I had heard a lot about Taipei through various blogs and YouTube channels I subscribe to, and one thing that really perked my interest in Taiwan was the proclamation that Taipei was a great city for food.

What’s travel without experiencing great local cuisine!! I closely link a lot of my great travel experiences with food, and it’s a very high priority on my list of things to do when traveling.  I often do a bit of research on great spots to eat in and around the location I am staying, so it’s no surprise that I did the same for my trip to Taipei.

I envy people that live in Asia for their access to a lot of things that I can’t get here in the States, but the most enviable of them all are these great night markets.  Come on America!  Get on it; night markets are amazing!  Researching all of the night markets in Taipei, it was surprising to hear that there were so many.  For this trip thought I decided to focus on Shilin Night Market.  Yes, I know, I know….it may be one of the more “touristy” night markets but it didn’t just get popular without good reason.  And hey, I had two days to run around like crazy in Taipei and Shilin was one of the bigger markets located just a quick subway ride away from my hotel.

Getting to the Shilin night  market was incredibly easy via Taipei’s MRT system (more on that later…maybe some how-to’s about getting around).  Once I got there it was easy to see how packed the narrow streets were with people taking advantage of the cooler weather at night (Taipei is soooooo freakin’ humid).

My first night market experience was in Korea, so I pretty much knew what to expect.  As hyped up as people were making it out to be, Shilin definitely didn’t disappoint me in regards to the food department (which was I so happy about!).  I got to try so many different things, and by far the soups in Taipei ended up being some of my favorite dishes.  They sure know how to do noodles and soups very well!

Like previous bloggers recommended, I stayed away from the expensive fruit (nothing out of the ordinary fruit was being offered anyways), I tried the hot pepper pork bun (ugh..I am salivating now thinking about this!), and I tried the fried milk.

Everything I decided to try was really delicious, so I say go for it if you decide to stop by!!  The only thing I wouldn’t get again is the fried milk.  It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t good either.  When I bit into it, the warm slightly thick milk was a nice contrast to the fried dough, but it just had no flavor to it.  I expected it to have some sugar in the mix for sweetness, but nope….nothing.  I think that the “fried milk” is more of a novelty offering for the tourists anyways.

If you’re not into the food scene, there is of course ,shopping and a row of cute little games you can play.  Overall it’s a great way to spend the night out in Taipei.

See you in the next post!