What to eat in Taiwan: a food guide for your trip
You don’t need a restaurant list to eat well in Taiwan. The food people here eat every day — breakfast shops, bento shops, noodle stands, night market snacks — is sold on almost every street, so what you decide to eat matters more than which shop you walk into.
So plan the dishes, not the addresses. This page is what to know before you fly: how Taiwanese people eat through the day, what a meal costs, and the one search trick that finds these shops near wherever you end up staying. Save it now and open it when you land.
Save this for your trip
Save every dish to your phone now — about 15 MB, best on Wi-Fi — and the pictures, Chinese names and prices open without internet: when you land without a SIM card, or lose signal in the metro.
- Phone: open your browser menu and choose “Add to Home Screen” (iPhone) or “Install app” (Android). It opens like an app — no app store, no account.
- Computer: bookmark this page, or send yourself the link — foodsintaiwan.com
- In Taiwan: open any dish and tap its button. It searches the dish’s Chinese name on Google Maps, so you never have to type Chinese.
The one thing to know before you go
Search Google Maps in English and you mostly get the few places travelers have already reviewed: famous shops, brunch cafés, hotel restaurants. Search the Chinese word and the same map fills with the ordinary shops all around you — the ones locals queue at. These three words cover most of a day’s eating, and the buttons below run the search for you once you are in Taiwan.
A day of eating in Taiwan
Portions are small and dishes are cheap, so most people eat four or five times a day instead of two big meals. A realistic day:
6–10am
Breakfast at a 早餐店
Traditional shops open around 5–6am and sell out by late morning. Order Egg Pancake (蛋餅), a Taiwanese Rice Ball (飯糰), Radish Cake (蘿蔔糕) or Pan-Fried Buns (水煎包), with Soy Milk (豆漿) to drink — or Savoury Soy Milk Soup (鹹豆漿), which is a savoury soup rather than a drink, with Fried Dough (油條) to dip in it.
11am–2pm
Lunch: a bento or a plate of rice
The everyday Taiwanese lunch is rice with one main and a few sides: Chicken Leg Bento (雞腿便當), Pork Chop Rice (排骨飯), Braised Pork Rice (滷肉飯), Turkey Rice (火雞肉飯) or Braised Pork Belly Rice (爌肉飯), all about NT$90–150. At a 自助餐 you choose your own side dishes from the counter and pay for what is on your plate — the easiest way to get vegetables.
2–5pm
Afternoon: a drink and something small
Drink stands are on every block: Bubble Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶), Winter Melon Tea (冬瓜茶) or Taiwanese Black Tea (紅茶) for NT$35–70, and you choose the sugar and ice. Snacks to walk with: Egg Cakes (雞蛋糕), Wheel Cakes (車輪餅), Sweet Potato Balls (地瓜球), or Mango Shaved Ice (芒果冰) in summer.
5–8pm
Dinner at a small shop
Evening is when the noodle and soup shops are at their best: Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵), Wonton Soup (餛飩湯), Oyster & Intestine Vermicelli (大腸蚵仔麵線), Pork Thick Soup (肉羹湯). Eating with other people, order Three Cup Chicken (三杯雞) and a few plates at a stir-fry place, or get a hot pot — in winter, Ginger Duck (薑母鴨), Sesame Oil Chicken (麻油雞) or Lamb Hot Pot (羊肉爐).
8pm–midnight
Night market, or a late-night snack
A night market is the easiest place to try a lot at once: Fried Chicken Cutlet (雞排), Oyster Omelette (蚵仔煎), Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐), Sausage with Sticky Rice (大腸包小腸), Pig Blood Cake (豬血糕). Later on, Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (鹹酥雞) and Braised Snacks (滷味) shops are still open, and you order by pointing at what you want.
What it costs
Everyday food in Taiwan is cheap, and the prices on this site are the ones locals pay. A rough guide in New Taiwan dollars (NT$30 is about US$1):
- Breakfast
- NT$30–70 for something hot and a drink
- Lunch or dinner
- NT$70–150 for a bento, a rice plate or a bowl of noodles
- Drink stand
- NT$35–70, with the sugar and ice to your taste
- Night market snacks
- NT$50–100 each — three or four of them make a meal
- Hot pot
- NT$250–400 per person for a pot of your own
- A whole day
- NT$300–500 eating this way. Carry about NT$1,000 a day in cash: many stalls take nothing else
Ordering without Chinese
Show the Chinese name on your screen, or point. 內用 (nèi yòng) means eat in, 外帶 (wài dài) means take away. Drink stands ask how sweet and how cold; 不要香菜 means no cilantro. Ten tips, including sugar levels, cash, opening hours, 素食 (vegetarian) and 清真 (halal):
Read before you go
- Taiwanese breakfast — what breakfast shops sell, and why 早餐店 finds them when “breakfast” does not
- Taiwanese bento — how bento shops and self-service buffets work, and what to order
- Taiwanese hot pot — one pot per person, the sauce bar, and the winter tonic pots
- Taiwanese night markets — when night markets open, how to eat your way through one, and what to order
How many meals a day should I plan?
Four or five small ones. Portions are small and a dish costs NT$30–150, so locals have breakfast, lunch, an afternoon drink with a snack, dinner, and often something from a night market. Two big restaurant meals a day means missing most of what Taiwan actually eats.
Do I need to book restaurants in Taiwan?
Not for everyday food. Breakfast shops, bento shops, noodle shops and night market stalls are all walk-in, and the most you will wait at a busy one is 15–30 minutes. Book ahead only for hot pot chains, Ginger Duck (薑母鴨) in winter, and sit-down restaurants on a weekend evening.
How much cash should I carry each day?
About NT$1,000 in small notes and coins. Night market stalls and many small shops take cash only; convenience stores, chains and department stores take cards, and an EasyCard works on the metro, on buses and in convenience stores.
Can I eat Taiwanese food as a vegetarian?
Yes. Vegetarian food (素食) is easy to find in Taiwan, including buffets where you pick your own dishes — search 素食 or 蔬食 on Google Maps. Keep in mind that everyday dishes such as Braised Pork Rice (滷肉飯) and most soups are pork-based, and that Buddhist-style 素食 also leaves out onion and garlic.
What can I eat if I arrive late at night?
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (鹹酥雞) and Braised Snacks (滷味) shops stay open late, night markets run until about 11pm or midnight, some 豆漿店 never close, and convenience stores are everywhere. A late flight is not a problem.
Is street food in Taiwan safe to eat?
It is ordinary food here — people eat it on the way to work and after school, and stalls are inspected. Busy stalls sell out and restock through the day, which is why locals pick the one with a queue. Tap water is not drunk straight, but the ice and drinks that shops serve are made with filtered water.
Now pick what you want to eat
Browse the dishes, and tap “Find near me” on anything that looks good once you are here.