Taiwan: Night Markets (Redux)

I said this in 2010, but it bears repeating: night markets are God's gift to the world. The closest thing Austin has to a night market is its vast collection of trailer park eateries. But they pale in comparison to the energy, the scale, and the wonderful wonderful cheapness of the real night market experience.

Just picture something like Austin's Old Pecan Street Festival, minus the live music and the nicely organized tents. Streets lined with carts stacked with exotic foods -- exotic to me, anyway -- or local handicrafts and souvenirs. Carts full of grilled tofu, fresh sliced tropical fruit, fried chicken, and whatever-you-want on a stick. How do you know what's good? Common sense, just go where the line is longest.

And this happens just about every night, and in multiple neighborhoods (depending on the city). I think we tried 3 different true night markets in the Taipei area.

Jingmei Night Market

The first was a small one right around the corner from our apartment at Jingmei Station on the Taipei subway. It was only 2 short blocks long, and not too much of a selection. BUT, there was a good-sized crowd around this cart.

One Mandarin Chinese word I learned on this trip: Là = spicy

Tofu, fish balls, mushrooms, veggies, bacon-wrapped leeks, chicken breast, and random whatever on a stick. Grab a red basket, fill it up with whatever skewers you want, and they spice it and grill it up perfectly. 11 NT$ (or 33¢) per skewer. This, just about every night after a full day of sightseeing, was our nightcap.


Jilong (Keelung Night Market)

They didn't turn the lanterns on this time :(

This was the first night market that my friend Jason took me to on my 2010 visit, and my first night market experience ever. Unlike the standard night market, which has some mix of food carts and clothing and miscellaneous souvenirs, Jilong's is really all about the food (from what I could see, anyway).

And it's pretty damn big, with carts going around a couple of city blocks, right next to Jilong's harbor. I didn't realize this last time, but Jilong Night Market's specialty is seafood, taking full advantage of locally caught fish, squid, and shellfish.

The highlights this time around:

Pig knuckle/trotter meat. Perfectly cooked, the cartilage had a nice chewy texture.

Squid and shrimp ball soup, and thick noodles in sauce.

Crab legs. Okay, this wasn't really much of a highlight. It was too much work for little reward, but I have to feature the local seafood.

Sushi. We actually didn't try this cart, thought our money was better spent elsewhere. Besides, the 3 yellow pieces on the far right... that's not sea urchin, it's sweet corn.

Shilin Night Market

 

You can't go to night markets in Taipei without experiencing Shilin. It's Taipei's biggest, stretching from Shilin Station to Jiantan Station. It's also one of the most famous night markets worldwide. Last time, I honestly didn't do it right. I was still full from lunch, so I was less inclined to just grab a bit of anything and everything that looked popular.

Also, I wasn't aware that there are 2 levels of Shilin night market; I walked around the markets on the streets, totally unaware that there was this underground area all along. I should also mention that I would not want to be down there in the middle of a hot, humid summer.

The highlights of Shilin Night Market:

Oyster omelette

 Fried stinky (fermented) tofu

Fried chicken breast. Boneless, incredibly juicy, and big as your face.

And then there was the star of the night, a tropical fruit of legend. People either love it or hate it... but mostly hate it.

D U R I A N

People describe fresh durian as having a smell as strong and foul as rotting garbage, or even death itself. Public spaces and hotels in Southeast Asia (home of the durian) are known to have signs banning people from bringing durian onto the premises. But when I saw that spiked-football-looking thing on the cart, I had to try it.

The texture is like thick, fibrous custard. And honestly, the smell wasn't as strong or foul as I expected. Maybe it was out of season, or previously frozen, or genetically modified to not smell horrible. But it just had a gassy smell with a faint undertone of overripe mango, and I really had to get my face into it to smell it. The taste was surprisingly bland, again like gassy, almost onion-y overripe mango.

One day, I want to try durian again. But I want the real deal, not this weak sh-t. Hopefully I'll get to visit Singapore next year. And while I'm there, I'll try out the Singaporean counterpart to night markets, hawker centres.