Taipei: Street Food & Hidden Eats Night Market Food Tour
Taste 10+ iconic dishes on our guided food tour through Shida Night Market, Taipei University, and Yongkang Street. From pork buns to bubble tea, discover Taiwan’s fla...
Taipei eats from morning to midnight, mostly on the street. Five major night markets (Shilin, Raohe, Ningxia, Tonghua and Linjiang) anchor an evening grammar of oyster omelettes, pepper buns, taro balls and stinky tofu, while breakfast counters across Da'an pour fresh soy milk over youtiao before the office hour. The 1949 wave of mainland refugees layered Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghai and Shandong cooking onto a Hokkien Taiwanese base, and Din Tai Fung's xiaolongbao was born from that meeting at a Xinyi Road oil shop. The city holds Le Palais (three Michelin stars since 2018), Logy and T+T at the high end, but the editorial centre is a bowl of beef noodles, a queue at Yong Kang and a flat white at Fika Fika. Bubble tea is the export. Pineapple cake is the souvenir. Vegetarian Buddhist cooking has its own city-wide infrastructure.
Eat your way through Taipei
Browse by price
Food festivals coming up in Taipei
All Taipei food festivals
1-30 Sep
Taipei Restaurant Week (Taipei International Food Festival)
Casual fine dining set menus across Taipei
12-20 Sep
Songshan Cultural Park Beer Festival
Craft beer and bar bites
25-27 Sep
Taipei Mid-Autumn Festival
Mooncakes, pomelo, barbecue
22-26 Oct
Taipei Hot Spring Season (Beitou)
Hot spring cuisine, Beitou restaurant and hotel menus
Book food experiences in Taipei
Taipei Tastes Food Tour with 12+ Tastings
Trade the skyline views for the charcoal-grilled street food of Wanhua and Ximending. With 12+ tastings, this tour is an all-access pass to the food hotspots and night...
Taipei: Food Tours w/ Top 10 Taiwanese Foods (Breakfast/Dinner)
Have you ever wondered what the top 10 Taiwanese foods are or searched online? With two thoughtfully curated food tours, we make exploring Taiwan’s iconic dishes fun, ...
Taipei: Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) & Beef Noodles Cooking Class
Join a fun, hands-on cooking class in Taipei to master Taiwan’s iconic dishes, meet new friends, and enjoy authentic local flavors! (Vegetarian option available)
Taipei: Your First Day Food Tour with Locals & 12+ Tastings
Just arrived in Taipei? Start your Taiwan adventure with a local guide. Discover 12+ authentic tastings while gaining insider tips, MRT know-how, and personalized reco...
Map of Taipei
Every restaurant, cafe, market and bar we cover in Taipei, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
Where to eat in Taipei: editor-picked starting points
5 institutional venues to anchor a Taipei food trip
- Le Palais - Cantonese, chef Ken Chan and Matt Chen
- logy - Tasting menu, chef Ryogo Tahara
- Tairroir - Taiwanese, chef Kai Ho
- JL Studio Taipei - Malaysian, chef Jimmy Lim
- T+T - International, chef Johnny Tsai
Signature Taipei dishes
- Beef noodle soup - Niu rou mian is Taipei's official city dish since 2005
- Xiaolongbao - Xiaolongbao is the ten-pleat Shanghai soup dumpling that Din Tai Fung canonised on Xinyi Road in 1972
- Lu rou fan - Lu rou fan is the canonical Taiwanese bowl: minced pork belly slow-braised in soy and five-spice, glossy and fatty, ladled over hot rice with pickled cucumber
- Oyster omelette - O a jian is the Hokkien-Taiwanese oyster omelette: gummy sweet-potato-starch batter folded around small oysters and eggs, glossed with sweet pink sauce
- Stinky tofu - Chou doufu is deep-fried tofu cured in fermented vegetable brine until it develops a pungent smell
Best Taipei neighborhoods for food
- Xinyi - Taipei 101 anchors the city's banking and luxury-mall district
- Da'an - The cocktail-bar and beef-noodle heartland
- Zhongshan - The post-1949 mainland-Chinese restaurant district and modern coffee corridor
- Songshan - Raohe Night Market, Nanjing East Road's bakery row, and the office district that built T+T
Signature dishes in Taipei
The plates that define eating in Taipei.
Beef noodle soup
Niu rou mian is Taipei's official city dish since 2005. Spoon-tender braised beef shank in a soy-and-spice broth over hand-cut noodles, with pickled mustard greens.
Where: Yong Kang Beef Noodle, Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle, Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles, Liu Shan Dong Beef Noodles
Xiaolongbao
Xiaolongbao is the ten-pleat Shanghai soup dumpling that Din Tai Fung canonised on Xinyi Road in 1972. Hot pork-and-soup parcels, dipped in ginger and black vinegar.
