9 Reasons of Why You Have to Forget Your Diet in Taipei
8:33 PM
In my previous post, I have talked about my awesome summer
in Taipei. Now, like what I’ve promised
you, I will be talking about why you should forget your diet when you’re in
Taipei. In any trip, I can hold my self not to shop, but food…I just can’t.
If I want to eat, then I eat. Hahaha.
I love to spare my money more for food rather than starving
when traveling. If you have the same thought with me about this, put your
comment below, so that I know I’m not
alooone...
Ok, here are some reasons why I suggest you to forget your
diet in Taipei.
1. You can’t simply start your day without a tasty breakfast
Taipei has a wide range of breakfast option to start your
day, from traditional breakfast like steamed bun and hot soy milk, or you can
choose western style like bread and waffle. You can walk along the street
sniffing at the smell of fresh baked Chinese bun and walk another 100 meters then
being tempted by the smell of waffle. My favorite breakfast routine was
sneaking into NTU (National Taiwan University) just to get my favorite warm bacon
waffle.
![]() |
My breakfast routine in NTU. Its bacon waffle is the best! |
But I also liked to walk into a bakery, wandering around for a couple
of minute before finally picking my bread, only because I love the smell of
fresh baked bread, hahaha.
At Ijysheng Bakery. Love the smell of fresh baked bread |
As for coffee, since my stomach isn’t friendly enough with
coffee in the morning, I didn’t take even a sip of coffee when I was in Taipei.
I believe our coffee in Indonesia is better (sorry, only an honest opinion. Borneo,
Toraja, Java, Bali? Name it!), so I skipped it. Somehow I was more interested
in trying all of their fruit milk.
A happy tummy to start a day will make a whole good day, won’t
it? J
2. You can’t resist to try their street snacks
When you go to the mall and find a shop saying they have the
best Taiwan snack, you will be surprised that when you go to night market in Taiwan,
all the street snacks you eat are actually better than it. At least that’s what
I thought. Taiwan street snacks are ultimate. It’s like they can fry or grill
everything and it will taste good. I ate something like a squid or cuttlefish
tempura in Tamsui and it was really good. I ate another one in Ximen, and it
was really good too.
Street snack |
Another street snack |
This one was not in night market, but in Maokong. I picked randomly and d*mn! The sausage was really good. |
My favorite is a grilled pork skewer with spring onion which I found
it in Gongguan. Don’t ask me the detail location of the stall, because I
totally forgot. I just picked it randomly.
And it was really good. Hahaha.
The skewer before it was grilled |
I had to hold myself not to try every single snack I met, if
not, I could die with an overload stomach.
Or broke.
(No, their street
snack costs about 10 NT to 100 NT, but still, if you buy the whole street snack
in one night market, you will be out of money :P).
If you are a Moslem, remember to ask the seller if it’s pork
or not (pork in Chinese: zhū ròu).
3. Queuing for the original bubble tea is not a crime
My boyfriend said people in Taipei love to queue for
anything, even a bubble drink. Yes, bubble drink is suddenly famous in
Indonesia and a lot of them labeling their product with “Taiwan”. Taiwan’s no. 1, Taiwan’s all-time favorite,
Taiwan’s blablabla. You can have green tea, fruit, smoothies, taro,
chocolate, mocha, or any flavor of bubble drink you can think right now, but
the original one is…
is…
is…
is…
so good!
I didn’t say the one I tried in Gongguan is the first shop
who invented bubble drink, because honestly I don’t know, okay? But the fact
is, people there (not just tourists) are willing to queue really long for a cup
of their original taste of bubble milk tea. At first I was pessimistic,
thinking it would be just the same, but I took back my thought once I tried it.
I loved the brown sugar blended with the milk tea really well. I love it!
![]() |
The ultimate bubble drink |
Credit for my boyfriend and my friend, Sebastian, who queued to get it for me,
hahaha.
![]() |
Thank you, Seb, for showing this ultimate bubble drink. And for queuing, hahaha. |
4. You might laugh at first, but you’re gonna miss their fruit
beer
This is, of course, for those who ‘drink’. When you walk
into 7-Eleven or Family Mart looking for a mineral water or juice, you will
probably stop and laugh at their fruit beer. Yes, beer with taste of fruit:
pineapple, grape, or mango. Looks like a joke, but wait until you taste it.
Surprisingly it matches each other: the fruit taste and the beer taste. The
pineapple one is my favorite. I tried the Japanese one, the Suntory peach beer
if I’m not mistaken, but I still love the pineapple beer.
After the accident, which happened on the last day of my
trip, my doctor gave me a painkiller and it forbid me from drinking any alcohol
drink. I was so sad looking at my boyfriend drank all of the beer.
And I still miss their pineapple beer until now T.T
![]() |
I'm talking about these guys |
5. After fruit beer, try their fruit milk
You might not laugh about it, but you will be interested because
of its cute packaging, ahaha. I’m not a fan of milk, but the wide variant of
their fruit milk really caught my eyes. Especially when tried the banana milk
for the first time. I hate banana, but this banana milk, I love it!
No, actually I love every flavor. They have many flavors so
that I can drink different one, for 5 days: banana, watermelon, papaya,
strawberry, and mixed fruit.
![]() |
Sooo many flavors! (photo taken from Huffington post) |
6. Do not leave Taiwan before eating beef noodle soup
Beef noodle soup is one of must-to-try food in Taiwan. Do
not leave the country before you taste it. It’s so good. I love it especially
when it’s spicy. Even though it has different spiciness than Indonesian noodle
soup, still I love it. The one that I tried was located near Sun Yat Sen
Memorial Hall. I heard it was famous around Indonesian student because they serve
halal food, but you better recheck it with a trusted source if you want to make
sure. At lunch time, the restaurant will be packed of people, so don’t be
surprised if you have strangers eating with you at the same table or you will
ask to leave if the owner see you have finished your meal (politely, of
course).
![]() |
My beef noodle soup |
7. They serve their food in a big portion
This is, of course, with a comparison to Indonesian
restaurant. I always took a deep breath after seeing my food’s portion. I was
grateful, surely, but I was worried I couldn’t eat all of it. Once when I ate
at my boyfriend’s favorite hotpot restaurant ("12Hotpot) at the lower ground of Carefour, I
almost passed out for not be able to finish my food. But he cheered me up and I
ended up keep eating even though my stomach was almost exploded.
![]() |
Looks small? I zoomed it out. Wait until you see it yourself. |
I, then, looked at my right. There was a girl asking for
extra meat and rice.
WHAT?! How could they eat that much and stay skinny?!
8. Suddenly hungry at midnight? Don’t worry. Convenience
Store is your savior.
Just like Japan, you can find convenience store everywhere
in Taipei. You can just picked your favorite oden, instant noodle, onigiri,
sausage, or other fast food to fill your stomach. Don’t forget to grab some
snacks, fruit juice, fruit milk, milk tea, or beer if you want a companion. I’m
sure you will be more than full. I landed at midnight and all restaurant in
Taoyuan Airport were closed. But no problem, Family Mart at its basement is enough
to keep my stomach peaceful the whole night.
![]() |
Warm oden for rainy days (photo taken from: studymandarinintaipei.blogspot.com) |
9. Still not enough reason for you?
Open http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.tw/
and you will suddenly have a lot of ideas what you want to eat. The blog had
helped me sooo much in listing down foods I wanted to try. The review is
comprehensive and I love that she put the detail address. She writes from fine
restaurant, fast food, snack, traditional, western, anything!
See you in my next post!
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