Food and Eating in Taipei

I still have not been able to start working, so people have asked me how I can afford to still eat :) So I decided to outline in this entry how one can eat quite well on $10 canadian /day.

There are three kinds of food here, street vendor (about fast food quality in Canada) , Food Court (Higher -level food quality than in Canada, about same level as a restaurant in Canada), and than the restaurant where the food "should be" restaruant quality food as in Canada.

Varying price points:

1. Street Food ($1-$3) typically.

2. Food Court ($3-6) typically.

3. Restaurants ($5-10+) typically. +-> naturally can be much higher


Street Vendor food is sold in a bag and usually you get chop sticks or a stick to eat it with, or sometimes just the bag itself to use to eat the food with. Street Vendor food costs anywhere from $1-3 and can usually replace a complete meal, and is sold naturally from a "street vendor" which is usually not a permanent store, but perhaps the back of a truck or a "vendor on wheels". Unlike Canada, they don't need permits to work on a specific street, and as such even if you find a vendor whose food you really like, don't expect it to be there the next day, trust me it won't be, maybe a few blocks away, or on another street. A word of caution, these aren't exactly licensed establishments, so eat the food at your own risk, but usually these people know what they are doing, and since the food is quite fresh (cooked in front of you) and served hot its fairly safe to eat. When choosing between several food vendors (as is the case in a night market) choose the one with the longest line-up, there is a reason people are buying from a specific vendor, because they one offers better value and is tastier (although usually the food is sold for the same prices everywhere). Street food can be steamed buns/dumplings, boiled meat and vegetables served in a cup of soup, fried vegetables/meat or BBQ vegetables or meat. Except for the steamed buns/dumplings, one usually picks up a basket from the seller and chooses from a table an assortment of vegetables, tofus and meats. Once done, the basket is given to the vendor who proceeds to cut up the chosen items and than either boiled for the soup, fried for the fried variety or BBQed. Now a vendor only does one, he either boils the food and serves it in a cup, or BBQs or fries it and gives it in a bag. One vendor will not fry some stuff and BBQ others, as they usually "specialize", granted these are not chefs flown in directly from France. During the course of cooking the food, the vendor will apply some sort of sauce, mild/hot/satay etc. and than put the food in a bag/cup and serve it to you. Other items exist as well such as onion pancake, italian sausage, stinky tofu, where one does not get to choose what they want, and once again each vendor specializes , so the person selling the onion egg pancake does not sell the sausages, they sell only that one thing.

One establishment, which I am categorizing under the street vendor heading are the breakfast stores, I have rarely seen these places as they are closed by about 10 or 12 a.m. (since I wake up at 7 a.m. but meditate until 11 a.m. :P ). These stores open at about 5 a.m. and sell yummy eggs (Dambi) with cheese or bacon etc., egg sanwhiches, McMuffin clones, as well as soya milk or watermlon juice. These are small legit stores, but since they serve a very niche market and only do takeout (granted there will be some tables and chairs outside on the sidewalk), I feel they are similar to street vendors. One thing about Taiwan is they all do have breakfast, naturally its easy here since the breakfast here is incredibly convenient and tasty, along with these stores there are breakfast street vendors too.


Food Courts

Food courts in Taiwan are somewhat rare I think outside of Taipei and other major cities, since they are mostly located in the basement of major department stores. These food courts usually have a similar makeup to the North American one, but will be a bit cleaner and have some sort of visual aspect, Usually GIANT t.v.s for people to watch with ads of upcoming english and chinese movies. These t.v.s are really cool, they are actually completely circular, so the image is actually bent around a cylinder. The food in food courts is quite good, since quality as high as a restaurant, and the food is prepared fresh. There is a wide-array of choices, and the utensils and dishes served in are real (as in glass cups and dishes, real silverware etc. etc.) not the paper stuff one might be accustomed to seeing in N. America. One can even get hotpot, which is really cool, as you get this tray with a gas bunsen burner at the bottom burning away actually heating your food, and depending on what you order, might even get an authentic steam basket or pot. Naturally you don't take this stuff with you or throw it out, but leave it on the table and it gets recycled (washed). For about $3-6 the food is excellent. The standard price is about $4.25 to $6, but for vegetarian food its a bit cheaper. Once again I must add, the food in the food court is much better than what you would find in N. America, about the same quality as found in a restaurant. Food court does not necessarily mean fast food, and just like street vendor food, you will have to wait for them to cook your food, unless its pre-made (street vendors who sell only one specific dish) and even than you may have to wait.

Restaurants

There are varying levels of restaurants in Taipei. Some are plain gross, others are superb. The prices all vary as well, some places range for $5-10 dinner, and others can be $15/plate! One strange thing to note is that price may sometimes not be related to quality of the restaurant food or decor. So unfortunately, restaurant dining can be a trial and error experience, although one can naturally refer to online reviews or friends' recommendations. You can find just about any type of food in restaurants, Thai, Indian, French, Italian, American and naturally Chinese. I can't say much else about restaurants here, they are defenitely cheaper than in Canada but the service and quality is similar. An interesting item to note is that they are priced similarly to food courts, so perhaps that is a reason food court food needs to be so good otherwise one could just eat at a restaurant and be paying the same price for better ambience (although restaurants in Taiwan generally do not have the decor one would usually find in Canada).


One thing to note is whatever has been mentioned previously, is the price you pay, there is no added tax or tipping done, no 15% GST+PST or Tipping, if a restaurant has tipping, they will mention it on the menu that there is a 10% service charge and it automatically gets added to the bill. Almost everywhere you eat, no matter what price-point, you are almost guaranteed to enjoy the food here. Taiwan is quite famous for its food. When people first found out I was going, especially my Asian friends, they told me they were jealous for one reason mainly, the food. Taiwan really has some great food, even for vegetarians and its really a big part of their culture here.

Typical menu might be as follows:

Breakfast: Dambi egg pancake (80 cents) with drink ($1.50 total)

Lunch: Steamed Buns/dumplings (Chai Bow for the giant buns), 3 buns (40 cents each) $1.20

Dinner: Pasta at a restaurant ($5-6)

Bubble tea or juice during the day $1.

Total Price: $9.70

Check my picture section for picture of dambi, and picture of the vegetable buns, Pasta, bubble tea, or fried food etc.

Another possible day:

Breakfast: Dambi or perhaps a sandwhich and a drink ($1.50).

Lunch: BBQ vegetables and tofu. ($2)

Dinner: Vegetarian Buffet ($2.80)

Bubble tea or juice during the day $1.

Total Price: $7.30

Another possiblity

Skip Breakfast :) or Mango Ice ($2).

Lunch: Stinky Tofu from street vendor ($1-2)

Dinner: Veges and tofu in a cup $3.

Bubble tea or juice during the day $1.

Late night gourmet sandwhich from 7-11 $1.

Total Price: $8-9.

There are many different possiblities and combinations, and once you throw in the possiblity of visiting a night market where there is even MORE variety the permutations grow exponentially :P.

I will try to take photographs and post as many different foods as possible.