Taipei 7D6N

Taipei''s answer to Tokyo''s Shibuya area, Ximending is the place to go for fashionable clothes, a movie or a snack and still come home with change. The bargain prices and up-to-the-minute fashion sense of the clothing stores here make Ximending a magnet for young people and a great place to get a taste of Taipei''s buzzing street scene.

The city government has closed off a designated pedestrians-only area on Hanzhong Street, Wuchang Street and Ermei Street to make it easier to navigate through this often crowded spot. In addition to the clothing stores, there is a cinema district here with more than 10 movie theaters and a movie museum.


Location Wuchang St. (between Zhonghua Rd. and Kangding Rd.), Hanzhong St. (Chengdu Rd. to Hankou St.), Ermei St. (Zhonghua Rd. to Xining S. Rd.)

Public Transport Take the MRT Bannan Line (Blue Line) to the Ximen Station

萬年甜不辣 - 西門町萬年大樓
阿宗麵線 - Xi-Meng-Ting Headquarter: No.8-1, Emei St., Wanhua District, Taipei City
老天祿滷味 - 55 Wuchang St 2
美觀園日式料理 47 Emei St
鴨肉扁 - ZhuangHua Rd
钱柜PARTYWORLD - Corner of Hanzhong Rd and Chengdu Rd

Shilin Night Market is the largest night market in the entire Taipei City. If your trip allows only one night for strolling around in Taipei, then this is the place because on top of varieties of gourmet foods, it also offers generous open hours from noon till midnight; bargains are available at all sorts of stalls and shops that you can shop till you drop.
Shih-lin Night Market is divided into two major sectors. One of them is the “Shilin Night Market”, which is a food court, right across the Jiantan MRT Station. Any night market snack you could possibly think of may be found here. It is recommended that you sit yourself at one stall and order your choices of snacks, and then go to other stall right away to order some other snack and have the other stall deliver your orders over to your table, so you may enjoy a feast of night market foods at relatively low prices without fighting your way through the crowds.

The other sector centers around the “Yanming Theater”, stretches to the blocks around Danan Road, Dadong Road, and Wenlin Road. No need to worry about the narrow streets and lanes that crawl all over this sector; just move along with the crowd and you will find reputed delicacies and heart-pounding specialty shops.

Some products are popular among shoppers in this sector and are the must-sees. Sports goods (mainly on Dadong Road), for example, come with latest fashion with very affordable price tags. Secondly is the eyeglass wears (on Wenlin Road). They come in all styles and discount sales are often found. The third is fashion accessories (splattered on Anpin Street and the Teen Block on the back of Yanming Theater”. This block resembles Shibuya, Tokyo, where the most trendy fashion accessories are displayed, including American hip hop, Japanese and Korean fashions, and ethnic styles in South Asia. There are also custom-made, personalized products; a shopper’s heaven for souvenir.

【Must-have Gourmet】

生炒花枝 Wok-fried Squid (Sheng Chao Hua Zhi) - Fresh squid is sliced and then wok-fried with garlic, red pepper, bamboo shoot slices, and carrots, and boiled with stock soup to make thick soup. Tasted somewhat sour with sweetness and aroma of basil; it opens up appetite. Squid itself has no distinct flavor, but the crisp chewing makes it one of the most popular seafood among Taiwanese people. If you are up for spicy flavors, then why not add some more chili paste and black vinegar (offered by stalls on table). You may find wok-fried squid stalls in “Shih-lin Tourism Night Market”.

大餅包小餅 Bun in a Bun (Da Bing Bao Xiao Bing); This snack is recommended by many foreign tourists. Wrapped under handmade flour crust is a crispy, smaller fried cake that comes with optional fillings including bean paste, taro, sesame, curry, and chilly. It tastes totally different from western style desserts, and is one of the most famous key signature snacks. You may find Bun in a Bun stall in the Shilin Night Market.

