Eating at a Taiwanese night market is a highlight of any trip to Taiwan. And if you are visiting Taichung, there are many excellent night markets to choose from. And if you only have a few days in Taichung, you might want to visit the night markets closer to the city centre and are easily accessible.
I put together this post to show you the top 3 Taichung night market that you must visit while you are travelling in Taichung. They range from small local markets for the locals to one of the biggest night market in Taiwan.
Keep reading and learn how you can see the best Taichung night markets and sample some of the best Taiwanese food in Taichung City!
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What you need to know before visiting Taichung Night Markets
Before visiting a Taichung market, look at my post on everything you need to know before going to Taiwan. I included a lot of travel information, including how to get around Taiwan and other travel tips. Plus, I have a guide specifically for travelling to Taichung.
Here are a few additional tips for visiting night markets in Taichung:
- Use EasyCard or iPass for public transportation in Taichung. They are both rechargeable smartcards where you can take public transportation, including trains, buses, etc. Whenever you use the EasyCard or iPass for any Taichung bus route less than 10km, your ride is free!
- Bring cash for all your food purchases at all Taichung markets.
- Don’t be afraid of the language barrier. I don’t speak Mandarin, and I get by with the basic English menus, pointing and smiling!
Top 3 Taichung Night Market
There are many night markets in Taichung, but I chose them because of their location and food. These Taichung night markets are easily accessible by either walking or public transportation. Plus, the variety of food is some of the best I’ve seen throughout Taiwan.
I included links to the Google Maps location for each place mentioned in this post to easily find the night markets and restaurants while you are in Taichung.
So without further ado, here are my top 3 favourite Taichung Night Markets:
Yizhong Street Night Market (一中夜市)
Yizhong Street Night Market is my favourite and the best night market in Taichung because it is accessible and the area has many excellent accommodations.
The night market is lively but not too busy (unless it’s a holiday or weekend). And it has the best local food in Taichung, where you can purchase food from street vendors or dine at one of the local restaurants. It is near the shopping area, so you can walk around, work off your food, and return to the market for seconds.
Besides food, there are many trinket stores along Yizhong Street and some of the smaller streets between Yizhong and Section 3, Sanmin Road (the main avenue parallel and north to Yizhong). The shops sell clothing, shoes and lots of knick-knacks, including things you cannot buy anywhere else in the world: bubble tea carrier! Yes, I bought one for myself!
Address: Yizhong Street (between Taichung Park & Jinnan Street), North District, Taichung City (see map) | Hours: 11am-10:10pm (food vendors open late afternoon)
How to get there: From the Taichung Railway Station, take bus #27 or 73 and disembark at National Taichung University of Science and Technology. And walk 1 block east.
Braised Taiwanese food (滷味王)
Braised Taiwanese food is very popular in Taiwan and can be found all over Taichung night markets.
Perhaps that is not the exact name of the dish, but I am translating from the Chinese words. Basically, it is food cooked in a light soy sauce broth, and the braised food is served in a bowl.
Here’s how you eat at one of these braised food places at any Taiwan night market. You grab a basket and pick all the ingredients for your meal. Then pay at the cashier while the chef cooks your food. You pay exactly what you selected. So if you tend to eat less, your bowl of braised food can be very cheap.
Then they give you a number for your order at Braised Taiwanese food (滷味王) (see map). If you are eating in, you can sit at the back. Grab a pair of chopsticks and wait for your food. They will call your number. If you don’t understand Mandarin, it is okay. They can locate you pretty quickly.
If you are taking it back to your hotel or hostel, you can wait for your food on the street.
Hit Cookie Home (打餅舖烙餅) & Flakey wrap (半月燒餡餅)
Hit Cookie Home (打餅舖烙餅) (see map) is the literal translation of their Chinese name. And I couldn’t find the English of the other food vendor.
But they both sell the same thing: a pan-fried flakey pancake wrapped with different ingredients. Sort of like a wrap sandwich or a soft taco.
A plain pancake at Hit Cookie Home costs NT$25. You can add a fried egg or order one of the popular wraps like fried egg with pork floss, fried egg with kimchi or fried egg with cheese and basil.
The other place is pretty similar. They sell flakey pancake wraps with ingredients like pork, fish, chicken and beef. A plain wrap starts at NT$25 also.
Both wraps are delicious! It is a must-try in Yizhong Street Night Market!
Xi Feng Yu (喜豐榆)
Xi Feng Yu (喜豐榆) (see map) sells tianbula (Taiwanese tempura) and thick soup with vermicelli and other toppings like fried chicken, cuttlefish and many more.
Tianbula originated from Japanese oden, a one-pot dish where everything is cooked in a light broth. The Chinese “甜不辣” literally means “sweet not spicy,” but there is nothing spicy about the Taiwanese oden. Phonetically, the Taiwanese word sounds like “tempura.”
The vermicelli soup is a thick broth with a lot of garlic and delicious savoury ingredients.
Prices start at NT$60. The menu is easy to read and has English.
