Taipei 101 food guide Continue Wednesday, July 08, 2020 I did extensive research and then tried and tried most of the famous night markets and restaurants in Taipei. This Taipei food guide won't look like a typical tourist destination, but there will be a good mix of hidden gems where locals eat in and Taipei's iconic restaurants! While Taipei may be known for its street food and night markets, I personally prefer their restaurants, which tend to serve my favorite eats in Taipei. If you're researching on where to eat in Taipei, this will be your ultimate food guide to the best restaurants in Taipei! Tips for travel are best traveled in groups of foursomes, so you can Uber or take a taxi around Taipei. You may find that it may be more convenient/cost effective to share a ride rather than public transport in Taipei. I find it more convenient, as opposed to taking the subway. My Taiwanese friend told me that renting is more expensive near the metro, so it's usually quite a distance to walk to good places to eat even after you've taken the subway which is fine if you have plenty of time. I'll try my best to put Chinese restaurant names, so you can just copy and paste names on your Google or Uber map to find it! Getting to and from the airport to TaipeiSince airport is in Taoyuan, and Taipei City is quite a distance if you are traveling solo or in pairs, it may be cheaper to save or use public transport, but groups of four and above should consider pre-booking a transfer from the airport, which will be more cost effective and saves time. When I took the bus it took quite a while because it would pick up customers in many different places before going to or from the airport - I really regret not booking a private shuttle instead (no need to lug around my heavy luggage and I actually waited for almost 20 minutes at the bus stop while it was drizzling a bit! ) Private airport transfersI I am happy to say that Taipei has one of the most affordable and fast internet speeds I have used during my travels. This means that all IG STORIES and Snapchat videos you can download! It's as simple as booking online and just putting it on the counter at the airport or on a high-speed rail. I usually avoid buying it on the counter before the immigration queue (which can be quite a long wait if you don't go straight and spend quite a bit of time buying simcards). Instead I will book it online through the website and then collect it after I pass immigration, saving a lot of time. If you are in groups - it is always cheaper to buy Wi-Fi to share - otherwise, just buy your own simcards if you're solo or a couple of travelers. Click here or in the picture to pre-book a simcard or Wi-Fi egg online - Taipei 101 Observatory Before I get to the meal, I'm sure most of you will definitely get to Taipei Observatory 101 and here's a tip I can give you you Ok. There will certainly be a long queue of people who are queuing up to buy tickets. You can skip this queue and just pick up the ticket in the ticket machine! Just be sure to choose your time slot and arrive on time - otherwise you may need to line up to change the time of ticket sales! Click here or in the picture to pre-book your ticket to Taipei 101 and skip the line! The most popular Taiwanese breakfast! Dou Jiang Yu Tiao (fried dough with soy milk) While you see Yong He Dou Jiang everywhere, my fav dou Jiang should be Fu Hang Dou Jiang. They open as early as 5:30 in the morning, and you will definitely see the queue! Sao Bing is baked fresh from the oven - you can see them in action while queuing to order, but my advice is to ask one of your fellow travelers to get a seat first as it can be very difficult to find places here! Basically you order soy milk (dou jiang), as well as yu thiao, wrapped with sau ping - which is basically fried dough, wrapped with egg and toasted pancake. You can dip them on soy milk while eating. Salted soy milk is something you either love or hate it. This is salted cottage cheese soy milk served with dried shrimp, harvested vegetables and chopped fried dough (yu tiao). Some of my friends didn't like it, but I find it pretty good. Fu Han Dou Jiang ⾩杭⾖漿 Hua Shan Market, 2F No. 108, Chungxyao East Rd., Sec. 1 Near MRT: Shandao Station opens: 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. (but sometimes they sell early) Mama Lau Rice Balls: Another Taiwanese Breakfast Mama Lau is a very popular place for breakfast takeaways according to my research. You can see a queue early in the morning where people grab their breakfast on the way to work. There's seriously a great selection of type of rice balls you want, but they are usually stuffed with pork floss and you choose between white or purple rice, with options to even add cheese! Hubba habba! It looks good! 