Where: Din Tai Fung Xinyi, Kao Chi, Hangzhou Xiao Long Tang Bao, Yang Shin Vegetarian
Lu rou fan
Lu rou fan is the canonical Taiwanese bowl: minced pork belly slow-braised in soy and five-spice, glossy and fatty, ladled over hot rice with pickled cucumber.
Where: Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan, Din Wang Mazu Stewed Pork Rice, Liu Ji Lu Rou Fan
Oyster omelette
O a jian is the Hokkien-Taiwanese oyster omelette: gummy sweet-potato-starch batter folded around small oysters and eggs, glossed with sweet pink sauce.
Where: Yuan Huan Bian Oyster Omelette, Addiction Aquatic Development, Shilin Night Market
Stinky tofu
Chou doufu is deep-fried tofu cured in fermented vegetable brine until it develops a pungent smell. Served hot with pickled cabbage, sweet sauce and chilli.
Where: Tien Hsiang Stinky Tofu, Shilin Night Market, Ningxia Night Market
Gua bao
Gua bao is the Taiwanese hamburger: a steamed lotus-leaf-shaped bun stuffed with five-spice braised pork belly, pickled mustard greens, peanut powder and coriander.
Where: Lan Jia Gua Bao, Shijia Baobao, Shilin Night Market
Cong you bing scallion pancake
Cong you bing is the flaky chewy pan-fried Chinese flatbread layered with green onion. Sliced and eaten plain, or wrapped around egg and pork floss.
Where: Yong He Soya Milk King, Fuhang Soy Milk
Hot soy milk and youtiao breakfast
The Taiwanese breakfast standard: fresh-ground soy milk (salty or sweet) eaten with a long fried-dough youtiao crueller dipped in. Add a sesame shaobing for crunch.
Where: Fuhang Soy Milk, Yong He Soya Milk King
Bubble milk tea
Bubble milk tea (zhen zhu nai cha) is Taiwan's gift to the world: chewy black tapioca pearls in iced milk tea, sucked through a fat straw. Adjustable sugar and ice levels.
Where: Moonleaf Tea Shop, Smoothie House
Pineapple cake
Pineapple cake (feng li su) is the buttery short-crust biscuit filled with sweet pineapple-and-winter-melon jam. Taipei's canonical souvenir, packed into red-and-gold gift boxes.
Where: Chia Te Bakery, SunnyHills Taipei Minsheng, Wu Pao Chun Taipei, Kuo Yuan Ye
Three-cup chicken
San bei ji is the signature Hakka-Taiwanese braise: chicken pieces stir-fried with equal cups of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, finished with handfuls of Thai basil.
Where: Shin Yeh Shuanglian
Pepper bun
Hu jiao bing is the charcoal-oven-baked Fujian pepper bun: flaky crust around a juicy peppery pork and spring onion filling, sold from market stalls and queue counters.
Where: Fuzhou Shihzu Baked Pepper Bun, Raohe Street Night Market
Danzai noodle
Danzai mian is the small porcelain bowl of Tainan-origin noodle: yellow wheat noodles in a tiny shrimp broth, topped with minced pork, shrimp and coriander.
Where: Du Hsiao Yueh
Iron egg
Tie dan are quail or chicken eggs braised repeatedly in soy and five-spice and air-dried until shrunken, chewy and intensely savoury, a Tamsui-coast snack.
Salt and pepper chicken
Yan su ji is the night-market deep-fried chicken snack: marinated boneless chicken pieces fried with basil leaves, dusted with house pepper and chilli salt.
Where: Shilin Night Market, Tonghua Linjiang Street Night Market
Ba wan
Ba wan is the Changhua-origin glutinous rice-flour 'meatball', a translucent dumpling skin around pork, bamboo and mushroom, steamed then deep-fried, served with sweet sauce.
Where: Shilin Night Market, Tonghua Linjiang Street Night Market
Mango shaved ice
Mang guo bing is the canonical Taipei summer dessert: layers of mango-syrup-infused shaved snow ice, topped with fresh mango chunks, mango ice cream and condensed milk.
Where: Smoothie House
Sesame oil chicken soup
Ma you ji is the winter Taiwanese tonic soup: chicken pieces fried in toasted sesame oil with ginger and rice wine, simmered into a deep amber broth.
Where: Shin Yeh Shuanglian, Mountain and Sea House
Restaurants to know in Taipei
A handful of the places we send friends to when they are in Taipei.
