9 must-eat restaurants and night markets in Taichung

Taichung is one of Taiwan’s biggest cities. In fact, it’s the second biggest by population, bigger than Taipei and second only to New Taipei City. As you’d expect from a city with over 2.7 million people, it has a dizzying number of food choices, especially in a country as food-centric as Taiwan.

1. Second Market

If you’re in the mood for traditional Taiwanese breakfast, then Second Market is the place to go to in Taichung. Open since 1917, Taichung Second Public Market is a 7,000 square meter market with over fifty shops and three hundred stalls. There you’ll find all kinds of meat, produce, and spices, as well as multiple stands selling cooked food like baozi, noodles, lu rou fan, and black tea. As you can see from the long line of people below, it’s especially popular for breakfast.

2. Chun Shui Tang (Original Shop)

If you’re a fan of boba or bubble tea, then you absolutely must have one here at the original shop of Chun Shui Tang. It’s one of two Taiwanese establishments that have a legitimate claim as being the inventor of bubble tea. The other is Hanlin Teahouse in Tainan.

If you’ve never had boba before, it’s a Taiwanese drink which at its most basic is black tea, milk, sugar, and tapioca pearls. It was invented in Taiwan but it’s become hugely popular worldwide. There are countless varieties of boba today, including here at Chun Shui Tang.

3. Fu Din Wang

Not only was it mentioned in a few blog posts, but one article described this restaurant as the place to go to in Taichung for pork knuckle. Aside from braised pork knuckle, they also specialize in lu rou fan or braised pork rice. Check out that bubbling cauldron of pork knuckle deliciousness. Taiwanese pork knuckles are slow cooked for hours until they’re fork tender and the meat is practically sliding off the bone. Fu Din Wang was packed during lunch but it looks like they do a lot of business with takeaways as well.

4. Ding Wang Hotpot (Tripodking)

Like lu rou fan and beef noodle soup, hot pot or shabu shabu is another beloved Taiwanese dish. Popular in East Asian countries like Japan and China, hot pot is a soup dish containing a variety of ingredients like seafood, thinly sliced meat, noodles, vegetables, tofu, and different types of fish and meatballs. A simmering pot of one or two kinds of soup stock is left on a burner at your table along with your ingredients. You then drop the raw ingredients into the pot yourselves to cook.

5. Smokey Joe’s

Smokey Joe’s serves mainly Tex-Mex cuisine but they do offer many global dishes as well, like burgers, pasta, and paella. Smokey Joe’s is a huge Tex-Mex restaurant with an American Vintage theme. It’s a beautifully designed restaurant with multiple dining areas and vintage memorabilia adorning every space.

6. Miyahara Ice Cream

Miyahara is the most famous place for pineapple cakes in Taichung. It’s so famous in fact, that it’s one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city. Though Miyahara is best known for its pineapple cakes, it’s beloved for its ice cream as well which you can try from their small shop at the side of the main store. As you can tell from the markings on the floor, Miyahara Ice Cream is used to serving long queues of customers.

7. Hui-Sun Coffee

Hui-Sun Coffee is a popular coffee shop in Taichung that specializes in siphon coffee, a method of preparation that produces a delicate, tea-like cup of coffee. They gave a demo of the process and it was pretty cool to see, like watching a chemistry experiment. The coffee beans produced in Huisin Forest are described as being some of the very best in Taiwan. If you’re a coffee connoisseur and are interested in trying good local coffee in Taichung, then you may want to try a cup here at Hui-Sun Coffee.

See more: 6 reasons why Taiwan should be your next adventure

8. Zhongxiao Road Night Market

Zhongxiao Road Night Market didn’t seem to have as much food variety as other night markets. But more importantly, it didn’t feel as safe. Unlike other markets that are closed to vehicular traffic, this one has stalls on either side of busy Zhongxiao Road. Zhongxiao Road Night Market was offering lu wei, a type of Taiwanese braised food which is considered a distant cousin of hot pot. Commonly eaten as a snack, it involves braising a variety of ingredients in broth, then adding spices and sauces to the cooked food.

9. Fengjia Night Market

Home to an estimated 15,000 shops, restaurants, and stalls, Fengjia Night Market is described as the biggest night market in Taiwan. It’s a popular night market with a huge selection of food choices, so if you had time to visit just one night market in Taichung, then it should be this one. You’ll find many different types of grilled seafood at Fengjia Night Market like scallops, clams, squid, oysters, sea snails, and abalone.

Source willflyforfood