Taiwan II –Taipei Night Markets

Posted by manda on August 17th,2011

Taipei is the mecca for night markets. If you crave the thrill of eating dubiously-safe but ultimately tasty eats,you have met your match. As much as Rob and I would love to pretend to be Anthony Bourdain,our tummies would probably cry mutiny,so we took it easy this time.

After landing in Taipei,we went to YongKang Jie with my Dad and step Mom. We started with a small noodle shop and ordered Niu Rou Mian (beef noodle soup) and a few other side dishes. This was a simple dish:stewed beef shank which was tender but not fatty enough to be super flavorful,plenty of thin rice noodles,a salty but weak broth,and a sprinkling of bok choy and veggies. That being said,it was exactly what the doctor ordered (forget chicken soup!) and put us into a happy food coma.

Mango Avalanche - mango shaved ice with mango sherbert

We then explored more and found the infamous “Yong Kang 15″shaved ice shop. I say infamous because it’s actually not the original “Ice Monster”shaved ice shop that used to be there (not that we tourists would know the difference anyway). We got the Mango Avalanche which was mango to the Nth degree! Fluffy shaved ice topped with huge,soft,fresh chunks of mango,doused with sweet condensed milk,brown sugar?,and a scoop of mango sherbert. Cold,sweet,and refreshing on that sticky humid night,yet completely decadent and filling. It blew ALL of my previous shaved ice experiences out of the water and ranks high up there,along with some of the Hawaiian Shaved Ice I’ve had.

The next day we went to a real night market –I think it was the ShiLin Night Market. Our plan of attack:Find the most popular food stands (high output means less time for food to sit and spoil,crowds usually mean good taste and value) and avoid highly fermented foods (maybe Amanda was –Rob). You’ll soon realize that almost everything in the night market is prepared with something stinky,smelly,or rotten (in a good way).

So we took the plunge and ordered chou dofu (stinky fermented tofu),fried and in a soup. The fried stinky tofu was slightly crispy,soft airy cottage cheese center,topped with sweet pickled cabbage and oyster sauce. The tofu didn’t taste that bad,just a tinge sour. It was mostly the texture and smell which was offputting. Although,the stinky tofu soup smelled twice as funky! Stinky tofu swimming in a spicy steaming hot broth…at least we can say we tried it (and I liked it –Rob)!

The market itself was packed with hawker stands selling knock-off goods,and would-be customers.

After squishing through empty-handed,we happened on a takoyaki cart run by a husband and wife team. The husband was speedily flipping the takoyaki balls on the hot molds,“like he’s playing tetris!”my Dad said.After plopping four of those piping hot balls into a paper tray,the wife would,equally speedily,squirt on mayo and green wasabi sauce,and dust with bonito flakes on top.