night market/taiwanese: i strongly recommend LEHUA NIGHT MARKET

LEHUA NIGHT MARKET
Yonghe Road and Zhongshan Road

MRT: DingXi Station

website: Public Health Bureau gov.tw
hours: 4 PM- 1 AM

$

Kid friendliness: lots to eat and play, though can be crowded

Visit reviewed: 5/20/2009



Stinky tofu- check!



Shaved ice- check!



Cute animals to gawk at -check!



Cheap goods to bargain for- check! And rows and rows to shop and eat- check.

Now you know you are at a Taipei night market.



When I first came back to Taipei after 17 years for the infamous Love Boat, the only night market I knew about was Shilin. After all, that was the closest one to campus and easy to get to. It was the biggest and the best, so there was no need to discover any others. But since living and eating in Taipei with it being my home, there's an abundance of awesome night markets here.

Lehua Night Market has all those things, plus a few variations of the familiar, located in Yong He, a suburb which is a bit southwest of downtown Taipei city. I have an aunt that lives in Yonghe, so she is always wanting to take us there to eat, but I've only been there twice. It's definitely worth visiting.



It's the first time I had Snowflake Ice or "Shue Hua Bing" which is shaved ice with milk in it already, which my aunt delighted in being the first person to introduce it to me and my sister. "What?! You NEVER had shue hua bing before? Never?" she exclaimed in shock to both of us, in Mandarin.



Nope, never. But it was pretty fantastic. The ice itself is superfine, like how you would imagine sticking out your tongue and eating freshly fallen snow. It's also a bit sweet, since the ice has milk in it instead of water. Then of course, you dump more condensed milk ontop and your choice of toppings- pudding is pretty good- to eat before it melts on a hot summer night.

Or you can opt for Aiyu bing or a lemon jelly with chunky ice that we got with boba. But I'd pick the snowflake ice!



After the sweet, we had some salty, or should I say stinky. Apparently, this vendor is pretty famous and has the newsclips to prove it.



The stinky tofu had some of the crispiest skin I'd ever tasted, like a crunchy shell to the spongy pungent inside. Complete with a heap of pickled cabbage and sauce, the guy deserved his newsclips- it was some of the best stinky tofu I've had.



So wander over the Lehua night market if you've never been. It's oh so sweet and stinky.


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snapshot: Tai Yi shaved ice

Who else is eating shaved ice this weekend? Tai Yi is SO good! Though I much prefer their red bean and fresh mochi balls with condensed milk over the mango/strawberry here.

For mango ice, you're better sticking to Ice Monster.

But there seems to be a new crop of frozen yogurt places coming to Taipei. I'll hopefully get to check them all out and let you know! Anyone try Yogurt Art or Yofroyo yet? What would you rather have to beat the heat? Shaved ice vs good frozen yogurt?

taiwanese/night market: i strongly recommend LONGSHAN TEMPLE street eats

LONGSHAN TEMPLE STREET EATS
Guangzhou and Xichang Streets

$

Kid friendliness: Not as crowded as some of the other night markets. Lots to eat.

Visit reviewed: 12/27/2008



I rarely get out to this part of Taipei, so it was an adventure eating around Longshan Temple with my aunt and cousins. She led the way and we followed, so forgive me if the descriptions of where and what are a little bit meandering.

We ate a lot of classic Taiwanese street eats that you can find at most night markets- sausages, ba-wan, squid vermicelli, stinky tofu- but had to go to different streets and stores to get it- which might be more confusing if you aren't familiar with the area. It's not a localized one stop all under one roof like Shih Lin Night Market or one way long street like Rao He Night Market, but if you have time to explore, you can find some delicious and unique snacks like the peanut brittle ice cream wrap with cilantro.

If you are especially adventurous, you can go to Snake Alley, where you can drink snake's blood or see caged up snakes and other weird things. See what this Taipei Times writer had to say about the area.

First stop: Sausages or "hsiang chang"- strongly recommended



If you are standing with 85 Degrees C Cafe behind you outside the MRT Station stop, you'll spot a little vendor across the street to the left grilling sausages. Taiwanese sausages are slightly sweet, sometimes served in a sticky rice bun, often served on a stick.



If you can spot this vendor, pick up a stick for NT$25.



Second stop: Ba-wan - recommended



After we picked up our sausages to go, we headed down the alley adjacent to 85 Degrees C and ended up a small shop that sold ba-wan and got it to-go. "Ba-wan" (NT$35) is a hockey puck sized snack with a thick glutunous rice skin and diced meat and bamboo inside. It's often topped with a sweet red or brown sauce that completes the taste, although the whole thing is kind of mysterious.



It's fried in a vat of oil, but it isn't crispy. It's also steamed, but most times you'll it fried and then the oil squeezed out.



