Beef Braised in Soy Sauce Bubble Twa

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"Taiwanese food history is as murky as Taiwanese politics," says Katy Hui-wen Hung, author of 2018's A Culinary History of Taipei. Indeed, it's hard to talk food without getting political around here. Many of the dishes we dear today wouldn't exist without successive eras of global trade, colonialism, and hegemony. And nowadays, much of the international customs has ghosted Taiwan, an oftentimes-overlooked island of in-between-ness, which has no official representation in the United Nations, and is subject field to the dueling whims of the American and Chinese governments. How can y'all merits a national dish when about of the world doesn't even admit y'all as a country? (Taiwan forges ahead anyway, hailing beef noodle soup as its official cure-all.) Taiwan is at a political crossroads, one that makes for a unique cuisine that'south rich and complex, steeped in historical lore and brimming with political landmines.

In short: Talking about food here is complicated. But enjoying Taiwanese food is quite the opposite. Sugary, aggressively herbal, and securely umami flavors permeate the local cuisine in a visceral way, a awareness that's only amplified in Taipei by its setting — ofttimes a bustling street corner, a jam-packed night marketplace, or a steamy hot pot palace. This is the essence of re nao-ness (熱鬧), the "hot and noisy" spirit that makes the island breathe. It's the in-your-face flashing lights, powerful smells of stinky tofu, and jittery, larger-than-life feeling that comes with being elbow-to-elbow inside a large, pulsating mass in one of Asia's densest urban centers.

So, while Taiwanese food pokes at both the proud and prickly parts of national identity and patriotism, it is very much worth exploring. And Eater is here with a comprehensive guide to help navigate all the ins and outs of eating in Taiwan's capital letter metropolis.

Agreement THE INFLUENCES

The food we call up of equally distinctly Taiwanese is in fact a hodgepodge. Local indigenous flavors and waves of outside culinary influences take all coalesced into the "salty-sugariness" trademark of modernistic Taiwanese cuisine in which handfuls of basil, garlic, and green onion supercharge nearly every dish.

For thousands of years, indigenous Austronesians lived exclusively off Taiwan's generous land and body of water — a lush smorgasbord of gurgling streams, mineral hot springs, shamrock-light-green mountains, and craggy coastlines. This way of life is, for the most office, a thing of the past, but one-half a million Taiwanese aborigines nonetheless populate the country, and their culinary influence endures via local ingredients similar millet and mountain peppercorn known as maqaw; flavorful dishes similar leaf-wrapped abai millet dumplings and salty maqaw-spiced sausages; and cooking techniques like salting and slow smoking.

Taiwanese cuisine also bears the marks of the Hakka people — an ethnic Han Chinese subgroup with ancestral roots in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Southern China that began settling on the island around the 17th century. Today, four.5 million Hakka call Taiwan abode, and their rustic cooking informs many of the flavors nosotros associate with Taiwan: thick, basil-heavy soups; lei cha tea mixed with peanuts, mint leaves, sesame seeds, and mung beans; and pan-fried mi fen rice noodles.

Nosotros tin thank Chinese people from Fujian for the sweet, heady flavors that permeate dishes like minced pork on rice and gua bao, or pork abdomen buns — they came here beginning during the Qing Dynasty, and subsequently, along with the mass arrival of mainlanders fleeing the Communists at the end of Mainland china's civil war in the 1940s. In between came 5 decades of Japanese colonization starting in the late 1800s, which brought bright, umami pickled vegetables, sweet-steamed mochi covered in sesame, and seafood dishes with an accent on seasonal ingredients. To this day, bento boxes and sushi confined tin still be found on most every street corner in Taipei.

And not surprisingly, America too has left its enduring marker. While wheat products were already prevalent throughout Taiwan, the postwar USAID era — in which Americans brought tons and tons of wheat to the isle — was when foods like wheat noodles, wheat flour-based buns, sweet breads, and dumplings became a national obsession, and the Taiwanese diet was forever changed.

Beef noodle soup from a street stall in Da'an, Taipei

THE DISHES You lot HAVE TO KNOW

Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵)

The combination of slowly braised beef with a tangle of slurpable noodles seems and so fundamental, it's hard to believe whatsoever ane civilisation can lay claim to it. Information technology is, however, considered the national dish of Taiwan (though its origins are Chinese), and given a distinctly Taiwanese spin with the addition of pickled mustard greens and the signature v-spice pulverization of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. Taiwan hosts the Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival every year, where the soup — in which wheat noodles swim forth with tender beef shanks, beef tendons, and greens in a hearty stock that's been slowly simmering with beef bones for days — is consumed by the gallon. Lay's even sells a Red Braised Beefiness Noodle Soup potato fleck flavor inside 7-Elevens across the island.

