Ximending Night Market Food Trip

Avisala!

One of the best ways to know the culture and way of life of the people in a place or country you visit is to try their food. After all, everything is connected to what's commonly served at the table. At least that's what I believed in, so when I visit the country, I'm always excited to try their local food. Based on what I've tried so far, I can eat almost anything without complaint except bland food. I really hate those foods that seem to lack salt.

Continuing with my Taiwan series, we tried the street food in Ximending. After roaming around and enjoying Ximending's night scene, we finally decided on what to eat. The first item on the list was Ay Chung Rice Flour Noodles.

Ay Chung Rice Flour Noodles

Ay Chung Noodles is really famous on TikTok. We decided that it would be our dinner that night. Although the queue was long, it was always moving, so it only took a few minutes before our turn. As we were checking one street from Zhonghua Road, we noticed a lot of tourists queuing, and @itskareninamoi said that

There were available sauces at the side of the store so that you could adjust the taste to your liking. We decided to add more spicy pepper sauce and a little bit of dark vinegar. As for the verdict, it was an acquired taste, but you can acquire the taste in just a few scoops. If you're not a fan of cilantro, I suggest you remove that topping before you eat the noodles. I've had a fair share of cilantro nightmares in Vietnam when we ate the local Vietnamese Pho, so I now know its taste and even find it refreshing to the palate. Again, it's an acquired taste.

The noodles were silky and well-coated by the sauce, but the gelatinous chicken skin or something was the winner for me. It was a delight to the taste buds.

Overall Rating: 7/10

Pork Xiaolong Bao

While further exploring the streets of Ximending, we saw this street vendor selling Pork Xiaolong Bao. It was 60 NTD for five pieces. Of course, we never missed the opportunity to try that Xiaolong Bao.

I love it! It was one of the best Xiaolong Baos I've tried, but @itskareninamoi said it was not the best. According to her, Din Tai Fung's is still the best. I haven't tried Din Tai Fung's Xiaolong Bao yet, so that was my best. The filling was not so hot, so I really enjoyed it.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Hot-Star Large Fried Chicken

You shouldn't miss Hot-Star Large Fried Chicken when you're in Taiwan. It has taken social media by storm through countless uploads, which was a great deal. For only 100 NTD, you'll have this large flattened fried chicken. It was that affordable. We were already almost full from the two street foods we tried, so we only shared one order. Even then, we were not able to finish the whole thing.

It was a little bit spicy, but it was good. I'm slightly biased toward our Jollibee's fried chicken, so I'll give it a smaller rating. The minor inconvenience for me was the broken bones. The bones were crushed because they were flattened to almost like a slice of bread. It was such a hassle trying to remove them from your mouth, and it was a choking hazard.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Xing Fu Tang Milktea

Let's save the best for last.

This one had probably the longest queue in all of Ximending. Since we were already satisfied with the food, it was time for a drink, and Taiwan is known for its milk tea.

I'm not a fan of milk teas in the Philippines because they're too sweet, and the boba pearls have hard cores, which are not for me. So, I was skeptical at first. But when I tried it, it was so milky and smooth, not too sweet, and the boba pearls were on point. It was the best!

Aside from that perfect Xing Fu Tang brown sugar milk tea, the cute guy at the cashier was an eye candy! 😆

Overall Rating: 1000/10

I think that's all for this post. We went to different night markets almost every night when we were in Taiwan, but I didn't document all of them because I just wanted to enjoy the food. Anyway, see you on my next post!

Kim Ybañez

_{Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits remote destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying-hard photographer, so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.}

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