Third stop: HSIANG JIA CHI YU MI FUN



Originally I thought this was squid rice noodle soup, but after asking a friend to translate, it turns out it was swordfish rice noodle soup (NT$30)! Or pronounced "chi yu mi fun tang." I thought it was decent, but not something that I'd seek out. They wanted to order some other stuff, but they were sold out.



There's an assortment of other things available, but it's hard to tell what if you don't read Chinese. The restaurant was also not very happy to see that we brought ba-wan from another store (although they don't sell it themselves), but still let us eat it there and asked us not to bring over other stuff again. I liked the ba-wan better than the rice noodle, and the ba-wan just above average.



Fourth stop: Stinky tofu or "cho do fu"



After we ate, we ended up walking around the empty night market area where they sold clothes, dvds/cds, jewelry and other things. I picked up some stinky tofu (NT$40) to go and it was hot crispy and came with a side of pickled cabbage. I think there was a time when I was a kid that I didn't like stinky tofu, but I've come to be quite fond of it. I can only eat it fried though- I still can't eat the regular stinky tofu.




After we had walked through this section, we crossed the street and I took a picture of the signs so I would remember what intersection it was!





Fifth stop: SHAVED ICE or "chua bing"



The shaved ice shop was pretty busy- with the right side serving shaved ice and the left side serving hot desserts, such as red bean soup.




Somehow I wasn't crazy about the shaved ice. Part of the reason I love shaved ice to eat the condensed sweetened milk on top of the ice and I guess it landed on top of the toppings instead of the ice and quickly became mush.

Speaking of mush, I had never seen this before, but apparently Oatmeal Shaved Ice (or "Mai Jiao Chua Bing" is another variety of popular shaved ice. I tried a bite, but I just couldn't get into it.






The sign says they've been around since 1920 and this area is one of the older areas of Taipei. I didn't know this until doing some reading online, but you can sort of feel the difference, as the other night markets just have different energy. Even outside the MRT station, you can spot various older locals hanging around and random city signs prohibiting a laundry list of things.



Some are kind of amusing, like "No private desks or chairs," but others like "No urinating" are just kind of gross. The nearby Snake Alley is a famous tourist spot, but has reportedly been "cleaned up"- although from my memory of going over 9 years ago, it's a bit scuzzy and creepy. I think I remember seeing a roasted bat on a stick among things like the poor snakes in cages, as well as hearing that the nearby seedy area was considered the Red Light District.



Sixth stop: Peanut and ice cream wrap or "hua shen bing"- strongly recommend

And last but definitely not least, we ate the peanut brittle shavings and ice cream wrap. I almost didn't get it since I was so full, but I'm glad I did. It was a million times better than the shaved ice and more unique as well.



Read the full review here.

So that's Longshan Temple street eats. Exploring the area is an adventure in itself. Anyone have any other recs for the area?

dessert/chinese: i strongly recommend LITTLE SOUTH GATE again

LITTLE SOUTH GATE
or XIAO NAN MEN
at 101 Mall
45 ShihFu Rd., B1

$

Kid friendliness: try keeping your kids away from this sweet treat! you probably have to get them their own, or at least their own spoon.

Visit reviewed:
Previously reviewed: 2/18/2006

Can you believe that before Little South Gate offered shaved ice that there wasn't really any decent place to find shaved ice in the area? That's probably why you'll usually find a line snaking around the counter of people waiting for their cold desserts in the air conditioned basement of the Taipei 101 Mall (or whatever mall you might spot this chain) before they head out to the hot weather. Of course there are other hole in the walls that you can find it cheaper (and possibly better), but this will more than satisfy your cravings while you are shopping/showing around your friends/eating lunch while fighting off people who want your seats on the weekend crowds without leaving the mall.

It's a summertime special that they've recently started offering along with their do hwa, but at higher prices (and profit?) maybe they'll keep it on permanently after all the Love Boat kids and summer tourists leave town.

Lots of options but I usually get the choose-your-own-4-toppings for NT$70 plus a big squirt of condensed milk (NT$5). My usual would be feng yuan or boba tapioca pearls, peanuts, aiyu yellow jelly, and tang yuan or rice balls. My friend got grass jelly with hers. Other toppings to choose from include red bean, green bean and assorted jellies. (But don't expect to find any mango or other fruits here!)

Figure out what you want while you are waiting in line or the servers will bristle at your slowness with all the people waiting behind you. Point at the pictures on the wall or at the stuff in the containers. A few seconds of the whirring of the ice machine and you'll get to dig in.

I would eat this every other day if I could.

