Yeah that’s my recent experience as well. People there don’t seem to mind so much though. I was walking around gobsmacked constantly.
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I am still trying to reattach my jaw to my face after paying CAN$20 for fried rice in Canada this past summer.
Guy
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I find this hard to believe, but I don’t eat fruit so I can’t judge.
Are you comparing fruits that are grown natively in both countries? We grow a lot of apples in the US but I don’t believe that’s a native fruit in Taiwan, so I can’t compare apples to apples. I’d have to compare apples to guava.
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That’s highway robbery! Man I am really loving Taiwan right now.
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No. Fine dining restaurants are about the same price or more often more expensive. I’ve eaten at most of the top restaurants in Taipei and can tell you from experience that they are roughly the same price. If you order wine with the meals then it’s significantly more. And for lesser quality wines.
That hasn’t been my experience. Most fine dining places I’ve been to in Kaohsiung cost about US$200 without wine pairing, which is about the same as my hometown of Somerville, Massachusetts. But you can’t compare Kaohsiung to Somerville, Massachusetts.
The fine dining places I went to in Boston (more comparable to Kaohsiung than Somerville), on the other hand, cost $400-500 before tip without wine pairing.
Indeed. No ALDI anywhere close to Kaohsiung.
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your eating/fine-dining habits, in KHH or MA, are probably a bit higher than the average forumosan, me thinks
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Well there are only 3 or 4 fine dining restaurants in Kaohsiung that I can think of, and they all cost about the same. They all have pre fixe menus so you can’t spend any less than US$200. Thomas Chien was the last one I visited.
Same with Somerville, MA. There was only one, and the fixed price was around $200. But this was 5 years ago. It might have even gone up.
And you can just call it KH. KHH is the airport, and there are no fine dining restaurants inside of KHH. 
See Is referring to cities by their airport code a Taiwan thing? 
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You do you, but WTAF?
Hey man, I don’t come up with these prices. 
That’s what all fine dining places cost in KH. I have no say in the matter.
Ya, you and that JPMichaels guy are on another level.
I took my wife out for her birthday to a Thai place yesterday. I spent NT$1000 and got shit from her spending that much. It doesn’t have to be that expensive to eat. I agree with you.
Apples to apples, Taiwan is a fuckload cheaper than Canada.
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Ah. No wife to feed here. Just the very occasional lady friend on very occasional special occasions.
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I am more of a K-town man, myself.
Guy
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Yes I agree with your assertion. I’m not the $60nt fried rice kind of person. And what do you get for $60nt? A cup of white rice, couple of slivers of carrot, a tiny bit of cabbage, 1 egg, and a bunch of msg, salt, and soy sauce. Honestly I could eat 3 or 4 of those in one sitting which wouldn’t be good for the salt intake. I also think most bindung or bento boxes are quite poor in nutrition. Mostly just white rice with little bits of vegetables. I shake my head when I see that canned corn being served up. Taiwan has fresh corn almost all year round. The average price for a bindung or bento box for me is closer to $200nt and still goes nowhere close to being enough. I probably also go through 20-30kg of fresh fruit and veg a week. Cereal is the killer for me. It’s 5 times the price here compared to back home.
What? I can get a biandang near Taipei City Hall, fresh tasting and not at all greasy, for under $100 if I go the 1 meat 4 vegetables route. Two meat option? Under $120. They absolutely stuff it with food too…
If you can eat that stuff and still feel OK, more power to you!
Either that, or you’ve found a unicorn biandang shop serving legitimate food. In that case, support them unconditionally. 
Guy
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I guess I found a unicorn. One of my local friends introduced it to me after I swung and missed a few times with other (greasy) places. Here it is! Really close to Taipei City Hall station. Huge portions, and if you are trying to eat healthy, they have lots of great veggie/non-meat options:
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3.7 average google map review. Lemme see what folks are unhappy about . . .
Conclusion: it’s not really clear what people are unhappy about, other than the at-times surly service.
Positive consensus: it’s cheap.
Guy