Food Trends

Chewy wheat noodles in a deep, braised beef broth — clear or fiery red-braised — piled with tender shin and pickled mustard greens. Taipei's unofficial national dish, with an annual festival crowning the city's best bowl.

Delicate steamed dumplings pleated by hand around pork and a burst of hot soup, eaten with ginger and black vinegar. Taipei raised them to an art form — lift gently, nibble, sip, then devour.

Finely chopped pork belly stewed in soy, five-spice and rock sugar until glossy and rich, spooned over hot rice. Cheap, savoury and endlessly comforting — the bowl Taipei grew up on.

A pillowy steamed bun folded around braised pork belly, pickled mustard greens, crushed peanuts and coriander. Sweet, salty and soft — the 'Taiwanese hamburger' beloved at markets and street stalls.

Fermented tofu deep-fried until crisp and served with sweet-sour pickled cabbage and chilli — pungent from ten paces, addictive up close. No Taipei night market is complete without its unmistakable aroma.

Plump oysters griddled into a gooey, chewy omelette bound with sweet-potato starch and egg, blanketed in a sweet-savoury red sauce. A gloriously messy night-market classic.

Sweet milk tea shaken with ice and loaded with chewy tapioca pearls, invented in Taiwan and now drunk worldwide. In Taipei it remains an everyday obsession, customised to the exact sweetness and ice.

Layered dough studded with spring onion, pan-fried until flaky and crisp, sometimes wrapped around an egg and basil. A cheap, savoury street snack griddled fresh in front of you.

A peppery pork-and-scallion parcel sealed in dough and baked against the wall of a scorching clay oven until the bottom blisters and crackles. Fuzhou-style and a Raohe market legend.

A mountain of fluffy shaved ice heaped with fresh mango, mango sorbet and condensed milk, made to share in the summer heat. Taipei's cooling dessert obsession.