Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung and Taoyuan have a few Indian restaurants and places serving halal-approved cuisine. Indian food is often at hotel buffets too. But if you have any dietary restrictions, it’s best to check with restaurants ahead of your visit. If you’re an omnivore, like me, Taiwan is pure delight. We didn’t have a single dull meal over our week-long stay. Much of the cuisine is that of Chinese Minnan immigrants. Expect lots of greens (stir-fried with meats and seafood, not as a vegetarian dish), brothy soups and stews and very little rice. Chicken dishes are widely available.
- If you do eat pork, don’t miss the chance. Taiwan’s pig-rearing skills are legendary – they once exported pork to Japan – and they make delicately flavoured dishes out of pork belly, the knuckles, ears, liver, even the blood, which is mixed with sticky rice to form cakes.
- If you can, try Taipei’s much-loved beef noodle soup. The clear broth and braised versions both have loyal supporters in the capital.
- Morning markets make for good food trails. At one at Kaohsiung, we found fried dumplings, sushi, fresh fruit, shaved ice with syrups and oyster omelettes. Also, lottery tickets!
- If you’re on the highways, stop for sugarcane juice. The Taiwanese roast their cane before extraction, giving the juice a wonderful caramelised flavour.
- Plenty of places serve home-style food. In Jiji, try He Fong (pronounced Her Fung) and near Taroko National Park, head to Lan Lan Seafood for wok-tossed fern, betel shoot, pork and shrimp. n In Hualien, famous for pork won ton soup, Daiji Bianshi (Dai’s Dumpling House) serves the kind that will change your life. The broth is silky, the dumplings meaty and flavourful without the peppery aftertaste. Chiang Kai Shek’s son loved it.
- Everybody is obsessed with pineapple cake, paying extraordinary amounts for bite-sized pastries stuffed with pineapple pulp or jam. Sunny Hills in Jiji is famous for theirs. n Din Tai Fung, Taiwan’s Michelin-star brand, is where soup-filled dim sum was invented. Don’t pop the scalding thing in your mouth.
- Pick one up gracefully with a soup spoon, spear with chopstick so soup oozes out to cool. Then eat.
- Hakka-style food (squid with bean curd, spring onion rice, and noodles with pork) is served at Ya-Zhou Hakka in Puli. At Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market, barbecued beef, hog hoof rice and fried eel are bestselling delicacies. n Kwang Fu Hong Wa Wu seems less like a mouthful after an aboriginal Amis meal there. Big portions of braised pork belly, sea-salt crusted smoked local fish, wild rice and crunchy noodles are on the menu. Try to meet the owner, Na Kaaw, an Amis witch doctor and sculptor whose woodworks act as talismans for childless couples.
- Overlooking New Taipei city is Marshal Zen Garden, an oasis of calm and onetime residence of Chinese hero Zhang Xueliang. Equally zen is their Young Marshal set meal, with modern plating and very clean flavours.
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