Our local morning market demographic is… grandmas and housewives. Neither of which have a decent amount of extra spending money… so the morning market has drab run of the mill boring stuff a majority of the time.
Is there a certain morning market in or around Taipei you think is upper class?
High end products on display, or at least ABOVE $200 NT?
Not 40 vendors selling the same crap like 10NT terry cloth kitchen towels.
Yip there is one downtown that sells Spotted Dick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick
Lord Lucan, Bonnie Prince Charley, and Chunks the Dog are the proprietors.
Upper class people go to the same markets nearest their house as everyone else because their are no upper class markets.
The best looking morning market I’ve noticed for some reason seems to be YongChun on Hulin Street east Taipei off of ZhongXiao. Maybe it’s just because all the fruit is organized and stacked in rows…
No. The morning (and evening) markets target people looking to save a buck. Well, it depends what you call upper class, I can tell you where to buy courgettes, or not liking the local 10NT terry cloth where to find William Morris instead. Are you looking for something specific?
No one with any class would disdain themselves to attend a market in the morning.
Who in the world would want to mix with servants and poor people at golf time?
I am not sure if you are considering Taipei’s indoor public markets as “morning markets.” But if you are, what about Shidong Market in Tienmu (Tianmu)? Several shops serving syphon coffee; gift-level fruit (with prices to match); and a completely different vibe from the other public markets I’ve visited in Taiwan. It’s an amazing place.
That’s my two cents!
Guy
I hardly consider morning markets lower class. Just because it’s dirty and average amount spent isn’t above a certain amount doesn’t mean only lower class people shop there.
Morning markets is the place to go for fresh produce. They’re cheap for a reason because some of the stands are hand picking the produce themselves from to re-sell. There’s also lots of mom and pop owned stands/shops that hand make their own noodles/dumplings that are much much better than the dried or frozen stuff you find at supermarkets.
I’m with @Mick on this one, is their something you want to look for in particular?
If you want a cleaner market with some variety, that’s inside a building, you can try Nan Men Market (South Gate Market) near CKS Memorial Hall MRT.
Maybe upper class isn’t the right term, but some hold themselves to a higher standard than others. The mentioned Shidong market in Tienmu is a good example. Not always better, and more expensive for some things, but a higher standard overall. My wife and sister-in-law make the trip there often because they feel the pork they can get there is of higher quality, for example. The Or Tor Kor market in Bangkok is a good example of this kind of philosophy of market management; I always head over there when I’m there.
Maybe the term we’re looking for is, higher quality?
I have two morning markets in the vicinity of home, relatively the same atmosphere, but sometimes one place will have better quality produce or meats than the other. So we often make the trip to the farther one to buy from that stand.
I usually go to the closest one nearby, but I like Dongmen because I’ve found some imported peppers there. They also have a small food court upstairs with a really nice tomato noodle beef soup that is very unique.
Beitou market has some traditional items that I haven’t found in Taipei city downtown like the fresh spring rolls with different fillings. There’s a guy with two griddles set up so he can make twice as many wrappers. He has a sticky dough that is in a ball and he rolls it across the hot griddle. Enough of the dough sticks to make the wrapper. It looks like an acquired skill to me. My favorite are the fresh fruit ones.
Binjiang market is more open air which is kind of nice, too.
The morning markets are cheaper with often fresher products. Many of them get it from farms their families own and they are very competitive since other people at the market sells the same things. So pricing is very competitive. I guess some people may not be used to it, I know people found it gross getting freshly slaughtered meat or fresh whole fish there. But these are the same people who think chicken comes conveniently in nugget shapes and fishes are just nicely cut fillets on their own.
Actually the prices are pretty much fixed by the cartelized middlemen who buy from the farmers and sell to the market dealers.
Which is why you’ll never see anyone undercutting his neighbor.
If someone were dumb enough to try, he’d suddenly find his lease revoked (best case).
All of which makes it so frustrating when they start jacking up the prices based on recent weather conditions etc.
Hmm, They seem a little flexible if you continue to buy from them them. I guess they just can’t undercut in public on how much.
Well, yeah, they got wiggle room.
I just mean buddy can’t one day open up shop and get all the turnip business by knocking everything down to 50% of what all the other guys are selling for.
I still don’t get what you mean by upper class? Like a nice clean super market? Maybe jasons? I most Taiwanese, regardless of wealth still prefer morning markets for food if they are near one.
More local markets tend to have some of the type of people Andrew describes though. Usually old folks selling stuff mostly from their own relatively local plots.
I think he means selling stuff that’s real brands, expensive stuff.
They do have those.
They’re called Department Stores.
To clear the air on my use of the words “Upper Class”. Granted this will be a terrible example:
We shop for our veggies in the morning markets too… I just need more.
The only really interesting day at the morning market in Taipei is Monday… when the regulars give up their spots to new vendors. I need some vendors with some balls to sell some expensive gear, some artwork, etc. Instead of 5NT Terry cloth kitchen towels, cabbage, socks.
I know, terrible example… but hopefully you get it.
I think I get it, Im from London what you describe sounds more like Camden market. or even the Portobello Market.
While not exactly the same, have you tried the Jianguo Jade & Flower Market?