'Like all Taiwanese breakfasts, they have soy milk, or you can choose this red rice milk here! They even put yu tiao in it! Note that they can be ultra filling and its best to share one of two people, or you will find that you won't be hungry all day long! I think that's why people love them for breakfast as it fills you up and you stay full for quite some time! Mama Lau Rice Ball 劉媽媽飯糰 No. 88, Section 2, Hangzhou South Road opens 5 a.m. - 11 a.m. Nearest MRT: C.K.S. Memorial Hall Station Lan Jia Gua Bao 藍家割包 Taiwanese Hamburgers Lan Jia Gua Bao was one of the memorable moments in Taipei. What I like about this place was how soft and fluffy the pair buns were - combined with gorgeous pork, You can choose how lean or how fat you want your fillings to be - then topped with herbs and crushed peanuts... Omg! Seriously heaven in the bite! This Gua Bao die to die must also eat in Taipei I tell you! Except gua bao, Bao, also got a very good soup from the pork intestines here. Very recommended! Don't forget to pop in front of this restaurant to drink a cup of Chen San Din fresh milk with brown sugar tapioca balls/pearls to drink! Seriously good! You will keep coming back again and again! In my opinion - the best in Taipei among all I have tried. Lan Jia Gua Bao 藍家割包 and Chen Sang-din 陳三⿍⿊糖粉圓專賣店 No.3, Aly. 8, Ln. 316, Sec. 3, Luosif Rd., Chungzhen Dist., Taipei City 100 Nearest MRT: Gongguan Station opens 11 a.m. - 12 a.m. (closed Mondays) Song Shan Gua Bao 松割包 Alternative Lanjia (conveniently near shopping paradise) While shopping in the shopping paradise of Wu Feng Pu, I came across this alternative to Lan Jia called Song Sang Gua Bao, which actually tastes better than Lan Jia according to my wife, as she mentioned pickled vegetables tastier here. While I find both Lan Jia and Song Of The Sun both super tasty, the advantage of Song of The Sun is that it is very well located in the shopping skies in Taipei. So if you're shopping around Wu Feng Pu, be sure to take a look at this place for delicious Gua Bao! Delicious!! Son Shan Gua Bao 松割包No. 179, Songshan Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110Opens: Daily 11:30AM-8PMNearest MRT: SongShan Station Klook.com Taiwanese Taiwanese beef noodles take their beef noodles seriously and even hold competitions annually to encourage competition. I've tried quite a few beef noodle sites, but I tape it down to 3 of my favorites here. Lao Pai Niu Rou La Mian Da Wang (Old School Beef Pulled King Noodles) ⽼牌⽜⾁拉⾯王 To be honest, this place wasn't on the list of places I explored, but it was just next to the hotel I stayed at. I was attracted by the local crowd here and decided to give it a try. Little did I know that this place actually has a long history and is quite famous for its beef noodles and dumplings! The noodles here are proudly handmade! The noodles were handmade and you can also choose to have Dau Xiao Mian (knife shaved noodles) to go with the beef. The best part is that you can order some different mixed stews, tofu and egg garnishes (RU WEI) to accompany the noodles. I especially love stewed tendons! Drools! Lao Pai Niu Ru La Mian Da Van ⽼牌⽜⾁拉⾯王 No 7, Lane 46, Chongqing South Road, Sec. 1, Taipei, Taiwan Nearest MRT: Taipei Home Station opens 10am - 8pm Niu Dian ⽜店 Niu Dian basically means bull shop in Chinese. A simple name but this place ranks very high and I had to wait for one hour before I get a seat for breakfast! The good news is that you can take a room from the staff and shop as it is near the Xi Men Ding area. You can choose pure beef soup noodles and choose which part of the bull you like, such as tendons, or trip I also decided to check out their beef stew version with works; combination of each part.