night market/taiwanese: i still strongly recommend SHILIN NIGHT MARKET 士林夜市

SHILIN NIGHT MARKET 士林夜市

MRT: Jiantan 

Glimpses from last weekend at Shilin night market. It was the first time I visited the relocated vendors since they had moved five years ago from the corner near the MRT Jiantan exit to a basement food court on Jihe Road. Anyone who has been to Shilin knows it's a sprawling, huge night market composed of many winding alleys, shops, street vendors and stands. So I guess it took me so long to check it out since there was plenty to eat from the street vendors outside.

But if you're looking for an air-conditioned place to sit down, you can check it out and don't wait as long as I did. Look for a brightly lit sign and some vendors on the first floor.

Once you go down the stairs, you emerge into a brightly lit, noisy, sensory overload aisle of oyster omelettes, stinky tofu and lots of people. Most of the vendors had signs filled with photos as well as an array of foods on display to point at. Each of the vendors have their own area to sit at, and I ended up just picking one that had an open table since they were all pretty crowded.

Multiple vendors making oyster omelettes by the dozen.

Sunrise Teppanyaki had a bevy of awards and customers.

Coffin bread stand served fat slices of bread stuffed with savory or sweet concoctions. I've actually never tried it before.  

Sweet and salty "da bing bao Xiao bing"

Stall number 20 is the one I ended up grabbing a table at. Bright clear sign, yellow tables and lots of choices. Staring down the menu, the owner handed me an English menu after hearing me speak English. 

English Menu and photos avail to point at and order from. Definitely order the pork braised rice, or the lu rou fan, and the ten bu la or fried fish cake. 

Front row seat to the chef's table 

The food comes out fairly quickly and the table full of food was NT$500. I would recommend everything except the fried tempura shrimp, it was the most expensive and our least favorite. 

Stinky tofu 

Braised pork rice or Lu rou fan-- I quite liked this. I always feel a tad indulgent eating Lu rou fan because it has a lot of pork fat and oil, but this was the right amount of sweetness and saltiness and cooked to an almost melt in your mouth consistency. I liked how it wasn't all fat, but had some ground pork mixed in too.

Our next favorite was the fried ten-bu-la fish cake. Slightly crispy on the outside and had a qq chewy consistency and slightly sweet. 

Be prepared to swim in the crowds on the weekends.

Taiwanese sausage in a sausage 

Famous Hot Star fried chicken g-pai. There was a stand here in the basement as well as outside and near the theater. Lines at all three vendors. 

This translation! 

Along Jihe Road are also a row of games for kids and kids at heart to play. There was one woman who was next to me who was shooting 10 balloons in a row, on the top spinning wheel. Bang, bang, bang, bang.. sharp shooter. 

This number toss game had the best prize-- Pikachu!

You can even find popular items from other countries, like Korean fried chicken, or the latest craze, the rolled up ice cream from Thailand. 

I always make my way to the street vendors on the other side of the night market, near the theater. I love the pan fried buns and the variety of food there. 

The Pokemon Go craze is real in Taiwan. Have you seen the video of the mob of people running in Beitou, reportedly to catch a Snorlax? 

Pepper bun

Shaved ice

I couldn't believe this shaved ice shop was closed!! It looked like it has been closed for awhile. Does anyone know if they relocated or just went on vacation? They are missing prime summertime customer dollar bills!

revisited/night market: i strongly recommend RAOHE NIGHT MARKET

Raohe night market is one of the most popular and oldest night markets in Taipei. A short subway or taxi ride from Xinyi or DaAn districts, Raohe has two bright signs marking the front and back main entrances of the night market.

I had what I thought was some mediocre food the last time I visited Raohe with some out of town friends, so it's been a few years since I've had the urge to revisit. Thanks to some new friends from Singapore who chose it as our meeting spot, I fell in love with the popular flaky pepper buns, the grilled oyster mushrooms, mango shaved ice and found a vendor serving one of my favorite night market snacks, the ice cream "burrito" with peanut candy shavings and cilantro. 

The pepper buns at the entrance of the Raohe night market and can be spotted by a winding queue of people waiting and a team of quick fingered people wrapping minced pork and green onions in doughy balls to be cooked in tandoor like ovens. The result is a pepper bun that is too hot to hold, a crunchy crust on the bottom and peppery and sweet meatball inside the bun. It's worth coming to Raohe just for this. 

Here's a glance at some of the other stands I spotted at Raohe. What's your favorite thing to eat at this night market? 

 

Rubber duck cotton candy 

Get your Taiwanese sausage from this vendor.. The first one we got from another vendor was so bad- pretty much just fat inside a sausage casing and the first time I had to throw something away that I bought at the night market. Taiwanese sausage should be firm and slightly chewy, on the sweet side and not all fat!!! 

Yeaaa. Favorite!