Favorite Night Markets in Taiwan

The old Ziqiang night market in Hualien has to be my favorite. It has since been moved to Dongdamen, but I haven’t been back to Huanlien.

Dalin night market in Jiayi is huge, and it has one of the best fruit juice stand.

Ruifeng is my favorite night market in Kaohsiung.

Wusheng, Dadong, and Huayuan are all pretty great in Tainan, but they are only open on specific weekdays, so you have to look up the time table before you go.

If one has to pick from Taipei, I like Raohe the best.

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Is that the one on the massive road not far from Formosa Boulevard station?

Yeah, Raohe is nice. Great to grab a pepper bun and sit by the river (and watch the rats)

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No, that one is Liuhe, and it hasn’t been the same since the 2010s.

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Raohe is my absolute favorite as well!!! So much delicious food!!!

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By that measure, you will probably find every night market in Taiwan to be “good.”

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I hate all night markets! Some food can be good but wankers shopping on scooters winds me right up. Especially the old Mamas :triumph:

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Shilin night market is dying. More and more trash shops and less and less food. Lots of empty places for rent too.

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It was pretty dead throughout the pandemic, but on recent weekends it has returned to being super crowded again. Tons of food AND trash shops, as always. The empty places are filling back up.

I quite preferred the dead version, but for the sake of shop owners I’m glad the mindless drives are back.

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Is that where the Thai woman who used to be on Tingzhou Road in Gongguan ended up?

If so, sign me up!

Guy

See also …

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This topic really has been done to death.

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Eh, there are always people for whom it’s new, and whatever’s currently recommended does change.

But I’m definitely one of those old-fashioned types who prefers bumping an old thread to having dozens of threads with the same topic.

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i dont know, its been in lehua since i came here in 2006, i dont know about the place in gong guan.

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My favorite is Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) both for food and for their effort a few years ago to promote English. Over the years both the food and the English have gone up and down but still my favorite. Only drawback is it is way too narrow so slow to stroll the vendors on a popular night.

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jilong stands out for one of the coolest ones around Taipei. Within Taipei i usually go to nan ji chang, its quite underrated.
Feng jia in Taichung is probably the coolest one i’ve been to in Taiwan as its so huge.

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My apartment wasn’t far from that night market when I was living in Hualian. As a student on a budget, I often ate there. However, that was the first place I ever tried coffin bread (棺材板) and I thought it was disgusting–way too greasy and runny.

I thought all shao xiancao (燒仙草) was the same until I tried it at Ningxia but, wow, they had the best I ever tasted.

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Gongguan Night Market, I love the scallion pancakes besides the blue building here after grabbing that you can go to river side grab a drink. Weekends are always a party time. Open space, people dancing and just good vibe for sure.

I’m not sure I’d describe the Gongguan Riverside as a “night market.” But yes it can be reached by walking from the Gongguan night market area, where yes that green onion pancake vendor (located in the alley immediately south of Shuiyuan Public Market, the blue building named above) does some decent work. I wouldn’t describe their green onion pancakes as life-changing, but given how lousy the Chinese food has become in that part of Taipei I’ll take it—solid is certainly better than terrible!

Guy

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While we’re on the subject of the Gongguan night market: I wonder if any forumosans have visited the French guy’s stall lately? It was discussed in another thread here:

Guy

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