Taipei isn’t just a city — it’s basically one massive outdoor restaurant where locals spend their evenings wandering through night markets and grabbing whatever looks delicious. The street food scene here has been evolving for over a century, starting in 1899, and today, there are more than 30 night markets scattered across the city. From hole-in-the-wall stalls that have been serving the same recipe for decades to vendors perfecting their craft in bustling markets, this is where you’ll find the real heart of Taiwanese cuisine.
Think of it this way: while tourists queue at famous restaurants, locals know the best food comes from places with plastic stools, no English menus, and crowds of people happily eating on the sidewalk. These aren’t just snacks — they’re cultural institutions that tell the story of Taiwan’s complex history through every bite.
Here is a list of 16 street foods that locals consistently recommend as essential Taipei experiences.
Xiao Long Bao
Din Tai Fung stands out from the crowd with their thin skin and perfect ratio of soup:meat:skin executed to perfection, but locals also swear by lesser-known spots. Sheng Yuan Si Gua XLB offers perhaps the best xiaolongbao with a perfect soup-to-meat ratio, executed flawlessly.
These delicate soup dumplings require serious skill — the wrapper needs to be thin enough to burst with hot broth but strong enough not to break when you pick it up. The proper technique involves placing it on a spoon, taking a small bite to release the steam, then sipping the broth before eating the rest.
Gua Bao
Picture a fluffy steamed bun acting like a Taiwanese hamburger, and you’ve got gua bao. Yuan Fang Gua Bao has been included in The Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand Taipei for several years running, serving warm, pillowy buns cradling tender pork belly brightened by pickled mustard greens and sweetened crushed peanuts.
Lan Jia Gua Bao is widely lauded as serving the best gua bao in Taiwan, offering two types of fillings — lean pork meat or fatty pork, with the best option being a half-and-half mix. Each bite delivers a perfect symphony of sweet, savory, and salty notes that make this the ultimate Taiwanese comfort food.
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Beef Noodle Soup
This isn’t just soup — it’s Taiwan’s unofficial national dish that sparked fierce debates among locals about who makes it best. Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles has a Bib Gourmand award from the Michelin Guide, with hand-pulled, homemade noodles that are perfection for about $5 per bowl.
Lin Dong Fang is one of the most well-known and respected names in Taiwanese beef noodles in Taipei, serving medicinal aromatic broth with tender chunks of both beef meat and tendon. The rich, complex broth often simmers for hours, and the noodles should be chewy enough to hold up to the intense flavors without getting soggy.
Stinky Tofu
Don’t let the name scare you off — this fermented delicacy smells far stronger than it tastes. At Jiaxiang in Shilin Night Market, they serve some of the crispiest stinky tofu around, and locals also recommend specific stalls at Tonghua Night Market that earned Michelin recognition. The fermentation process takes days or weeks, creating tofu with a pungent aroma but a surprisingly addictive flavor.
Yakou Stinky Tofu in Tonghua Night Market offers a vegetarian option of their Michelin-rated deep-fried stinky tofu. Most vendors serve it deep-fried with a crispy exterior and creamy interior, accompanied by pickled cabbage and chili sauce that perfectly balances the intensity.
Lu Rou Fan
Sometimes the simplest dishes hit the hardest, and lu rou fan proves this point beautifully. This staple features tender pork braised in soy sauce, rice wine and aromatic spices, which turns into a sweet yet savory sauce layered over steamed rice. Some of the best places to try it include Formosa Chang and Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice in Taipei.
Think of it as the ultimate comfort food — fatty, satisfying, and available practically everywhere at any hour. The braised pork should be so tender it falls apart at the touch of chopsticks, and the sauce should be rich enough to flavor every grain of rice.
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Bubble Tea
Taiwan invented this global phenomenon, and trying it here feels like visiting the source. Locals drink it at all hours, and most have a carrier tote for it, with probably at least a hundred chains where every person has their own favorite. Chun Shui Tang is known as the birthplace of bubble tea, providing a historical and delicious introduction to this beloved Taiwanese beverage.
The classic version combines black tea, milk, and chewy tapioca pearls that create a satisfying contrast of textures. What started as a simple tea shop experiment in the 1980s has become a cultural export that defines Taiwan for many people worldwide.
Oyster Omelet
This isn’t your typical breakfast omelet — it’s a savory pancake that showcases Taiwan’s coastal abundance. Oyster omelets consist of fresh oysters and greens fried in a batter with eggs, then doused with sweet red sauce. You can find them in any night market in Taipei, but Shilin Night Market and Ningxia Night Market are especially famous for them.
The batter creates a slightly chewy texture that’s unique to this dish, while the sweet red sauce adds a tangy counterpoint to the briny oysters. Locals consider this essential comfort food that perfectly represents Taiwan’s island cuisine.
Pepper Pork Buns
These aren’t your average buns — they’re baked in traditional clay ovens that give them a crispy exterior you can’t replicate any other way. Fuzhou Black Pepper Bun at Raohe Street Night Market boasts a Michelin Bib Gourmand and always draws one of the longest lines in the market.
The buns are baked in a traditional clay oven and filled with minced pork, green onions, and a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Served piping hot, these peppery pockets deliver an explosion of flavor that’s worth the inevitable wait in line. The outside should be crispy enough to crackle when you bite it, while the inside stays juicy and aromatic.
