culinary journey in Taiwan would certainly not be complete without a night market stroll. Taiwan night markets are a culinary paradise in Asia, from the beginning of the market to the end, you have countless diverse culinary options. If you only eat one dish a day, you will probably have to stay here for a month. Shilin Night Market (Taipei), Feng Chia (Taichung) and Hua Yuan (Tainan) are famous night markets for tourists. Not only a place to shop and eat, night markets are also a familiar place for young people to date and gather.

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When visiting the night market, remember to buy pineapple cakes and iron eggs as gifts. Pineapple cakes are a traditional gift that brings good luck. The iron eggs are tough, black, and look strangely ugly. They are quail eggs or pigeon eggs stewed in soy sauce until they are black and tough. A local friend joked, “You can even use these eggs to play table tennis!”

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After a tiring walk, it's time to stop and enjoy beef noodles - one of the two 'national dishes' of Taiwan. Fresh noodles, rich brown broth, soft stewed beef, and a very light herbal aroma, this is one of the must-try dishes when you come here! After a bowl of beef noodles, you can continue to have a snack with oysters and eggs. People here often grill oysters by flame, so the oysters are still plump, fresh and juicy, not dry like charcoal grilling. Finish your dinner with a sweet dessert of mango shaved ice cream or Dou Hua - iced tofu with rock sugar water, served with red beans, green beans and mochi.

Ending a day full of delicious food in the "Asian culinary paradise", what is your favorite dish?

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