Taiwan top foods to whet your tourist appetite?

Do you know what to eat, when you tour Taipei, Taiwan?

For you visiting Taiwan for the first time, how about this list of 10 favourite foods of Taiwan?

If you have traveled Taiwan before, which of these Taiwanese eats have you tasted? Which have you missed and wish to try in your next visit?

You can savour these Taiwanese foods at the night markets, street food stalls in Taipei and many other cities in the island!

Whip up a quick appetite with EatTaipei.com: Check out 10 top Taiwanese foods tourists and locals love!

What have U tasted from this Top 10 Taiwan Foods? Pic: BBQ squid sign & others at Danshui old street! :-)

Oyster omelet!

Plump (often not) and juicy (hopefully still!) oysters in chewy sweet potato flour and egg. Pan-fried and top with sweet sauce.

Along with oyster, you may find omelet with shrimp, squid or mix of these 3 seafoods. Say “Oss!” as you lick your lips. OSS meaning oyster, shrimp and squid!

Grilled pork sausage!

Sweet-tasting pork mixed with spices wrapped into sausage form; barbecued, roasted, grilled over charcoal.

You can’t miss this Taiwanese snack! So ubiquitously available in street stalls and night markets. Try the wild boar version found in Wulai aborigine town or where available. Hint: Danshui old street has a stall. Still pork, but much less fatty for sure!

Deep fried chicken cutlet!

1 large-sized chicken, boneless and covered in flour and deep fried golden brown. Sprinkled with pepper salt and chilli powder if you wish.

Food stalls compete fiercely with one another by offering a slightly larger size of the beloved fowl. Naturally, prices increase too! Best taken when piping hot or warm. It is hot – don’t burn your tongue!

Beef noodles!

Will you like pieces of melt-in-your-mouth beef from a bowl of oh-so-fragrant soup? Slurp in another mouthful of chewy and often homemade (or handmade) noodles?

Taiwan folks love their beef and noodles combined. You can tell: There are different varieties of this dish simply and generally known as “beef noodles”! How can you speak of Taiwanese cuisine – and not mention beef noodles?!

Braised pork rice!

Pork minced and braised with seasoning and herbs till solidly flavourful, to go with your bowl of Taiwanese rice!

Braised pork may be fatty or lean. Imagine this: After a hard day of touring (yes, touring can be hard work!), a steaming warm bowl of boiled rice accompanied by the most flavourful meat awaits you. What a comforting way to replenish your lost energies!

Oyster vermicelli!

Handmade vermicelli (mianxian in Chinese, or mee-suah in Min-nan dialect) with bits of oysters and pig intestines.

Doesn’t sound appetizing to you? The bowl of whitish to light yellowish vermicelli does not look too enticing too. But go beyond its simplicity, you will discover a taste the Taiwanese love for years! Are you still waiting for me to mention a famous Taiwan oyster vermicelli eatery going by the initials A.Z..?

Bubble tea or Pearl milk tea!

Essentially iced black tea wonderfully mixed with dairy creamer or milk and chewy-to-slurpy soft sago balls!

And yes they called the chewy balls “pearls” or “bubbles”.. From this creative tea drink, a mind-boggling variety of bubble tea flavours is born! Black, red or green tea are used. Concocting sweet flavours imaginable that travel the world!

Pork rice dumpling!

Called zongzi in Chinese or bachang in Taiwanese Min-nan, this is a delicious and filling food on its own!

In fact, you may have already heard of this rice dumpling in Taiwanese folk songs! Glutinous or sticky rice is stir-fried with a mix of ingredients like pork, dried shrimps, mushrooms, even dried radish in five spices seasoning. Fragrant mix is then wrapped in dried bamboo leaves before boiling to perfection! Peel away bamboo leaves before you sink your teeth in!

Scallion pancake!

Cong youbing is the Chinese name. English names may be green onions pancake, scallion pancake, spring onion pancake..

Essentially dough with scallion mix, fried in a pan. Add sweet-savoury soy sauce for a oily breakfast or snack. There are many variations to this humble Taiwanese food. Some versions have eggs and chives as ingredients for example.

Barbecue squid!

Like the pork sausage, this is fresh squid is barbecued or grilled over charcoal fire. Often full-sized, the skewered squid is grilled to perfection.

A sweet-savoury sauce is usually brushed onto the whitish squid flesh for a distinctive barbecue flavour! In your tour in Taipei, Taiwan, you will soon see that this barbecue way is not the only way you can cook and savour the seafood so loved by the Taiwanese!

Did not see your favourite Taiwanese food in this list?

There really are too many best-loved Taiwan foods to list here!

I may compile a Top 100 Taiwanese Foods list and link it here, so you can savour them all to your fill! Happy eating, Taiwan traveler!

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