Every restaurant has its own closely guarded secret recipe, with variations in broth, noodle size, and meat quality. (One shop in Taipei charges a whopping $10,000 TWD, or well-nigh $325 USD, for a bowl with well-marbled cuts from the U.Due south. and Australia.) But most Taiwanese have their neighborhood go-to, where a bowl unremarkably costs no more than $185 TWD ($6 USD).

Greenbacks City (錢都日式涮涮鍋) is 1 of the popular casual hot pot chains in Taipei

Hot Pot (火鍋)

Every season is hot pot flavour in Taiwan. So central is hot pot to the dining culture here that nearly home kitchens are equipped with their own dedicated hot pot burners that get pulled out for company. There are almost five,000 hot pot restaurants countrywide, doling out one of a diverseness of styles — from shabu-shabu to Sichuan numbing mala to Taiwanese stinky tofu — with vibes that range from fast-food efficiency to all-you-can-eat fancy. Here is where the Taiwanese people gather, dipping any number of things — seafood, thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, dumplings, wontons, mushrooms, and all kinds of tofu — into table-sized pots of stock simmering with pork basic, jujube, or pickled cabbage. Call up your desired seize with teeth from the broth with chopsticks or tongs, and dip information technology into a savory sauce yous customize yourself with sesame oil, sha cha sauce, soy sauce, garlic, freshly chopped scallions, black vinegar, sugar, or chile sauce. (For more on hot pot, see our total guide to Taiwan's ultimate communal food.)

Gua bao, or the Taiwanese Hamburger (刈包)

Taiwanese-American chef and Telly personality Eddie Huang created a cult post-obit around the pork belly buns he serves at New York's Baohaus, but he'south not dishing out anything his Taiwanese ancestors haven't known about for centuries. Gua bao, frequently translated every bit "Taiwanese hamburger," is a northern Taiwanese specialty, and features puffy mantou steamed buns that are generously stuffed with slabs of sweet, fatty pork abdomen that's been braised in a mixture of a rice wine, soy sauce, and Chinese v-spice powder, and topped with crushed peanuts, pickled mustard greens, and cilantro.

Zong Zi: Viscous Rice Dumpling (粽子)

Zong zi refers to any leaf-wrapped bundle of pasty rice, and variations can exist constitute throughout Asia. In Taiwan, it'due south usually pyramid-shaped, with fillings like stale shrimp, mushrooms, peanuts, or chestnuts in addition to pork. Sometimes there'due south pickled radish, along with salted egg yolk, plus other $.25 of crunch to counter the sticky chew of the rice.

Taiwanese Fried Craven (鹹酥雞)

Served in fried craven chains and night markets across the country, Taiwanese fried chicken is deep fried not but once, but twice, assuasive for a crumbly, crunchy trounce that's every bit thin and delicate as tempura. Korean fried chicken is fried twice, likewise, but the Taiwanese version is typically tossed with salt, pepper, and basil leaves, and is dusted with v-spice pulverisation, for a crunchy, salty combination that rivals any fried chicken variation across the globe. You'll find popcorn-style chicken besides as full schnitzel-like cutlets and chicken parts sold by the piece.

Braised Pork Rice (滷肉飯)

Braised pork rice is how Taiwan soothes itself. Like most of the world'due south comfort foods, it'south neither fancy nor complicated: but fatty, soy-braised pork belly served over freshly steamed white rice. It can exist relished on its ain as a complete dish, or every bit the base of a repast that includes a number of dissimilar sides.

Oyster Vermicelli Noodles (蚵仔麵線)

This soup is made from a stock that'south perfectly geng, meaning thickened, commonly with starch, giving it a smooth and slimy texture that's rounded out past fleshy oyster chunks and chewy bits of pig intestine. It's garnished with cilantro, but a spoonful of vinegar can be added, too. Nigh the declension, you'll also find an oyster omelet that's a like celebration of slime.

Scallion Pancake (蔥油餅)

The scallion pancake — sometimes known equally a light-green onion pancake — is a savory, flaky, croissant-like flatbread that mixes scallions into an oil-enriched batter that'south ladled onto a hot griddle and seared until crisp. Taipei's all-time street stall artisans tin can exist seen deftly spinning, fluffing, and flipping the pancakes until puffed and layered. Eat one on its own, or wrapped around eggs, basil leaves, cheese, seared beef, ham, corn, and more.

