This.
It’s not FAMOUS, it’s popular. In Taiwan. Stop conflating the two terms.
If it’s all you’ve ever eaten because you’ve never left Taoyuan, of course you’re going to love it. It’s all you’ve ever known.
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Yeah, but I’m bored of that. Can we go back to Spanish food again?
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Isn’t that called marketing? Don’t people do that for everything they are trying to sell?
Yes 100% but the observation here is that when discussing the topic of Taiwanese food is that the delta between what is marketed and reality is especially large.
Taiwanese cuisine is adequate BUT average food quality is low (quality of ingredients, how demanding the local populace is). You can compare this with say Swedish cuisine where you could argue cuisine is below that of say Taiwan but average food quality is very high. I know where I’d rather be eating…
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Not really. I’d jump off a building if I had to eat Taiwanese food for every meal.
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Trying to stay on topic. Does anybody remember the Taiwanese quarantine hotel meal horror show that was posted up here? That was arguably worse than the pandemic itself.
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This thread has some of it:
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My quarantine experience last summer (which caught me off-guard, as I was under the false impression I could stay in my room—NOT!) was expensive but thankfully the hotel provided mostly good food and some damn fine coffee roasted by these guys:
Guy
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Gabee is the premium stuff, those guys have been around for some time now.
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I think this sums up my feelings pretty well…in general I would say a lot of it is overrated, not bad, just overrated. Some popular/“famous” places with way too much ‘style’ and not nearly enough substance…although that is hardly unique to Taiwan. That being said though there are quite a few things I like, seemingly more than my Taiwanese friends.
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Yes! They delivered a delicious dark chocolate taste, with not a hint of over-roasting. I was impressed, and it certainly took some of the edge off the sticker shock I felt over the hotel bill.
Guy
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Every so often I once again feel this little wave of joy about how my wife was perfectly willing (and indeed happy) to stay in a Marriott for my week of quarantine, so I got the apartment and she got a stay-cation (with a much shorter commute), and it still wound up cheaper than a quarantine hotel would have been.
Thank you for helping me re-live that joy!
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Glad that worked out for you!
I distinctly remember that I had less pleasant words for my pricey experience though. 
Guy
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Yeah, my return to Taiwan last summer was definitely a lot more pleasant than what most went through that year.
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In terms of food, I abide by the One Taiwan policy. I don’t bother too much in trying to classify most of the food. Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal, Sichuan, Cantonese, Shanghai… Or even some foods of Japanese origin like mochi, for example. I put all together in the same Taiwanese sensu lato food.
So, yes, I like Taiwanese food. Although most of my favourite dishes are probably outside of the Taiwanese sensu stricto category. I also appreciate the wide variety of leaf vegetables and fruit available. If only we could have barely average tomatoes…
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3 weeks of quarantine slop was my introduction to Taiwanese food
But it didn’t get a lot better
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Have you been to Sichuan?
Crushing all expectations sounds like the perfect intro to Taiwanese food. 
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Oh god. I’d forgotten that quarantine-hotel food would be a first Taiwanese dining experience for many who have arrived in the past few years. Not that it gets great later … but, ouch.
I was still writing a journal when I first arrived here. I probably have a written record of what I ate in the first few days. Zero recollection now.
I remain curious if the xiansuji stand near my first apartment was actually good, or simply set the template for what I want that snack to taste like. Because it’s never tasted anywhere near as good since I moved away.
I haven’t. A Sichuan place opened near me eight or nine years ago. It was so good, but I have no idea how similar it is to food in Sichuan. Gradually the foods got blanded down, to suit what people wanted, they told us. That was disappointing. Eventually they closed. Now it’s a tonkatsu restaurant.
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No, sadly. I can’t only compare directly with Hong Kong. Of course, Hong Kong food is better there.
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