If Taiwan, in general, is a food paradise, then Tainan would be the capital where you can find the most authentic traditional Taiwanese food! Tainan, situated in the southern part of Taiwan and about 260km from Taipei, is often overlooked by tourists, but its laidback charm and gentle pace are what made the city appealing. Besides being known as Taiwan’s cultural capital, Tainan is also known as the “city of snacks”. The best part is that the vendors are all concentrated on one street, which is perfect to do a food crawl!

There are two main food streets in Tainan, Zhengxing St. and Guohua St.. Along Guohua st., close to Mingzhu road, there’s a Yongle Market where you can find a number of good eateries to choose from. At the entrance of Yongle Market, you’ll see Jin de spring roll, which often has a long lineup! The spring roll is made by a very thin wrapper. Inside the spring roll, the fillings include cabbage, bean sprout, egg, pork, fava beans, sweet peanut powder…etc. The variations depend on every family’s favor, just like my family adds mullet roe too! It can be filling, so I would suggest to share, otherwise, you won’t have space for other delicacies!

Right next to the Jin de spring roll, you’ll find the famous Fu Sheng Hao – specialized in steamed rice bowl cake (or aka savory rice pudding) that’s called “wa gui” in Taiwanese. It’s made with rice batter, and is quite chewy. Imagine a firmer mochi, and it’s savory!

Another specialty of Tainan would be the wok-fry asian swamp eels! Fresh swamp eels are very crisp, and often stir-fry with noodles in a thick sweet and sour sauce. My grandparents are from Tainan, and I still remember vividly that it’s one of my grandma’s favorite dishes. We would normally have it once a week!

There are a lot of varieties of “ba wan” – aka Taiwanese meatball – throughout Taiwan. Most of them are made with pork and dried bamboo shoots. However, in Tainan, the most well-known is the shrimp ones. Not made with any ordinary shrimps, but velvet shrimps!

I feel like it’s more of like a dumpling than meatball. It can be prepared two ways: deep-fried or steamed. I definitely vote for the steamed ones! The translucent dough is made of sweet potatoes starch. It is super chewy! (By now.. have you realized that Taiwanese really like chewy or crispy texture?).

Food crawl definitely involves more than 2 stops! The A Song Gua Bao is another must try at the market. This gua bao is completely different than the one I had before. The bun is more like a mantou cut in half, which is thicker and firmer. Another difference is that they use sesame sauce instead of the braised soy sauce. If you are an adventurous foodie, try the pig’s tongue baos!

For coffee lover, for sure there’s an independent cafe hidden in one of the old buildings. Please note that they open at 2pm, so not for any morning coffee addicts. However, perfect for post food crawl! (ps. I didn’t get a chance to try their coffee as it was still closed, but strongly recommended by a foodie friend!)

There is still so much more to explore, such as the milkfish congee, beef soup, almond tofu…etc. If you love trying traditional Taiwanese food and the historical part of Taiwan, Tainan is the place to go!

 

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