Other locations include:

Breeze Mall
Foodcourt, B1
No.39, Fuxing S. Road. Sec 1

ESLITE Mall (XIN YI STORE)
Food Court, B2
11, SongGao Road
(02) 8789-3388

Breeze at Taipei Main Station
3, BeiPing W Rd, 2F
(02) 6632-8999

CLOSED/food court/mall food: LIVING MALL food court

Food Court at
the LIVING MALL (CORE PACIFIC CITY MALL), B1
No. 138, Bade Road, Sec 4
(02)
(Living Mall closed entirely in 2019!)

website: livingmall.com.tw English and Chinese

hours: 11AM- 9:30/10:30 (fri/sat)

$

Visit reviewed: 6/28/2008

While there is nothing too exciting about the Living Mall's food court, I guess I should mention that the Living Mall itself is shaped like a huge ball. The shape can be seen clearly from the outside (or even from the 89th floor from 101) as well as the inside, with its funky design and circular floors, allowing you to peer down on the floors below. (A funny article about it here.

The first time I went to the Living Mall, I was reminded a bit of the Luxor in Las Vegas, another huge, unusually shaped structure that sort of makes you admire (or not) it at first sight, but then you just get used to it.

But anyways! Back to the food- there are a collection of restaurants upstairs (I've only been to Lawry's for their prime rib and creamed corn) as well as a movie theater there, but as I circled around the food court to find something to eat, nothing looked especially exciting. There are a selection of the typical Chinese wonton noodles, oyster omelette, stuff over rice, the ubiquitous Subway, I ended up choosing a bimbimbap from the Korean place.



While there was a decent amount of beef, you couldn't customize the vegetables- it came with the cucumber, bean sprouts, green beans and hot sauce. It fed me and was ok.

My friend got a wonton soup that was also pretty mall food-ish.



A looong time ago, I got a corn dog near the movie theater that was pretty decent, but I don't know if the vendors are the same anymore.

More memorable was our trip to Tai Yi later on in the evening. I tried out the mango milk ice (with tang yuan), I decided I liked the red bean and tang yuan milk ice better. Plus it's half the price of the mango shaved ice.




Mmm, looking at the shaved ice is making me hungry. I wish someone could make a shaved ice delivery service. That would be awesome!

PS
Finally figured out this Google Maps thing, sort of... I've been slowly adding restaurants to it when I have time, but it's a lot of work! It's cool to see the locations of all the different restaurants relative to each other though.

If you find it helpful, let me know!



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dessert/beat the heat: i strongly recommend TAI YI MILK KING

TAI YI MILK KING
82, Xin Sheng S. Road, Section 3
(across the street from the main entrance of Tai Da)
(02) 2362 3712

hours: 10:30 AM - midnight daily

$

Visits reviewed: 5/25/2007 and 6/5/2007

I know everyone is in love with Ice Monster and mango ice, but for classic shaved ice flavors, you have to try Tai Yi Milk King. And I'm not talking about creamed corn.

Red bean. Fresh rice mochi balls. A drizzled layer of evaporated milk over snowy ice.

Heavenly.

I had never been to or heard about this place before I went with some friends late last month. All you hear about is Ice Monster. But this place has been around for ages with lots of choices for you to appreciate. You could try something different every night for a week!



Filled with mostly locals and a menu of both icy cold shaved ice (NT$45-80) and soupy hot rice balls, you might have to send someone to claim a seat first even though there is two floors of tables. Probably a lot of college students since it's so close, right across the street from National Taiwan University. Is it Taida or Tai Da- anyone know?

If you must do the mango ice, they have that here too- and it looks just as good, but without the plop of mango shebert excess.



Or go for "ba bao bing" which is like a mix-in of everything popular like green beans, red beans, tapioca balls, peanut and some other unidentifiable stuff.



But I prefer the clean lines and flavors of the red bean and "xiao tang yuan" which is made fresh and slightly fatter and chewier than the frozen and boiled white and pink variety that you will spot at most other shaved ice places. Once you have this, you can never go back! I went back a few weeks later and got the same thing- though the first time was definitely better than the first.

There's nothing like love at first bite.

Look for these signs if you are taking a taxi or walking.. The white sign is the front facing the street, the blue one is from the sidewalk. There is also an Adidas store a few doors down and Tequila Sunrise a few blocks away.




If you don't mind eating something hot during the summer, or want something during the winter, try the "tang yuan"- filled with sesame paste and bathed in a rice wine soup. Apparently, it was voted by 30,000 voters as the top place in Taipei to go to for yuan xiao AKA "tang yuan" AKA mochi rice balls filled with stuff.



Second place? Jiu Ru on Ren Ai Road. Nice... I'm on top of the Lantern Festival favorites.

Tai Yi shaved ice is available until midnight every night. Awesome.

PS When I start having three posts in a row with ZERO comments, I start getting nervous! Not interested in hummus and hotcakes??? Without sounding too girly, I really do love hearing from you guys!