Eating & Drinking in Taipei

This soup dumplings are a kind of baozi (filled bun) usually related to Shanghainese cuisine. They are filled with pork meat and soup, and then steamed in a bamboo basket and eaten with soy sauce and ginger. Other variations can be filled with vegetables or seafood.

The most famous restaurant in Taipei is the Ding Tai Fung in Yongkang.

The chinese noodle soup made of stewed beef and vegetables is one of the most popular dishes in the capital. There are dozens of restaurants that serve good beef noodles along Taipei, but the most famous are in Yongkang Street. In some restaurants you can choose between the regular soup or the spicy one.

Fantastic pub located near Technology Building MRT station. They play really good music (mainly indie-rock), but not very loud, and they have good sofas, so it's the perfect place for having a drink with friends comfortable and quietly. They offer a good variety of drinks and food, but their specialty is the good whisky.

Literally 麻油雞 (ma you ji) means "sesame oil chicken". The base ingredients in this traditional soup are sesame oil, ginger, rice wine and chicken. Some cookers add also ginseng and other Chinese medicines. There is a long tradition of making this soup with string noodles to eat it on birthdays; as that variety of noodles symbolizes longevity.

One of the most popular places is Jin-Jia-A-Tu Sesame Oil Chicken Stew in Linsen North Road (Zhong Shan District).

This fantastic coffee shop named after the Murakami Haruki's book and Beatles song is located near Gongguan station. European style decoration and good indie-rock music. They really prepare good coffee. The prices are the usual in Taipei (about 150NTD a cup), but they give you for free (on tea time) something to eat: cheese or chocolate cake, cookies or even a sandwich. And, of course, you can use the WI-FI connection for free!

Fried chicken is so popular in Taiwan that they have their own version of the American Kentucky Fried Chicken. The T.K.K. Fried Chicken offers a great variety of this simple delicacy adapted to the Taiwanese tastes. That means sweet and spicy. Along with the chicken, the menus include fried sweet potatos, instead of the usual French fries, and sweet Chinese bread. Deliciously greasy.

One year and a half living in Tokyo and I had to go to Taipei to try for the very first time a MOS Burger. Big mistake. This Japanese branch serves one of the best local translations of the traditional burger I've ever eaten. The original cheese burger is great, but the Yakiniku Beef Burger, made by rice instead of bread, is awesome! It's like a small gyudon to go!

Fantastic coffee shop located between Shida and Yongkang. Fair and even a bit lower prices for this part of the city. One of that places where they take care of the details. From the great expresso to the nice service. They've got free wireless internet and a good terrace where is allowed to smoke. Love their bussines cards, which are actually a page marker.