Taipei - An Underrated Food City

Taipei is one of my favorite food cities in the whole world and every time I mention it, I get blank looks. I think it's a shame it's so underrated. I've been to Taipei twice. It's cool, calm and collected with a hip nerdiness. It also has an incredibly interesting and complex history. I will not claim to be an history expert. But the fact that China has been wanting to claim Taiwan for decades and this little island has defiantly said no is admirable at the very least. Taiwan is also quite progressive compared to other Asian countries, being the first to legitimize same sex marriages and elected a woman president in 2016.

I first went to Taipei in December 2016. The details are a little hazy. Here is what I do remember.

Night Markets

If you love eating food on a stick, this is the place for you. Taipei is home to many night markets with food stalls that go on for miles! It has everything you can want. The fact that everything is on a skewer so you can walk and eat at the same time is genius.

Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung, famous for it's soup dumplings, has restaurants all over world. but the first one opened as a tiny hole in the wall in Taipei. Every restaurant has a window so you can watch the chefs make these incredible pockets of soup and meat. Every dumpling has exactly 18 folds.

Jiufen

Jiufen is a small mountain village about an hour from Taipei. There is a rumor that the bathhouses in Spirited Away (one of my favorite movies of all time) is based on the Amei Teahouse in Jiufen. This is not true. But it doesn't matter. Juifen Old Street has charming streets with narrow alleyways lined with food stalls and you get a glimpse of the sea and mountains peeking through between streets. It's worth the visit!

So I went back to Taipei in December 2024. And the city was even better than I remembered. This time we stayed in the Beitou Area which is famous for it's sulfur hot springs, which supposedly has magical healing abilities. It's really not magic. Sulfur has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. I wash my hands frequently and use a lot of hand sanitizer (occupational hazard) so my hands are always dried to the point of cracking and bleeding. After two days of soaking in the hot springs, my hands were healed.

- Beitou

Beitou is a super cool area. Here are some highlights:

- FOOD!

Did I mention Taipei is one of my favorite food cities?!? This is just a sample of all the amazing food I ate.

- Taipei Arena

My sister randomly found out that Aaron Kwok was having a concert in Taipei exactly when we would be there. We thought it would be fun to go since he is a childhood idol. The Taipei Arena is beautiful and had lovely acoustics. The concert was a lot of fun!

-Starlux Airlines

I couldn't finish a blog about Taiwan without mentioning Starlux. It is a brand new airline based out of Taiwan and one of my favorites. We flew Starlux four times on this trip. The food is delicious! The service is exceptional. And the amenities are top notch.