(Almost) everything I ate in Taiwan

On my trip to Taiwan earlier this year, I tried so many different foods. This is a small collection of them. I didn’t take photos of everything—aesthetic food photos are hilariously so 2010, but I still try to at least get the point across. So don’t expect amazing photos. Hahahaha.

🍜 Beef noodle soup

A Taiwanese classic. There were so many places serving this delicious soup, often for extremely cheap prices. I think the cheapest I found worked out to be around $7 AUD. After I arrived at my hotel and dropped my bags, I sat in at a noodle shop a few minutes away. It was my first meal in the country and the wait staff didn’t speak a lot of English, and the menu was completely in Mandarin, so I just pointed at the menu after I couldn’t match the characters alongside the noodle image to the characters on the order form.

A black bowl of noodles topped with sliced beef, vegetables, and garnished with cabbage — My first meal in Taiwan

A similar dish to the previous photo, but with more soup content and chunkier pieces of beef — Ordered this from a shop in the street while I was exploring

🧋 Milk tea

I drunk so much milk tea during my visit. I probably had tea with almost every meal. The quality of the tea is excellent, and unlike many westernised versions of Asian milk teas, didn’t just taste like you were having diluted sugar syrup. Some of the tea varietes included jasmine, red oolong, oolong, and some floral varieties that I can’t recall. It felt like an exquisite selection.

🥚 Onsen steamed egg with chilli (Beitou Hot Springs Valley)

I had one of these at the Beitou Hot Springs Valley. It was delicious!

A person’s hand holding a soft boiled egg in a small plastic bag, showing the yolk of the egg — Tasty soft boiled egg!

🌭 Taiwanese sausage (Beitou Hot Springs Valley)

I don’t usually like sausages but this looked like a specialty snack, and sated my hunger.

A selfie of a person with long dark hair with pigtail braids, purple round sunglasses, blue earrings, and a yellow top, holding a skewer with a grilled sausage — lol, there wasn’t an easy way to photograph this

🍡 Dango

I tried this when I visited Jiufen Old Street (blog post on that experience coming soon!). I really, really wish I took more opportunities to eat dango, but there was just so much food to try. Dango are glutinous rice balls similar to mochi (but a little softer), typically served on a skewer.

A person with long dark hair wearing a white hat, smiling while eating and holding a skewer with sticky rice balls in white, green, and pink — Loved this! 🍡

🍤 Fried squid

There was no good way to photograph this. 😆 But you get the idea.

🥜 Peanut filled glutinous rice snack

I don’t know if these actually have a name, but I am sure they can be found in multiple places. They can be a really filling snack and are very hot when first prepared.

A person’s hand holding a paper bag filled with a cat-shaped battered snack — There were other flavours including black sesame, but I chose peanut

🍓 Tanghulu

There were a few different fruit options for this candied fruit snack, but I am partial to strawberries, so I chose strawberries only. This is essentially like dipping fruit skewers into sweet sticky syrup that then dries hard, like toffee. So it’s not anything special, but it is common.

A selfie of a person with long dark hair in pigtail braids, holding a skewer with glazed strawberries. In the background is a harbour and a cloudy sky — Quite a sweet treat, but had to try

🍨 Fried milk balls

I usually don’t eat ice cream and avoid milk because I am a little lactose intolerant, but man… these fried milk balls were so good. 😂 They start off as frozen milk balls and then are battered and fried. The outside is warm and slightly crisp, and the milk becomes hot to warm. The skewers were prepared and ready to be fried by the person running the stall after you order.

A person at a food stall wearing a white shirt and brown apron, dipping skewers of yellow small balls into a pot of fried oil. At the stall there is a large tray stacked with skewers of the balls — These were weirdly addictive

🥟 Dumplings

Taiwan is known for its delicious dumplings and being the origin of restaurant franchise Din Tai Fung. I went to Din Tai Fung with my friend Phuong, who spent some time living in Taiwan. It was delicious, and so were the other dumplings I had at Jiufen Old Street.

A person holding a white spoon containing a dumpling. In the background are some other dishes — Classic Din Tai Fung dumpling

A basket served with five fresh dumplings, smaller and more spaced apart than the previous dumplings photo — 🥟🥟🥟

🍧 Peanut and tofu dessert pudding with tea jelly (at Bai-Shui Douhua, Daan)

Phuong and I stopped by this fancy-looking dessert place that had this pudding. I’m always a big fan of Asian desserts because—surprise surprise—they are not too sweet. This place is also vegan.

A shiny gold wavy surfaced dessert bowl, filled with brown jelly, soft white pudding, and topped with peanut crumble — Looks good, tastes good

🥪 Taiwanese toast with pork, egg, and cheese (Zhen Fang Breakfast Sandwiches)

This place was close to my hotel and I stopped for breakfast one day. The bread was lightly toasted with no crust, and this was a simple, tasty, no-fuss breakfast that was easy to eat.

A white plate served with a lightly toasted sandwich with the crust neatly removed, filled with a meat patty and cheese — Warm breakfast food

🥩 Grilled beef (Ningxia night market)

I went to the Ningxia night market that was a short walk from my hotel, and couldn’t pass up on the grilled beef cubes, that were grilled right after you ordered. They were cooked just right, and I needed to fill myself up with a protein source.

A food stand at a night market with a person wearing a red apron and operating a grill, with a stack of raw beef cubes next to it — Ready to grill

A person’s hand holding a cardboard food takeaway box of grilled beef cubes — Ready to eat!

🍲 Clam soup (Ningxia night market)

Clam soup is a messy thing to eat at a market, but I love clams so I wanted to try! I was also hungry. I did alright without spilling it all over myself. There was hardly anywhere to sit, so I had to stand and eat.

A person with long dark hair taking a selfie in a street at night, holding a disposable bowl of clam soup. The pillar behind them has a food menu displayed in Chinese characters — A bit of a challenge to eat this at a market

🍩 Crispy Milk Donut (Ximen)

I was browsing the Ximen area and saw people lining up for doughnuts. I can’t pass up an opportunity to get good doughnuts so I went for it. Although I can’t remember exactly how much it was, it was very cheap.

A person with long dark hair, wearing a long sleeved yellow top and colourful jellyfish shaped earrings, taking a selfie in a street, holding a small paper bag with a white icing covered dougnut — I lined up for this 😹

I tried so many different foods while in Taiwan. I will miss the beef noodle soup, although I can still get a good bowl of the stuff in Sydney (not as cheap, though). I also miss the extremely cheap milk tea, which was around $3 but is at least double at home. I might need to scout out dango and the fried milk, as I’m not aware if they are sold anywhere.