藥燉排骨 Herbal Stew of Ribs (Yao Dun Pai Gu), Taiwanese like to maintain health with health enhancing diets, and the herbal stew of ribs is the most classic and affordable nutrient gourmet dish. Its stock soup includes more than ten varieties of Chinese herbal medicines that are stewed for 3 to 4 hours before used for boiling fresh pork ribs. Its dark appearance may look deterring, but after pork ribs are boiled to soft with flavors are brought out, the soup tastes light and sweet with unique aromatic scent of herbals. This dish is a must-try. In fact, many foreign tourists become addicted to this dish and wish to come back for more of the unique herbal aroma. You may find Herbal Stew of Ribs stalls on Jihe Road and in Shilin Night Market.

雪花冰 Snow Flakes Crushed Ice (Xue Hua Bin), As the name suggests, Snow Flake Crushed Ice looks like layers and layers of snow flakes. It is a unique ice block with mixtures of flavors of milk, peanuts, coffee, and others, machine-chopped to beautiful layers of snow flakes; stacked up to more than 3 inches on a plate. This specialty is not just eye catching; its wonderful feeling of instant melt away and mouthful rich milky flavor ensure that once you start, you can’t stop. Op top of basic flavors of milk, peanut, coffee, and Japanese green tea, you may add other syrups and fruits (such as strawberry, mango, and water melon) on Snow Flake Crushed Ice to make your personal choice of flavors. Snow Flake Crushed Ice can be found at the “Xin Fa Tin Bin Guo Min Dian (Xinfatin Crushed Ice and Fruits Restaurant)” on Anpin Street.

大雞排 Jumbo Fried Chicken (Da Ji Pai) Friend Chicken is one of the most popular street foods in Taiwan. However, friend chicken at Shilin Night Market is famous for its jumbo size. It is 1.5 times larger than regular friend chicken; perhaps larger than your face. Size is not the only thing; Taiwanese fried chicken is soaked in special sauce before frying, and its taste is mixed with spicy pepper and aromatic herbals, and the meat quality is tender and juicy; it is of its own kind other from common western style fried chicken. The best time to serve is right out of frying pan. Crispy on outside and juicy on inside; you will definitely be impressed. You may find Jumbo Fried Chicken stalls in Shilin Night Market and in front of Yanming Theater.

國父紀念館

Hou Shan Pi Station

- take 32, 277 from Hou Shan Pi Station then alight at Sung Shan train station
- take 204, 306, 518 alight at Sung Shan train station

Raohe Street Night Market is the very first night market for tourism in Taipei City, and is well planned and organized. All stalls and store are put together on two sides of a 600-meter street, and strolling down the street is relaxing and pleasant. A full round-trip street strolling with a gourmet meal here takes only about 1 hour.
In addition to plentiful gourmet foods, shops of all kinds also gather in here including fashion boutique, men’s boutique, children’s toys, and various house supplies. Prices are very low. Ethnic style ornaments, textiles, and gems are also sold at quite a few stalls. If you buyers for ethnic style dresses, jades, and arts crafts, you may find your favorite items here at the lowest budget.

【Must-have Gourmet】

豬腳麵線，Pork Feet Noodle String (Zhu Jiao Mian Xian), NT$ 70 Taiwanese pork feet may be cooked in different recipes, but you may taste the most classic recipe here. Pork feet are cleansed and then simmered with various Chinese medicine herbals for about 3 or 4 hours. Fat in pork feet is simmered out and only the elastic and tender meat will stay. The taste is fresh and great; even the stock soup is wonderful. It is recommended that you order a dry noodle string on side. This handmade Chinese style noodle string is similar to angel’s hair. Some lard, onion soybean sauce, and exclusive sauce are added to and mixed with boiled and dripped dry noodle string. Lovely taste and you will be longing for more.