You can either stand by the counter and eat your soup or bring it back to your accommodation.
Taiwanese pepper bun (高雄六合 佳寶 薯餅)
Taiwan has a really delicious treat called pepper bun (胡椒餅) and this Taiwanese pepper bun (高雄六合 佳寶 薯餅) (see map for approximate location) makes the perfect bun! Inside a baked flakey bun, it has lots of scallions and pork with sesame scattered all over the top. The bun is hand-made and baked in a charcoal cylindrical clay oven, similar to a tandoori oven.
Other delicious treats: papaya milkshake, sugar cane soft serve ice cream and cronut
Try a papaya milkshake at 高北牛乳大王 (see map) as it is a very popular drink in Taiwan. It is creamy, sweet and very refreshing. The drink is made to order. They only have a few things on the menu and drinks start at NT$60. They have an English menu.
Sugar Cane (蔗一攤白玉甘蔗專賣) (see approximate location) sells all things sugar cane. They sell sugar cane tea, sugar cane lemonade, sugar cane milkshake, etc. But I was interested in sugar cane soft-serve ice cream for NT$50.
At the north end of Yizhong Street Night Market, I found a vendor selling pastries, including a cronut (croissant + donut) (see approximate location) I found intriguing. And yes, it was super delicious!
Besides all of these food items mentioned, you can always find typical Taiwanese food like fried chicken, scallion pancakes, bubble tea and many more in Yizhong Street Night Market.
Zhongmei Street (中美街)
I was looking for Xiangshang Market in Taichung but by the time I got there, but didn’t find anything interesting.
But lucky for me, I found a lot of food vendors lining Zhongmei Street during the evening. The food stalls and restaurants all look really good. And it looks very local as many people would drive up to the food stall with their scooters. They don’t even get off their bikes to order food. Ha!
And I was looking all over the internet trying to find this “night market,” but it actually doesn’t exist anywhere. But I went back to Zhongmei Street several times during my solo trip to Taichung because I really liked the food selection.
Address: Zhongmei Street (between Gongyi Rd & Section 1, Xiangshang Rd), West District, Taichung City (see map) | Hours: about 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm
How to get there: From the Taichung Railway Station, take bus #27 or 81 and disembark at Gongyi Zhongmei St Intersection. And walk south on Zhongmei Street.
Xiangshang Market: food market for locals
The set up of the food stalls are similar to other night markets in Taiwan. There are smaller food vendors that are closed during the day but opened when the sun goes down.
Some areas along Zhongmei Street have proper restaurant where you can sit down for a proper meal. And the prices are very affordable. You can eat all the Taiwanese classic food including lurou fan (braised pork rice), fried chicken and scallion pancakes.
Many local food vendors along Zhongmei Street
The entire Zhongmei Street is filled with small food vendors lining every corner of the street. Many of them are not even on Google Map. But I listed some of these ones for you to try:
- Goose Restaurant (阿川鵝肉) (see map) – a restaurant specialises in goose rice and noodles
- Xiangshang Dumpling (向上水餃) (see map) – boiled dumplings
- Stinky tofu (有心臭豆腐) (see map) – Taiwanese stinky tofu
- Scallion pancake (北平香酥 蔥油餅) (see map) – scallion pancake (with fried egg)
- Papaya milkshake (熊一木瓜牛奶) (see map) – papaya milkshake and other fresh juice
- Guang Wei Barbecue Fast Food (廣味燒臘快餐店) (see map) – popular barbecue pork and duck with rice restaurant
Feng Chia Night Market (逢甲夜市)
Feng Chia Night Market (or called Fenggia or Fengjia Night Market), is the biggest night market in Taiwan. Located at the city’s north end in Xitun District, the market has over 30,000 people visiting during the weekend. And it is popular with locals as the night market is right by Feng Chia University.
The busy night market spans several blocks. Most of the food vendors set up at night along Wenhua Road. And on Fuxing Road (the main road), there are many restaurants, especially on the east side of the street. But don’t miss all the little streets in between; there are many food stalls and small restaurants. Just follow the crowd and the smell of the food.
Moreover, Feng Chia Night Market has stores that sell clothing, accessories, and other knick knacks.
If you only have one day in Taichung, this is the night market you have to visit.
I included some of the best highlights from Feng Chia Night Market. I highly recommend each of the featured places. If I could, I would go back in a heartbeat!
Address: Wenhua Road, Xitun District, Taichung City (see map) | Hours: 4:00 pm to 2:00 am
How to get there: From the Taichung Railway Station, take bus #35 or 37 towards Xitun District and disembark at Feng Chia University on Fuxing Road. Feng Chia Night Market is just east of the main road.
Taiwanese hot dog (官芝霖大腸包小腸)
The Taiwanese hot dog vendor (see map) makes a delicious hot dog, Taiwanese style. The actual hot dog is quite small. Instead of a white hot dog bun, they use sticky rice as the carrier. Then they add garlic, pickles, cucumbers, onions and hot sauce to top it off. You can get the original garlic flavour, a little spicy or very spicy.
