Yansan Night Market

For people in Taipei, it's evident that Shilin Night Market is for tourists, while Shida Night Market is for young girls to buy clothes. If you want to enjoy authentic Taiwanese snacks at the downtown, and you want a convenient place where you can reach just by stepping out of an MRT station, you should visit Yansan Night Market at the Daqiaotou Station on the Orange Line. In the paradise of delicacies only known to the locals in Taipei, you see no groups of foreign visitors. Nor can you see restaurants with fancy decor. What greets your eyes are middle-aged men wearing blue-white rubber flip-flops (藍白拖) and white tank tops. Sitting in a veranda, they are enjoying sticky tofu and huazhigeng (squid thick soup, 花枝羹). You may also see women riding a scooter stop in front of stalls for takeaways.

In this modest night market, there are three delicacies that you must not miss out: fried noodles, guabao (steamed sandwich, 刈包), and mochi ice (麻糬冰). Fried noodles is a common delicacy enjoyed all over Taiwan. But the eatery established in 1961, Chaomian Zhuanjia (Master of Fried Noodles in Mandarin, 炒麵專家) does not perform the fancy tricks usually seen in other eateries. Cooks in Chaomian Zhuanjia do not flip food on blazing flames. Instead, before scooping out the noodles, they add broth into the wok and put a lid on it so as to simmer the noodles, which then absorb the fragrance of the broth. Although the ingredients they use are simple, every night the eatery is brimming with food aficionados. The fragrant, chewy noodles leave the guests with such an unforgettable impression. Moreover, the guabao offered in Taipei Bridge Luroufan (台北橋魯肉飯) features a rich aroma. Inside the guabao, fatty pork belly and fine peanut powder go perfectly well with coriander. But nothing is more special than the mochi ice provided by Xiangji Pure Sugar Mochi (祥記純糖麻糬). The cooks add pieces of steaming hand-made mochi into soft creamy shaved ice. Doused with milk and sprinkled with peanut powder, the dish blends ice and heat, making people wonder why the fantastic dessert is only available here.