連豬腳麵線 Lian’s Pork Feet Noodle String (Lian Zhu Jiao Mian Xian), 饒河街66號路中 In front of No. 66, Raohe Street

牛肉麵 Beef Noodle Soup ( Niu Rou Mian), NT$ 90 This stall is one of the most famous beef noodle soup stalls in Taipei. Handmade thick noodle is very chewy, and stock soup of 20 hours simmering with ox bones is thick and strong. The beef is pre pan-fried and then slowly simmered with exclusive sauce, garlic, and crystal sugar; this makes the quality of beef soft, tender, but not stiff. There is always a crowd of customers waiting at this place for a treat of beef noodle soup. If you like strong taste, the beef noodle soup with strong herbal scent and soybean sauce aroma here will definitely satisfy your appetite.

程班長牛肉麵 Sergeant Cheng’s Beef Noodle Soup (Cheng Ban Zhang Niu Rou Mian), 饒河街138號路中 In front of No. 138, Raohe Street

藥燉排骨 Herbal Stew of Ribs (Yao Dun Pai Gu), NT$ 50 There are several stalls selling Herbal Stew of Ribs. You can smell the dense herbal scent from a distance. However, there will be no bitterness of herbal medicines when you actually taste it. The stock soup made with more than one dozen of herbal medicines is very sweet and fresh with mild scent of spices; very delicious. The stall uses the entire ribs. Soft and tender meat melts right away in your mouth. It is recommended that to take out the bones, and dip the meat in exclusive chilly paste; the taste will be even better. Gourmands who prefer mutton meat has option of mutton ribs.

印度、巴基斯坦美食 Indian and Pakistani Gourmet ( In Du Ba Ji Si Tan Mei Shih) The chef owner comes from Pakistan, and offers authentic Indian and Pakistani gourmet foods in night market. For some NT$ 200 and you may enjoy truly Indian great meal; it’s about half of the price in regular Indian restaurants. Although the price is not high, but you can still taste Naan, the cook on site Indian baked cake; Tandori roasted chicken that is pre-soaked with Indian spices and yogurt; and a variety of aromatic, mouth-watering curries. If you are running on a short schedule, you may order take out. This place is a great alternative if you have already tasted too much Chinese gourmets.

阿拉丁印度、巴基斯坦美食 Aladdin’s Indian and Pakistani Gourmet Restaurant (A La Ding Yin Du Ba Ji Si Tan Mei Shih) 饒河街101號 No. 101, Raohe Street; 2756-8077

Location Raohe St.and Sec. 4, Bade Rd and Fuyuan St
Opening Time 17:00-24:00
Public Transport Bus：276 . 205 . 203 . 605 . 306 . 311

From Jiantan station take free Miramar Shuttle

The historic riverside town of Danshui is as well-known for the sunset views as it is for its local snacks. Apart from the wide array of seafood on the menus here, a few notable dishes include the following:

Iron eggs (tie-dan 鐵蛋): True to their name, these are the hardest boiled eggs you may ever sink your teeth into. Extensive stewing reduces the eggs to the size of a quail egg. They are chewy, dark brown and flavored with a mixture of spices.

Agei: This dish is made by deep frying a fried tofu skin stuffed with spiced vermicelli noodles and sealed with surimi (fish paste). It is usually served with a spicy sauce.

Fish balls (yu-wan 魚丸): Danshui`s famous fish balls are made from shark meat paste and garlic, stewed in a meat sauce and served with a light broth.

Shrimp Roll（xia-juan 蝦捲 ): These crispy shrimp snacks are generally made of shrimp paste and served in both regular and spicy varieties. They are often sold in skewers of three or four.


Mussels pan-fried with basil: Fresh caught mussels are served up in Danshui with an addictive mixture of garlic, chili pepper, fresh basil, and thick soy sauce. The best-known eateries for this dish are across the Danshui River in Bali, reached by a quick ferry ride.


 Sour plum drink (suan-mei-tang 酸梅湯). Sweet and sour at the same time, this drink is made of salted pickled plums cooked in syrup and served up iced. It makes a good companion with the local snacks and helps beat back the heat.


Public Transport To get to Danshui, just hop on the MRT Danshui (Red) Line and get off at Danshui Station (the terminal stop).