Dim sum. Photo / Unsplash
Love to indulge your taste buds on holiday? Then head to Taiwan, a foodie paradise like no other, writes Anna King Shahab.
Next to celebrated Asian food capitals like Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, Taiwan flies under the radar as a culinary destination. Yet this small, mountainous island with a population of 23 million has a distinct, fascinating food culture influenced by its indigenous populations, waves of immigration, and propensity for innovation.
Here are seven tasty reasons why it’s a perfect foodie destination.
Taiwan’s indigenous Austronesians have called the island home for up to 15,000 years, however, colonisation in the 1600s and successive waves of Dutch, Spanish, Han Chinese, and Japanese rule, plus immigration from parts of China, have created the layered cultural (and culinary) melting pot we see today. That being said, there is an exciting new movement to protect and champion Taiwan’s 16 indigenous groups, including their cuisine.
Centuries of systematic marginalisation means you won’t easily stumble upon indigenous fare in Taiwan, but search and you can find. The eastern city of Hualien is home to the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Cooks’ Alliance, a group within the Slow Food movement, which promotes and protects traditional indigenous culinary cultures. Its night market Dongdamen has a row dedicated to indigenous food stalls. Look for abai – purple rice, millet, minced pork and bitter herbs wrapped in perilla leaves, sticky rice steamed inside bamboo, smoked sweet potato and millet wine.
Indigenous cuisine is also appearing in fine-dining settings, such as at Akame in rural Pintung County and at Taipei restaurant Embers.
Migration from certain parts of China has a huge influence on Taiwanese cuisine. Hakka people were early migrants and today 20% of the population claim Hakka ancestry. In the banqueting room of Hakka restaurant Shi-Ting in Hualien we feasted on a never-ending stream of specialties emerging from a humble kitchen: smoked pork, steamed chicken with kumquat sauce, thick rice noodles, pork cooked in fermented red yeast rice and delicate peanut mochi, freshly made from a heavy ball of sticky dough by the lady of the house at an empty table in the main dining room.
Hokkien fare from China’s southern Fujian province also stars in Taiwan cuisine with some of the most popular street foods – oyster omelette, beef noodle soup, braised pork on rice, bawan (sticky rice balls or rolls stuffed with savoury fillings) and the famously pungent chou doufu (stinky tofu). If you don’t at least try the latter, did you even visit Taiwan?
Fu Hang Soy Milk is one of Taipei’s favourite brekkie spots and places like it can be found all over. The fresh, hot soy milk (dou jiang) is the signature dish – watch it being made from scratch and served up from steaming vats, piping hot and sweet, and dunk youtiao (fried bread sticks) into it. Also order fresh bing – filled breads either thick and baked in a tandoor-like oven (hu jiao bing) or crepe thin and fried (dan bing) with various savoury fillings.
Taiwan is blessed with night markets aplenty and Taipei’s Roahe market, lit like a fairground, is one of the biggest and best, boasting six stalls recognised by the Michelin Guide. Among the must-try items are Fuzhou black pepper buns, fried taro balls stuffed with cheese, giant crisp chicken cutlets, Taiwanese sausage, and grilled squid with garlic and Thai basil. Have a sweet tooth? Don’t miss desserts like mango shaved ice, tanghulu (candied fruit skewers) and, my favourite, fried milk, a delicious enigma that is crispy on the outside, custardy on the inside.
In 1949 the retreat of the Kuomintang Government saw up to two million political emigres arrive in Taiwan, bringing with them foods from all over China, including Shanghai. Din Tai Fung, the cult restaurant brand built on Shanghainese xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) was born in Taipei and today boasts branches around the globe including 11 in Taiwan. At popular branches such as Taipei 101 (do go to the top of the tower while there for the most incredible view), you must book or you’ll queue forever. Of course, order the xiaolongbao and plenty of them, but also order prawn dumplings in spicy sauce, crunchy cucumber salad, fried rice with truffle sliced across it at the table, and save room for dark chocolate dumplings.
Taiwanese teahouse Chun Shui Tang claims to have invented bubble tea (aka boba, pearl milk tea) when some clever person added tapioca pearls to iced milk tea in its Taichung store in 1987. Today it boasts branches all over the island; visit for classic pearl milk tea, made with only natural ingredients and designed to be just right at “full sweet” (a level which might shatter your teeth at some places). As was the tradition with teahouses, food is also served – excellent salty and spicy snacks like spicy tofu, kung fu noodles and spicy chicken feet.
Speaking of tea, Taiwan produces it: oolong, green, white and black. A 40-minute drive out of central Taipei in the forested hills of Xizhi, the Shi-Yang is a tranquil retreat, an architecturally designed teahouse and restaurant. We began with a hyper-seasonal degustation of ten beautifully presented small dishes, then climbed the stairs to be welcomed into a tea ceremony with cha shui (tea master) Ms Chen.
