Ever talk to other Asians while traveling in other Asian countries and they mention how Taiwan is known for delicious food and you wonder what the hell they’re talking about?
Depends on where they’re from. I have yet to hear a Singaporean, Malaysian or Thai make such a statement. Perhaps for obvious reasons.
I have yet to hear a Singaporean, Malaysian or Thai make such a statement too. But when i hear Koreans and Japanese say it it baffles me. Both places have much better food options imo and is the main reason i look forward to visiting those places. Even the lunch boxes from family mart and 7-11 there taste pretty good.
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That is a fantastic piece of advice. Thank you.
Ya, i’ll have to try that one, seems like it’s worth a shot
They bring magazines and food travel guids to experience Taiwan’s food culture!
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I love food. I live to eat, not eat to live. Personally, I think Taiwanese food is near the top of the heap in Asia. It’s light, and tasty and I love the flavors of chili, basil, garlic, cilantro and ginger…the one downside is that it can tend to run a bit sweet. While lacking some variety, the quality of product and seafood in Taiwan is really outstanding - and no where have I found the same quality of fruit. In the month that I’ve returned, I’ve been eating at restaurants that maybe I haven’t been to in 20 years. Some are mere ghosts of what they used to be now that the second generation has taken over. Some are still stars…
When I was stationed in Singapore I made it a personal mission to visit every hawker center on the Island. In a year and a half, I think I got about 80% there. Great flavors, but a bit repetitive and not so subtle. Hong Kong probably had the worst food of anywhere - bland and overpriced…worse even than China. Maybe it was just too subtle for me. Thailand also has great food, but the Thai are food snobs and basically sniff at anything that’s not Thai. Overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Korean food and felt let down by Japanese food. Way too subtle for me.
Singaporeans blog glowingly bout food in Taiwan.
I’ve been saying for years that fresh food in Taiwan is among the best in Asia, Taipei in particular. The range of both Chinese and Asian food is amazing. The sheer abundance and accessibility of eateries is beyond anywhere else. The fresh ingredients are the main thing though. Taiwan has an advantage over city states like Singapore and HK in that it grows a lot of it’s own fruit and veg and has a good variation of climate. It’s also better than the big cities in China like Beijing which doesn’t have much fresh produce available due to it’s northerly location.
You’ve got different fruit coming into season through most of the year. The South East Asians tend to eat a lot of canned fruit in their deserts, that’s something you don’t really see in Taiwan. That’s why they go bananas over Mango Ice or Chua Bing. Real mango (man the mango this year was outstanding), real pineapple, real juicy and sweet watermelon, real peaches and pears, real strawberries, real starfruit, real bananas. Pretty much all grown in Taiwan locally. They must go apeshit 
. The dofu and douhua places here are the best in the world. The xian cao is freshly made, not from a can like those other places. The douhua and doujiang is often made on the premises, same with the hongdou and ludou.
Seafood in Taiwan is awesome and has the best price vs quality ratio of just about anywhere. I mean you can get seafood in the Philippines but can they cook it…no frigging way, everything is grilled to death. In Taiwan you go into any Kuai Chao place and you’ve got a range of live fish, freshly killed fish, and they can cook it a hundred and one ways for you, and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. HK, it’s hard to even find a restaurant at ground level these days and they don’t have the street food culture anymore. It is my dream to build a world beating chain of 100 Kuai Chao restaurants, anybody in with me .
Taiwan’s tea drinking culture is also exceptional, for a lover of tea I don’t know anywhere else like it.
Now Taiwan and Taipei in particular is starting to have good bakeries, again something that is hard to find in Asia.
Korea has great food, very healthy in general, love their type of spicy flavours and use of garlic and veggies. It’s not as varied as Chinese food though. Japan, again great cuisine but can be expensive to get fresh food there or eat out. Vietnam, absolutely fantastic noodle soups and fresh veggies with less oil, one of the jewels of Asian cuisine, but again does not have the breadth of Chinese cuisine.
So in Taipei you’ve got all that great Northern and Southern cuisine styles, Taiwanese local cuisine, Hakka cuisine, and then a great range of Asian eateries. All at affordable prices with mostly fresh ingredients. Yes people can say this or that regarding cleanliness in some places but it’s a balance, if you get too strict you can end up unaffordable, inauthentic and unavailable. Generally if I can see them cooking it in from of me then I’m happy.
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Singaporeans love Taiwanese food.
Chinese Malaysians love Taiwanese food.
In both the above countries they have various Taiwan themed restaurants and they do very well.
Japanese people are very tuned into the food scene here in Taiwan, and some of the better local restaurants (not necessarily the pricey ones either) there are always Japanese people.
People from Hong Kong are very fond of Taiwanese food as well.
Thais, Vietnamese, Laotians, Filipinos etc…have a very limited leisure class so I am guessing a lot of them just don’t know about it, and Koreans, well they are just Korean and will die without daily ingestion of kimchi.
What the fuck are you drinking for tea? You do realize Nestea is not typical of Taiwan tea.
I visit Japan quite often, and I can tell you their food is nothing as varied as Taiwan’s and the quality of ingredients is in fact lower not higher in many cases, this is due to cost. Fruit and vegetables cost there can be double to triple of Taiwan’s. Meat and fish too. Yes sushi and lamian (the more expensive places) will be better, but beyond that…I just don’t see it. Order a biandang type dish in Japan and you will be lucky to get even a morsel of meat in the dish. Little bitty portions. You may even have to stand up like the Germans for the privilege. Seafood restaurants don’t compare to Taiwan either.
Maybe you are talking about high end Japanese restaurants, but I can order a whole fresh fish in Taiwan cooked any way I want for 150-200 NTD. Try getting that in Japan. And it will be tasty. Because they know how to cook fish.
Taiwan’s tea culture is superb. In fact even in 7-11 you can order 10s of different types of pre-made teas, with different levels of sugar added. But I am talking about the cheap drinks places that make tea fresh everyday. You can order your tea anyway you like. No sugar, little sugar, half sugar, full sugar. You can order any mix you like. You can go for oolong, green tea, light green tea, black tea. You have 100s of different of places to choose from. You can get flower tea or fruit tea. You can go for herbal tea. You can get frozen ice teas. Whatever you fancy.
The most popular ‘drinking’ establishment in Taichung is a chain called Chun Shui Tang. This is FAR more popular than any coffee chain and far more classy. That’s simply part of the unique tea drinking culture that has been maintained here.
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Nothing else comes to mind? Flower tea and fruit tea is not tea because of your arbitrary choice but barley tea is? You deign to drink Dong Ding tea but nothing else will do. My guess is you have absolutely no clue about tea agriculture and the tea culture here. Make sure that not a drop of milk will touch your tea and contaminate it now. Maybe you can import your water from Japan too :roflmao: .
I’m sure people really care for your reasoning when it’s 35C outside…you are not in Japan now.
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Kelun, you seem very fond of Japan and not that thrilled with TAiwan. Which is fine. But make sure you stay in Japan hear? 
And if you unfortunately found yourself in Taiwan, learn to like it or make your way back, because I am feelin like you are missing Japan a lot.
I guess I was a bit harsh about Kelun, but I think he hasn’t really experienced the tea culture here properly. Maybe a trip up into Chiayi county or Nantou might change your mind . I certainly do not know everything these is to know about Japanese food or drink either. What I like about the appreciation of tea in Taiwan is it is something people from all walks of life get, even the youth. They drink fresh tea mainly instead of soda drinks, that’s pretty cool to see.