Din Tai Fung Xinyi
Din Tai Fung's Xinyi Road original is the xiaolongbao counter that turned a 1958 cooking-oil shop into a global chain. Bib Gourmand; queues from 11:00 sharp.
Signature: Xiaolongbao, Truffle and pork xiaolongbao, Cucumber starter
Mountain and Sea House
Mountain and Sea House revives 1930s Taiwanese banquet cooking inside a restored Ren'ai Road heritage mansion. One Michelin star plus a deep wine list.
Signature: Honey-glazed pork lard rice, Roast suckling pig, Bottarga rice
Yong Kang Beef Noodle
Yong Kang Beef Noodle has been pulling beef and braising shank since 1963. The two-floor Lane 31 counter is Bib Gourmand and the canonical visitor bowl.
Signature: Niu rou mian classic, Tendon and brisket combination, Pickled mustard greens
Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle
Lin Dong Fang's clear-broth bowl is many Taipei locals' default beef noodle, running 11:00-03:00 across every shift. Bib Gourmand listed since 2018.
Signature: Clear-broth beef noodle, Niu rou tang, Beef tendon
Le Palais
Le Palais has held three Michelin stars since 2018, Taiwan's only 3-star room. Cantonese fine dining with Cherry Valley duck from Yilan as the marquee.
Signature: Crispy-skin roast duck, Char siu Iberico, Chinese spinach and salted-egg dumplings
logy
logy holds two Michelin stars under chef Ryogo Tahara, sister to two-star Florilege Tokyo (chef Hiroyasu Kawate). Asian-contemporary, deep Taiwanese sourcing.
Signature: Tasting menu, Mountain ingredients course, Hand-pulled noodle
Where to eat by neighborhood
Xinyi
Taipei 101 anchors the city's banking and luxury-mall district. Eslite Xinyi basement, Simple Kaffa Sola at 88F, and Din Tai Fung's flagship cluster.
Best for: Xiaolongbao, Mall food halls, High-rise coffee
Da'an
The cocktail-bar and beef-noodle heartland. Yong Kang Street, Dongmen MRT, Indulge and Bar Mood, Yong He Soya Milk for breakfast.
Best for: Beef noodles, Cocktail bars, Breakfast counters
Zhongshan
The post-1949 mainland-Chinese restaurant district and modern coffee corridor. Le Palais sits at Palais de Chine Hotel; Fika Fika opened the third-wave wave on Yitong Street.
Best for: Cantonese fine dining, Specialty coffee, Vegetarian dim sum
Songshan
Raohe Night Market, Nanjing East Road's bakery row, and the office district that built T+T. Chia Te ships pineapple cakes worldwide from here.
Best for: Night market, Bakeries, Modern tasting menus
Wanhua
Ximending pedestrian shopping zone meets Longshan Temple's old Bangka district. Ay-Chung mianxian queue, Lao Shan Dong beef noodle basement.
Best for: Street food, Beef noodles, Temple-side classics
Beitou
Taipei's hot-spring district at the north end of the Tamsui-Xinyi MRT line. Japanese-era ryokan dining, Marshal Zen Garden's heritage banquets.
Best for: Hot-spring banquets, Day-trip dining, Japanese heritage
When to come hungry in Taipei
Peak food season: November is the Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival window and the city's coolest dining month. October to March is the easiest season: night markets in shorts weather, hot-pot evenings, citrus and bamboo shoot at the wet markets. Mid-June to late August is rain and 35C humidity; reserve indoor.
Local dining hours: Breakfast counters open 05:30-11:00. Lunch 11:30-14:00. Night markets fire up around 17:00 and run past midnight. Most sit-down restaurants close 14:00-17:00 between services. Sunday is the busiest dining day; many small kitchens close Monday or Tuesday.
Tipping: No tipping in Taipei. Sit-down restaurants add a 10 percent service charge by law on the bill; street stalls and night-market vendors take cash, exact change appreciated. Small coins are never refused.
Taipei food, FAQ
What food is Taipei known for?
Taipei's signature dishes include Beef noodle soup, Xiaolongbao, Lu rou fan, Oyster omelette, Stinky tofu. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.
What are the best food neighborhoods in Taipei?
TableJourney editors map Taipei by district. Xinyi, Da'an, Zhongshan, Songshan are among the strongest for food, each with its own guide.
Where should I eat fine dining in Taipei?
Editor picks in Taipei include Le Palais, logy, T+T, plus the full fine dining chapter on TableJourney.
Are there food tours in Taipei?
TableJourney covers 6 editor-picked food tours in Taipei, with what each shows you and how much to budget.
Does Taipei have good vegetarian or vegan food?
TableJourney's Taipei dietary chapter covers vegan, vegetarian, halal venues, each editor-picked with what to order and how to ask.