Yongkang Scallion Pancake stall is one of the metropolis'south about famous street vendors

Century Egg (皮蛋)

Age an egg anywhere from weeks to months in salt, lime, and ash and you become pi dan, a greyish-black delicacy that's a bit like a hardboiled egg surrounded past a jelly-similar casing. The yolk tastes faintly sweet, with an indulgent creaminess like to really good cheese. Try it with congee for breakfast, topped with a spicy chile sauce, or on height of fresh tofu.

Three-Loving cup Craven (三杯雞)

San bei ji is as well known as "three-cup chicken," for the three equal parts of rice wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil that make up the chicken'due south braising liquid. Information technology'southward popular in both Prc and Taiwan, just the Taiwanese have a much sweeter have on the recipe. The whole thing is cooked and served in an earthenware pot, and arrives at your table still crackling with a generous final touch of basil.

Xiao Long Bao, or Soup Dumplings (小籠包)

Taiwanese concatenation Din Tai Fung has become internationally synonymous with soup dumplings, and the original branch in central Taipei consistently draws lines from open to close for its broth-filled Shanghainese steamed pork dumplings. It isn't the only game in town, however, and locals honey to fence the merits of the mom-and-pop rivals. How to soup-dumpling like a daredevil? Catch 1 straight out of the steamer, pop it in your mouth, scald your natural language, and grimace as you continue to scarf the remaining contents of the bamboo steamer while wishing y'all'd had more patience. Truly, it'south the only real manner to eat xiao long bao.

A *fan tuan* breakfast from Taipei's North Pastry (北方大陸餅)

Fan Tuan (飯糰)

Taiwan's handheld portable breakfast of choice is the fan tuan, a burrito-like roll of sticky rice encasing fillings that range from pickled radish, pickled mustard greens, braised egg, and pork floss (the traditional) to egg, salary, and fifty-fifty sugar. Modern versions flirt with dissimilar colored rice — royal is especially popular — and, wrapped in plastic, they're the ideal on-the-get breakfast.

Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐)

Plenty of the world'south finest foods are stinky. Cheese, for ane. And durian. And preserved seafood. Fifty-fifty eggs. And then the level of trepidation with which many foreigners approach Taiwan'south fermented tofu is overblown. Stinky tofu is fermented in a brine that usually includes Chinese herbs, dried fish or shrimp, bamboo, mustard, and amaranth greens. The outcome is moist, tender tofu that's almost often served fried. Most Taiwanese believe the smellier, the meliorate, but fearfulness not — the smell registers more than in the olfactory organ than on the palate.

Aiyu Jelly (愛玉)

Made from seeds of a creeping fig diversity native to Taiwan'southward mountainous regions, this squishy, sweet jelly is ordinarily poured atop tart lemon juice and crushed ice, then sucked out of a plastic ribbed cup with an actress-wide straw. Along with pearl milk tea, it's the refreshment of selection for surviving Taiwan'due south sweltering summers.

Shaved ice at Kokochi Kogosei well-nigh Chifeng Street in Taipei

ALLLLL THE DESSERTS

The southern city of Tainan is considered the "sweet tooth majuscule" of Taiwan — legend has information technology the former majuscule'southward wealthy residents used to put a spoonful of sugar in every dish — but the whole of the land has adult a reputation as a land rich in desserts. Whether information technology's boba dens or shaved ice shops, there are endless ways to indulge pretty much any time of day. Here are just a few of the essentials:

Shaved Ice ( 礤冰)

In shops across the state, big blocks of flavored ice are shaved by motorcar into ribbony sheets or a fine snow-like powder and heaped with fresh fruit, red beans, mung beans, taro, tapioca balls, and grass jelly, all soaked with a heavy dose of sweetened condensed milk or sugary ginger syrup.

Pineapple Block (鳳梨酥)

A remnant of the island's pineapple-growing history, these palm-sized shortbread tarts stuffed with tangy pineapple or sweetness winter melon paste are the land'due south prized pastry and a well sought-after souvenir. The gifting of pineapple cakes is serious business organisation in Taiwan — the Taiwanese Hokkien word for pineapple is ong lai, which is homonymous to "coming luck," and symbolizes wealth, fortune, and prosperity. Here, aficionados can wax lyrical about the subtle differences between bakeries, and parents accept been known to judge potential sons- and daughters-in-constabulary based on the brand they gift.

Ice Cream Burritos and More than

On busy street corners and in night markets throughout Taipei, y'all'll find carts selling takeaway treats like chewy handmade taro and sugariness white potato mochi balls; spongy egg-shaped waffle cakes; and what tin only be all-time translated as ice cream burritos: tortilla-like flour crepes rolled around scoops of fruit ice foam, shaved peanut brittle, and fresh cilantro for a masterpiece in textural and temperature contrasts.

