Food History of Taipei

Key eras

1700s, Hokkien settlement

Bangka (today's Wanhua) became the trading port for Fujianese settlers from across the strait in the early 1700s. The Hokkien cooking they brought (oyster omelettes, mianxian, lu rou fan) is the base layer of Taipei's everyday menu. Longshan Temple and Dadaocheng still mark this Hokkien-Taiwanese heartland.

1895 to 1945, Japanese rule

Japan's 50-year administration left Taipei with a deep Japanese culinary inheritance: izakaya, sashimi counters, tempura. Nanmen Market opened in 1907 as Chiensui Market. Heritage Showa-era buildings (Wisteria Tea House 1920s, Qing Tian 76 1931) still operate as dining rooms today.

1949 to 1980s, post-civil-war wave

After 1949, two million Chinese refugees brought regional cooking from across the mainland: Sichuan and Hunan (Rong Rong Yuan 1950), Shandong (Liu Shan Dong 1949), Shanghai (Kao Chi 1949), Jiangsu-Zhejiang. Din Tai Fung's xiaolongbao was born from this collision in 1972 when the family pivoted their 1958 cooking-oil shop to dumplings.

2010s to today, the modern restaurant city

The 2018 inaugural Michelin Guide Taipei legitimised the city's fine-dining scene, awarding three stars to Le Palais. Fika Fika opened in 2013 to launch the third-wave coffee era. Yang Shin Vegetarian (2013), Indulge (2014), logy (2018, sister to Florilege Tokyo), Mume and T+T pushed Taipei into Asia's 50 Best conversation.

Immigrant influences

• Hokkien (Min Nan): Built Taipei's everyday street food. Oyster omelettes, mianxian thin-rice noodles, gua bao steamed buns, ba wan glutinous meatballs, lu rou fan over rice all came from Fujianese settlers from the 1700s.
• Japanese (1895 to 1945): Built the Showa-era dining culture that survives today. Izakaya, sashimi counters, tempura, ramen and Japanese pastry traditions. Many heritage buildings remain as restaurants in Da'an and Beitou hot-spring district.
• Mainland Chinese (1949 wave): Brought Sichuan, Hunan, Shandong, Shanghai and Jiangsu-Zhejiang cooking. Beef noodle soup was born here, fusing Shandong noodle technique with Sichuan spicy beef braise. Din Tai Fung xiaolongbao came from the same wave.
• Cantonese diaspora: Cantonese fine dining now anchors Taipei's high end. Le Palais at Palais de Chine Hotel has held three Michelin stars since 2018, with Cherry Valley duck and refined dim sum dominating its menu.
• Southeast Asian (Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines): 300,000-plus migrant workers built a Southeast Asian food map since the 1990s, with Indonesian halal counters, Vietnamese pho shops and Filipino markets centered around Taipei Main Station and the Burmese Street.

Signature innovations

• Xiaolongbao standardised, Din Tai Fung's 1972 ten-pleat fold
• Bubble milk tea, claimed by Hanlin Tea Room (Tainan) and Chun Shui Tang (Taichung) both in 1986
• Beef noodle soup, postwar fusion of Sichuan spice and Shandong wheat noodle
• Pineapple cake, modernised by Chia Te from 1975 with the buttery-crust pineapple-jam square that became the city's gift
• Taipei's first Michelin Guide in 2018, the first guide outside Hong Kong and Macau