Travel Series Episode 1: Top Taiwan Eats

a food heaven

Turns out a spontaneous bounce from London to Taiwan the week before my final PhD viva (an oral exam where you defend your thesis and they grill you to see if you actually know what you’re talking about and didn’t use chatgpt to write it) was a good thing. Now that I have passed (!!), I can exhale and write about whatever I want to write about (mostly food and science as usual). It feels incredible to have completed a journey so intellectually and emotionally demanding, and the escape to an exciting new city refreshed and rewired the brain, for sure, before a gruelling final push. For the longest time I’ve wanted to visit Taiwan’s night markets and experience a food culture so unique.

I tried my best to fit in a mix of local eats, brunch (just a personal source of comfort and I love comparing brunch standards in different cities), and of course, my favourite, Japanese food. I was seriously blown away by how much cheaper even the most elite omakase spots in the city were, compared to Singapore or London. Expected of course, but still a welcome surprise. Without further ado, the first list of hopefully many in this travel series:

1. Eggs Benedict on Scallion Pancake at Tamed Fox

First, a credit to the brunch scene. Like a lot of other Asian cities, you get the welcome clash of East meets West, designed to be washed down with flat whites. Think lettuce salads spruced up with bits of cubed dragonfruit, paired with poached eggs and chicken breast, or pandan french toast (a personal favourite), and in the best case, this eggs benedict on scallion pancake from Tamed Fox. Clearly a toast to the city’s iconic scallion pancakes, I credit this explosion of flavour more so to the melting, succulent brisket sitting on the pancake, which was even better dripping in runny yolk. The pancake may have fared better as the traditional thinner, flakier sort that Taiwan is traditionally known for, though I guess they were trying to go for that English muffin effect. Still worked despite a slightly heavy middle, brightened with red pickled onion. I salivate as I write this.

2. Pancake tacos at Sugar Pea

Social media swayed me into ordering this even though I was reluctant to at first (I like my own pancakes and can roll them up myself, ok?). Thank god I let my pride down here, for this was one well put-together brunch, with silky, buttery scrambled eggs, fragrant smoky bacon and maple syrup. A solid one for sharing, too, for I was full well into the rest of the day after this. If there’s one thing Taiwanese cafes do right, it’s eggs, be it a perfect soft scramble (and that means rich, soft and buttery, not meek and milky!) or fried or poached, it’s just done right as you ask for. Not once did I have a sad egg during this trip, and I eat a lot of eggs. Texture-wise, these pancakes had little fluff and too much sugar, but the form is clearly designed to its function, to hug all that hot egg and meat together in a cosy and warm bundle. Don’t diss the tack, for this is one clever and delicious dish.

3. Signature thick bread with egg (厚餅) at Fu Hang Soy Milk (阜杭豆漿)

was less of a fan of the salty soy, even though it had the crispiest fried dough bits

The first local spot was the famed Fu Hang, known for their 豆漿 (soy milk) and egg pancake (蛋餅) amongst others. Sure those were good, but the best part was the thick bread with egg, or 厚餅. Delicately syrup-glazed, hard-baked, and sesame-sprinkled. The insides remained soft, fluffy and hot, and with the savoury egg, the whole thing really hit a spot. Yes I’m copying the traditional chinese characters because I only learned simplified and I can’t be bothered to find those characters either, shoot me. Anyways, guess who just happened to live 2 minutes from this place? Yes, me. Lucky, but I also learned a hard lesson from the first day: come here at or before 8am, or don’t come at all. People here are determined to fuel their early morning work hours only with soy milk, it seems. I recommend you dodge the queue altogether and go early, or find a good substitute like Yonghe Soy milk which is just as good. I got the feeling that quality didn’t differ all that much between any of the breakfast places, but Fu Hang has a long and revered history. As anyone who has been to Asia would know, soy milk there is simply deeper, sweeter, better, so if you happen to be around, you must check it out.