night market/not taipei: i still strongly recommend LUO DONG NIGHT MARKET

WEI JIE HEART TAPIOCA 魏姐包心粉圓 
at LUO DONG NIGHT MARKET 羅東夜市 
at Chongcheng Rd. and Xindong Rd.
Yilan, Taiwan

$

website: Weiheart.com

Kid friendliness: kids will love the shaved ice and other street snacks

Visit reviewed: 8/19/2014
Previous review: 10/2011

If you try one thing at the Luo Dong Night Market, try this dessert- tapioca pearls stuffed with red beans next to scoops of shaved ice coated in honey and condensed milk (NT$40). It's the one thing that I remembered eating in Yilan years ago and the one thing I wanted to get when I came back again. SO GOOD!

Each glistening tapioca pearl is slightly more oversized than you'd usually get in your boba milk tea, about the size of a marble, and wrapped around a red bean in the center. The name bao xing fen yuan for this type of tapioca pearl in Chinese is so fitting since the word 包 (bao) means package or bundle and 心 (xing) means heart and so each one has a red bean heart bundled inside. 

The funny thing is that I prefer the shop that I first had it from- the purple signed Wei Jie Heart Tapioca (or Wei Jie Bao Xin Fen Yuan)- but now there's a competing pink signed franchise, started by Wei Jie's founder's ex-husband. They even have shops right next to each other at the Luo Dong Night Market, as well as sit down shops throughout the streets around the night market. I must have passed by two or three on the way into the night market as well as when we walked out the other direction.

The boba/shaved ice combinations at Wei Jie are more simple, which is what I prefer, while Jing Yuan Ji (晶圆极) has different colored tofu pudding, flavors and combinations that seemed almost too much compared to the simpler combination of the creamy shaved ice, honey, condensed milk and chewy bao xin tapioca pearls.

If this looks delicious to you, the great thing is that you don't have to trek all the way to Luo Dong to try it. There are Wei Jie Bao Xin Fen Yuan dessert shops in Taipei, including at the Tonghua/LinJiang night market. There's no English on the menu, but there is a menu with photos of each of the different combinations and I just pick the one with two scoops of shaved ice and boba on the side.

Another great dessert pick at Luo Dong is the peanut ice cream wrap (burrito!)(NT$35) near the front of the night market. You could totally miss it, but my radar for it zoomed in on the block of peanut brittle.

Deliciousness for only NT$35!!! If you've missed my previous posts about this, they basically take fresh shavings of the mega block of peanut candy and layer that with three scoops of ice cream (taro and pineapple in this case) and the optional cilantro. I totally recommend getting it with the cilantro, but you can choose to leave it out if you are not adventurous. It's wrapped up like a burrito and it's ready to eat on the go.

The last thing I tried that day for was stinky tofu french fries (for the first time!) It's pretty brilliant since stinky tofu isn't the easiest thing to eat and walk at the same time, with the juices dripping out. This way it's finger food and easier to share. The weird thing about this stall though is that you have to choose a flavor, as if stinky tofu wasn't a strong enough flavor on its own. I think some of the flavors included cheese or plum powder or thai sweet and sour sauce, which is what I think I ended up getting if something didn't get lost in translation.

I haven't seen stinky tofu fries in Taipei yet, but I'm sure it's somewhere or will make its way here eventually. 

Luo Dong Night Market is about an hour away from Taipei, and really huge, sprawling over different streets.  And as you can see from the photos, it's also open during the day- we ate up a storm after lunch. It's a good alternative to those who've already tried the more famous Keelung Night Market which is only one long walkway. Luo Dong is an awesome night market for those wanting to explore outside of the city- you can make it a day trip by visiting the Lanyang Museum in Yilan or making a reservation for Cherry Valley duck at Silks Place.

not Taipei: LUO DONG NIGHTMARKET in YILAN

LUO DONG NIGHT MARKET
at Chongcheng Rd. and Xindong Rd.
Yilan, Taiwan

I LOVE night markets. It's something that you must try if you're visiting Taipei and it's something that I don't get to do often enough now that I live here. It's usually the case right? There are tons of people who live in LA that don't go to Disneyland or to Mann's Chinese Theater. How often do we get to play tourist in our own city? It's something that we should do more often.

I often get asked, where else can I go to besides Taipei? And now I can include Yilan and Luo Dong nightmarket on the list. Sprawling and packed like many other night markets, Luo Dong night market is quite large with lots of food vendors, and one section that has rows of numbered stalls. At the center of the night market is the Luodong Chungshan Park, which some people take their food to sit and eat at.

I saw a line and I had to stand in it. But it was a bit confusing- the vendors said, there's no need to stand in line, just tell us what you're ordering. So I ordered 1 box of takoyaki and waited as they poured the batter and intricately cooked up rows of octopus filled balls.

Topped with mayo and wasabi...

and bonito flakes... 

Not as mind blowing as the airy and crispy takoyaki from Japan Boat at the Gongguan night market, but a good rendition.

I also was fascinated by the guy making the oyster omelettes and was mesmerized at the assembly line production while I was waiting for my order. Imagine the number of eggs he goes through every day.

And no visit to the night market is complete without some shaved ice. Snowflake ice is creamier than the regular shaved ice and this was mango flavored ice paired with fresh mango and condensed milk.

Another thing to look for is a stall selling tapoica balls with red beans stuffed inside with shaved ice topped with honey and condensed milk. It was too crowded for me to get on this night, but I loved it when I tried it at their other location, in the food court at the Luna Plaza mall.

Wander around, explore and eat until you can't eat anymore.