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Taiwanese Fried Chicken
Forget everything you know about fried chicken — Taiwan’s version is in a league of its own. Taiwanese Fried Chicken, also known as Popcorn Chicken, is served as bite-sized pieces seasoned with five-spice powder and fried to golden perfection. J&G Chicken, now with branches across Southeast Asia, originated in 1973 near the entrance to Ximen Station.
The seasoning blend typically includes white pepper, garlic, and basil that creates layers of flavor in every crispy bite. Street vendors often let you choose your spice level, and locals typically go for at least medium heat to get the full experience.
Scallion Pancakes
These flaky, savory pancakes are pure engineering genius disguised as street food. Tian Jin Onion Pancake on Yongkang Street is one of the most famous scallion pancake stalls in Taipei, where you should get the Taiwanese basil and egg version. At Tianjing Chong Zhua Pancake, there’s always a snaking queue where you can see crispy pancakes being flipped on the hot griddle right in front of you.
The dough gets rolled with scallions, creating dozens of flaky layers that puff up when cooked. The result is a perfect balance of crispy exterior and chewy interior, with bursts of fresh scallion flavor throughout.
Mee Sua
This silky noodle soup might look simple, but it’s actually a breakfast staple that locals crave at all hours. Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle has been serving bowl after bowl of silky-soft rice noodles in piping hot umami-rich bonito broth with chewy pieces of cured pig intestine since 1975.
Most people stand to eat, and easy to spot by the crowd standing on the street slurping noodles. The noodles are so thin and soft that they practically melt in your mouth, while the rich broth delivers deep umami flavors that wake up your taste buds. Don’t be put off by the intestines — they add a chewy texture that locals consider essential.
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Wheel Cakes
These round, palm-sized treats are like little pockets of happiness that you’ll spot at street carts throughout the city. These are little hot pocket pancakes filled with sweet red beans or custard, though savory fillings like cheese, corn, and ham exist. You can find these at street carts all over the country and at all-night markets.
The batter creates a cake-like exterior that’s crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, while the filling stays warm and gooey. They’re perfect for sharing or as a sweet snack while wandering through night markets.
Taiwanese Sausage
This isn’t your typical breakfast sausage — it’s sweet, savory, and often grilled right before your eyes at night market stalls. The sausages are typically made with pork and have a distinctly sweet flavor profile that sets them apart from Western varieties. Many vendors serve them wrapped in sticky rice or alongside fresh garlic cloves that you can munch between bites.
Raohe Street Night Market is known for its lively atmosphere and delectable food stalls, where you shouldn’t miss the popular Taiwanese sausages. The key is the balance between sweet and savory flavors, with a slightly chewy texture that’s incredibly satisfying.
Pineapple Cakes
These aren’t just desserts — they’re edible pieces of Taiwanese history wrapped in buttery pastry. When export demand diminished, local bakeries used pineapples as jams inside pastries, which resulted in the Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes as we know them today.
Amo Bakery at Taipei Main Station offers some of the best pineapple cakes, with many people saying they’re among the best they’ve had. The pastry should be crumbly and buttery, while the pineapple filling provides a perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors. These make excellent gifts and represent Taiwan’s agricultural heritage in every bite.
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Fried Taro Balls
These aren’t your typical fried snacks — they’re sweet potato dough balls that achieve the perfect balance of crispy outside and chewy inside. Liu Yu Zai Fried Taro Ball at Ningxia Night Market sells their famous Deep Fried Taro Balls with Salted Egg Yolk fresh in batches, earning a Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2018.
Each ball contains soft taro paste wrapped around savory pork floss and a lava-like salted egg yolk that creates an explosion of flavors when you bite into it. These chewy dough balls made with sweet potato are deep-fried, so they have a nice crispy outside, making them the perfect snack to share with friends. Everything is made fresh on the spot, and they’re always served piping hot.
Aiyu Jelly
This refreshing dessert is something you can only get authentically in Taiwan, making it a must-try for visitors. This wobbly crystalline jelly is made from the seeds of a variety of creeping fig and is hard to come by outside of Taiwan — authentic ones, at least. Typically served with fresh lime or lemon juice and lightly sweetened with honey, this translucent treat provides a cooling relief from Taiwan’s humid climate.
Head to Alishan to find some of the freshest Aiyu Jelly in its origin region of Chiayi, where the fig fruits are handpicked from the treetops by local farmers. The texture is incredibly smooth and refreshing, with a subtle flavor that lets the citrus and honey shine through.
How Taipei Became a Street Food Capital
What makes Taipei’s street food scene so special isn’t just the individual dishes — it’s how they reflect the island’s unique position as a cultural crossroads. Taiwan combines many cooking styles and ingredients, with influences from Indigenous Taiwanese tribes, Fujianese and Hakka immigrants, Japanese colonial rule, and refugees from various Mainland China provinces.
At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, thousands of Chinese KMT soldiers fled to Taiwan and were settled in military dependents villages, bringing their regional cuisines that evolved into modern Taiwanese dishes. Today, you can taste this complex history in every night market, where recipes perfected over generations continue to evolve while maintaining their authentic roots. The result is a uniquely Taiwanese food culture — familiar yet surprising, traditional yet innovative, always delicious.
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