WHAT TO Potable

Taiwan has a robust gan bei (乾杯), or bottoms-upwards, culture. The unofficial beverage here is gao liang (高粱), a sorghum-based jet fuel favored by Taiwanese tipplers that was born in northeastern China before finding its manner to Taiwan. Gao liang manufacturing on the island was a relatively modest manufacture until the 1950s, when the Taiwanese islands of Kinmen became a war-torn home to thousands of Nationalist troops fighting the Communists across the straits. The soldiers on Kinmen, like soldiers everywhere, needed booze to keep them warm during chilly, windy nights while fending off relentless shelling from neighboring Red china — and the residue is history. Now a fixture in international competitions, gao liang is served common cold or at room temperature and sipped or tossed back by the thimble-total. Some of the strongest bottles have effectually 63 percent ABV, with a kerosene terminate not for the faint of liver.

These days though, nearly Taiwanese prefer whisky, beer — perchance from ane of the local craft breweries on the ascension, like SUNMAI or Taihu — or Western-style craft cocktails, which are dispensed with flair at underground speakeasies beyond Taipei, like Ounce, R&D Cocktail Lab , and Staff Just Order. (The latter is members-only, complete with a secret car that escorts you to the bar and swipe cards for the entrance.)

For a more sobering sip, loftier mount oolong and black teas are still primal to Taiwanese life, both in their tillage and their consumption. While recent generations have been moving away from traditional tea drinking in favor of coffee and sugary, shaken tea beverages, a nascent renaissance is brewing among politically minded youth looking to embrace tea equally an important attribute of Taiwanese culture.

Only no potable rivals the giant that is boba. Known by different names around the world — boba tea, pearl tea, tapioca milk tea — the simplest version is made with milk, black tea, and springy, caramelized tapioca pearls shaken together similar a martini and served with the at present-signature super-broad harbinger. From in that location, the variations are endless, simply all prize the presence of "Q" — that boisterous, gummy, rubbery, chewy texture that is locally honey. (For more than on Taiwan'south boba obsession, see our detailed primer, here.)

GETTING A HANDLE ON MEALTIMES

Meals are tricky in Taiwan, where eating is often seen as an all-day grazing thing with few rules to its chronology. Breakfast is a certain bet — a motley of morning traditions brought over from China, including flaky flatbreads, buns, dumplings, and other starchy things. Bowls of sweet or salty soy milk are classic Taiwanese breakfast fodder, accompanied by a feast of spongy, focaccia-like shao bing (sesame sandwiches); crispy dan bing (egg crepes); and long, gilded-fried you tiao (crullers).

There'southward ordinarily a midday and evening meal, too — something swooped up from a street cart, a casual buffet restaurant, or one of the bustling sidewalk operations that serve steaming soups, rice dishes, and other Taiwanese favorites to diners perched at communal tables on rickety plastic stools. Just Taiwan doesn't terminate there: Before and betwixt these meals, there's the concept of xiao chi, which means "footling eats" in Mandarin, and applies to the barrage of street foods that are available for snacking on throughout the day.

Taiwan so adds in an official 4th meal: xiao ye, or the midnight snack, with night markets, street carts, and 24-hour shops selling anything from breakfast dou jiang (soy milk) to fried chicken skin. So really, in that location are no hard and fast rules for when to eat in Taipei. The just guiding principle: Man man chi (慢慢吃), "bask your food slowly" in Mandarin.

Roasted goose from a street stand in Taipei, Taiwan

WHERE ALL THIS EATING HAPPENS

Short respond: Everywhere. Merely follow your nose. As described in a higher place, nearly every inch of sidewalk in Taipei doubles as a dining room. Taipei loves lining up, and if there'south a line out the door of a eating place, chances are it'due south worth the wait. Aside from one-off street stalls and total-blown restaurants, there are a few other unexpected spots for a peachy meal.

Street Markets

Much of the best eating in Taiwan happens on the street — at an informal sidewalk eating place, a morning wet market place (similar a farmers market place), or 1 of Taipei'southward famed night markets similar Raohe, Ningxia, or Tonghua. (Run across here for more than on street vendor culture and a detailed breakdown of the best at Raohe.) Stools and tables vanquish out pedestrians for prized sidewalk infinite, and there's someone flipping scallion pancakes, steaming sweet potatoes, or searing sweet corn on the cob on every corner.