And it was a really yummy hot dog. I’ve never had anything like this anywhere else! Not a bad hot dog, especially for NT$55.
I noticed this place because of the long queues. Apparently, the hot dog vendor was featured in one of the television shows, making it really popular.
They have other locations, but this was definitely a Feng Chia Night Market highlight.
Scallion pancake (逢甲丹丹香蔥油餅)
I was eating the hot dog and noticed a long queue from another food vendor and decided to see what it is about.
The food vendor (see map) was selling a Taiwanese specialty, scallion pancake. They roll out the scallion pancake and fry it in a round pan with lots of oil. The pancake is fluffy and crispy and doesn’t have a lot of green onions in it, which is actually just how I like it.
You can order the original flavour or with added flavours like pepper, wasabi, curry, seaweed, cheese, plum or garlic. Buy a small portion (which is a quarter) for NT$30, half a portion for NT$50 or full size for NT$90.
They cut it up into small pieces and give it to you in a bag with a few wood skewers. It is the perfect snack and perfect for walking around.
Yes Made chicken cake (野士麥德烤雞蛋糕)
Many food vendors in Asia sell variations of egg waffles, but this one is truly unique. This food stall (see map) makes these little egg waffle that is shaped like a chicken. I would describe it as a cookie or cake. The size is like a cookie, but the texture inside is soft like a cake.
There are different flavours: original, cocoa, custard, matcha, cheese and peanut cocoa. It price starts at NT$35 for five pieces of the original flavour.
This type of sweets is popular in Asia. Typically they are cheaper. This one is considered as expensive. But nonetheless, it is worth the novelty and taste.
They open at 4:00 pm until 11:30 pm or 12:30 am during weekends. It’s a small food vendor at the corner of the intersection, in front of the bubble tea store.
Ni Jia Wou Jia (你家我家滷味)
Braised food restaurants are all overnight markets in Taiwan. It is so popular in Taiwan that even the locals buy it and take it home.
Like the one in Yizhong Street Night Market, you pick and choose all the ingredients you want to cook in this vendor’s light soy sauce broth (see map). Choose from different types of meatballs, tofu, fishball, vegetables and noodles. You can eat at this small restaurant or bring the food back to your hotel (if you live near).
Other delicious treats: Clams in broth (金莎蛤仔) and cut fruits
Clams in broth (金莎蛤仔) (see map) serves clams in soup broth, shrimp in broth, sea snails or whelks in soup broth and dried tofu. It didn’t look busy when I took the photo at the beginning of the night, but the queue was quite long when I walked back. The clam in soup is the most popular option, and you can even add noodles to the broth. Prices start at NT$70.
And for a healthy option, many vendors selling cut fruit in Feng Chia Night Market (and any Taiwan food market). Choose from watermelon, mango, papaya, cantaloupe, pineapple to more exotic fruit like red dragonfruit and water apple. A bag of cut fruit starts at NT$15.
Other Taiwanese treats
There is so much to try at Feng Chia Night Market. I included some of these other popular places:
- Shrimp & clams (海邊小屋) (see map) – grilled skewered shrimps and grilled clams
- Scallion pancake wrap (明倫蛋餅) (see map) – flakey scallion pancake with fried egg and other fillings
- Steamed dumplings (吉蜂蒸餃) (see map) – an eat-in restaurant serving steamed dumplings and thick soup
What are you going to try at a Taichung Night Market?
Even though there are many night markets in Taichung, these are the top 3 Taichung night markets I love visiting while in Taichung City.
And, they are all within the city where you can either walk to or take a local bus. And most places have English menus and all the prices are indicated already. So there wouldn’t be any confusion regarding what you are getting or what you need to pay. Taiwanese people are very friendly and honest people; they wouldn’t try to scam you for a few dollars.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post and inspired your food journey to Taichung. After all, eating is a big part of travelling to Taiwan, and the food in Taichung is oh-so-delicious!
Let me know in the comments which Taichung night market you liked the most!
Thank you for reading my Taichung night market post
You might also like these other posts on solo travel in Taiwan:
Introduction to Taiwan
- Things to know before visiting Taiwan
- How and where to buy a Taiwan prepaid SIM card
- How to spend 3 weeks in Taiwan
- 22 must-eat food in Taiwan
- Top 10 must-try Taiwan 7-11 Food
Taichung posts
- 23 Best things to do alone in Taichung
- Taichung 1-day itinerary
- Where to stay in Taichung for solo travellers
- Miyahara Taichung: best ice cream and food souvenirs
- Taichung Second Market
- SOF Hotel: best boutique hotel in Taichung
- Norden Ruder Hostel: best minimalist hostel in Taichung
- Zhongshe Flower Market near Taichung
- Carton King Creativity Park: 1-day itinerary
- How to spend 1 day at Gaomei Wetlands
- Xinshe Sea of Flowers near Taichung: 1-day itinerary
- Xinshe Castle near Taichung
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