We Tried Stinky Tofu, Beef Noodle Soup, Flour-Rice Noodle, and Milk Tea in Taipei!

From hot pots to bubble milk tea, being able to travel to Taipei gave me a different mindset of the city. Whenever I think of Taipei, I imagine food. It is surely filled with food, it was evident why night markets are a thing in that city.

Honestly, I was not ready for the food trip because when my husband said we will go to Taiwan and everything has been prepared for us, because that was a company all expense paid trip, I didn’t mind thinking of anything, I didn’t even know what to expect! It was our first international trip and I have to just let the country surprise me.

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Our flight to Taipei was in the morning, flight was not too long as its just a neighboring country but it took us a lot of time at the immigration that the rented van threatened they’ll be charging us of extended hour. Thankfully, it was settled.

Upon reaching our hotel which I had blogged about before, we stayed at Hotel Papa Whale and since check in time was at two in the afternoon, we had to find food first.

Read related blog here: Huge Clipboards at Hotel Papa Whale

What better way to start this trip than trying out an authentic Taiwanese beef noodle soup? My husband's colleagues tagged us along and told us that we must try out the noodle soup in the street restaurants, they said its good! We were excited! It only took us a few walks and then we found these locals dining at different restaurants at the sidestreet, they remind me so much of Colon in Cebu City!

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Al fresco dining? No problem!

There were so many locals having lunch and we were looking for a place which will accommodate us, we came in as a pack. Taiwanese are not good with speaking English, they were only communicating through hand signs! It was tough at first, we have to show them what we wanted, but nonetheless, they were accommodating and cheerful.

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After a lot of discussions, finger-pointing and hand signals, we were served with this thick noodle soup! I was surprised at how huge the serving was! When we came inside, there were only a few people then our orders were served and I looked at my back, the room was already filled with customers!

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This is the most beloved food in Taiwan, its red-braised beef slow cooked in soy sauce, beef broth, vegetables, and Chinese wheat noodles. The noodles were freshly made, I saw one of the workers making them.

Condiments, sauces, chili pastes, are all available. They also give free unlimited complimentary side dishes which we can grab at the entrance, it was not very comfortable going there because there were so many people around. This happened pre-pandemic thus the absence of masks in the photo.

Oh, and they also have bottomless softdrinks! I was truly amazed at that. However, the glass they provide is small so we took advantage of the free drinks when we were about to go. I am trying to recall how the noodle tasted but all I could remember is that the beef was soft, the noodles, although thick, was easy to chew on. I guess I finished the entire bowl!


The first night was intended for exploring Ximending Night Market, this was by far the biggest night market and one of which was the cleanest of all the night markets that we had been to. Our goal was to try the Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodles.

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But upon reaching the spot, we were greeted by a very long line which extended up to the end of this street. People here were patiently waiting for their turn. I checked the servers and they were quite fast in putting in the orders and they got a good system so the line moves quickly

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However, my husband and I were already hungry that we can't wait any longer so we headed to the end of the street and found this lady making some stuffed pancake. She already got some available so we decided to take a few of the options. I can't recall which flavors we bought though.

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But by looking at the options in the photo, I probably ordered sweet potato, peanut and mochi, and taro. They were actually very affordable!

We sat at the benches next to the highway and we just observed the people around walking, we watched the cars' light trails and they traversed the highway and we just thank God for the opportunity to be in a different country, experience their culture and the food. We were really thankful to the husband's company for that trip.

Without us noticing, we already finished the pancakes and we both know we can now survive standing in line for that flour-rice noodle soup! So we went back and gladly, the line was not that long anymore. It only took a few minutes and it was our turn.

One bowl would be enough for us because we were still planning to eat the stinky tofu we passed by earlier, it was just sitting a few blocks away from the noodle place and while we were passing by, it also got line of its own so we believe it might be tasty but it was really stinky!

While waiting for our turn, I took some photos of the people around. Mind you, there were no seats in their store, they only offer take aways and people, young and old didn't mind it. The soup was hot and yet the people here were just enjoying good company and hot flour noodle soup!

I remember there were condiments available on the side, customers are welcome to just take unlimited portions from there. I was confused what to take to enhance our noodle soup so we decided to skip that.

Unlike that beef noodle soup we had earlier that day, this one here had thin strips of noodles, like how mi sua look, in fact, this was mi sua. I regret not taking a close up picture of it though. My husband and I shared this big bowl together and we finished it! Surprisingly, the serving was more than what we thought but we still managed to finish the whole bowl.

Now, it's time to move on to the next place we had been wanting to try out - the stinky tofu! Still there was a long line and since we were already a bit stuffed, we happily waited.

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The vendors in Ximending are very used to being quick and fast in serving their customers so the wait didn't take a long again. We also had a clear view of what the vendor was doing. He had batch of uncooked tofus and he deep fried it in a huge wok in front of the customers.

In the Philippines, there's no street vendor that sells tofu, none that I am aware of, perhaps I can only think of is Taho, the silken tofu. So this one is surely a good thing to try out. While in line, I already had this thought in mind that this must be good or else I'm not going to eat tofu ever again!

The tofu slices were huge! Only a few slices and the paper box was already filled. It also has some cabbage and carrot strips and when it was warm enough to be eaten, we were surprised! Although stinky, it was really good! Mind you, it didn't take five minutes, the tofu were all consumed!

The streets of Ximending was very bright. It was different to how our city streets in downtown Cebu, it actually felt like it was day time in Ximending. There were so many tourists too walking here and there, buying food, talking, shouting, I even found some couples having a fight. There were so many commotion happening. There were even shows like magic, dancing, singing, and a whole lot more.

There were also milk tea vendors who were making announcements of discounted milk teas and if my memory serves me right, this one here was only around Php 60. That's the cheapest Boba milk tea I ever had and its quite good!

It was just the first day. There were more food to try on, more food to discover and I will share them all with you guys! For now, here are some of the related blog articles I wrote about our Taipei trip. This happened in 2019, before the pandemic.


What to See Inside Taipei 101 Mall and Observatory Deck?
Jiufen, Old Gold Mining Village
Flying Lanterns and Hanging Bamboos at Shifen Old Street



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J U N E B R I D E
Boholana | Cebu | Philippines | Travel | Photography Enthusiast | Calligraphy | Art
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I really like this place and would like to taste some foods there...! 😋

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Love your Foodie post!

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This Taipei street food look awesome, I see some kind of markets only in tv, looks awesome!

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