Convenience Stores

Much similar the hypercolor shops throughout Nippon, Taiwan'south convenience stores supply much more than than snacks. Across the island's vii-Elevens, OK Marts, and FamilyMarts, hard-boiled eggs stew in pots of tea, mini oden hot pots abound, instant ramen noodles twirl effectually hunks of real beef, and plumped rice onigiri rolls sit at the set up. Fries? How nigh Lay'southward in Archetype Ham, English Earl Grey, and Japanese Red Blossom. And then, of form, at that place'south boba, pretty great coffee dispensed from a spout behind the cash register, and in some stores, a beer tap. Fill up on any and all of this, while as well paying your utility bills, buying film tickets, using the ATM, getting your claret pressure checked, buying train tickets, receiving packages, and press documents — all in a single cease.

Re chao (熱炒)

Re chao, which means "hot" and "stir-fry" in Mandarin, is something like the Taiwanese equivalent of a British pub, or a Japanese izakaya — all coincidental, noisy places where nightlife and mealtimes converge. These boisterous bars got their commencement as refuges for bluish-collar workers after a long day of piece of work. Today, people still knock dorsum cheap bottles of Taiwan Beer while picking at a parade of pocket-size stir-fry dishes like 3-cup chicken, fried tofu, and grilled squid, amid hundreds of other small plates, representing all aspects of Taiwanese cuisine, perfect for soaking upwards the night.

Karaoke Bars

Karaoke is as large in Taiwan as it is anywhere else in Asia, and the city'due south 24-hr KTV karaoke bars come with a tasty bonus: late-night food of all kinds, from crispy chicken to hearty beefiness noodle soup. Most bars are all-you-tin can-eat and all-y'all-tin-sing; during typhoon season, people flock here to take shelter and pass the time, with hot kettles of throat-soothing herbal tea flowing all dark.

Urban Shrimping Bars

Allow loose after a long work calendar week with a circular of DIY shrimping in one of Taipei'south indoor 24-60 minutes catch-your-own-prawn bars, where smoke from the seafood grill mingles with the wafts of cigarettes. Pace inside one of these gymnasium-sized complexes and you'll be provided with a fishing rod, bait, a net, and a small basket to catch the giant prawns lurking in the in a higher place-footing pools. The fresh catch is thrown on the grates until just cooked through, then promptly devoured.

WHAT'Due south HAPPENING Side by side

Information technology seems that recently chefs across the earth, from Copenhagen to Colombia, take been on a simultaneous quest to uncover, reclaim, and redefine their region'southward culinary identity, and Taiwan is no unlike. Over the final five years or so, a handful of Taipei chefs have been toying with the influences and ingredients that make up Taiwanese cuisine, emphasizing local produce and hyper seasonality, and pushing forrad a new mode of modern Taiwanese cooking.

Taipei's Meowvelous serves playful takes on Taiwanese classics every bit Western-style small-plates

At the Michelin-starred Raw, Taipei-born, French-trained André Chiang serves a dramatic tasting menu that includes riffs on Taiwanese street foods, like mini tea eggs with a bird's nest made of fried potato strings, as well as tofu made in-house from rare white soybeans from southern Kaohsiung. At Mume, another Michelin darling, chefs Richie Lin, Kai Ward, and Long Xiong put out tweezer-plated, edible bloom-speckled pocket-size plates built effectually products native to Taiwan like oysters, duck, and bamboo. The trend is happening exterior the realm of Michelin, too: There's the more than casual simply equally ambitious Gēn Artistic, with inventive Taiwanese-Western fusion dishes, including octopus with squash blossoms, radish cake with okra and chorizo, and for dessert, fig aiyu jelly ice. Meowvelous is a wild trip of a restaurant that presents Taiwanese fried chicken, pig's ear, and a myriad of stir-fried bits in a clubby atmosphere complete with inventive Tiki-manner cocktails.

At the same time, Taiwanese food is gaining traction beyond the earth. Boba became a U.S. strip mall staple decades ago, but now chains similar Din Tai Fung, Hot-Star Large Fried Chicken, and 85°C Baker Buffet are opening branches internationally, and Taiwanese restaurants in LA, New York, and elsewhere have tapped into a newly eager mainstream audition.

Of course, similar everything else in Taiwan, the strength behind these contempo movements is partly political. In a growing endeavor to distance themselves from Big Brother next door, many Taiwanese people are trying to put a pollex on what's uniquely Taiwanese in all facets of gild — including the food. Every bit diners effectually the globe begin to fall in beloved with the flavors of Taiwan, the hope is they might fall in beloved with the whole idea of the place — as a culture, a travel destination, and its own contained nation — as well.

A Taiwanese blackness craven training served at Taipei's modernist restaurant Raw

Leslie Nguyen-Okwu is a bilingual announcer based in Taipei, Taiwan, and covers emerging Asia.

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2019/3/6/18241036/what-is-taiwanese-food-traditional-cuisine