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Best of Taipei

Dedicated to sussing out and posting about the best Taipei has to offer! 


Historic Sites (and other interesting things) in Taipei

Done with memorial halls to dead dictators and guys whose lives had very little relationship with modern Taiwan? There's more to see!

Exploring Shezi Island


A walk down Guiyang Street, one of the oldest sites in Taipei

Not Just Library (Songshan Tobacco Factory) - a design library with a small garden and quiet workspaces in the historic women's bathhouse of the old factory

The Academia Sinica History Museum

Bopiliao Historic Quarter

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Taipei - the exhibit featured in this post is long gone but whatever the museum is showing, it's worth a look. The Japanese-era city hall is also wonderful to explore from the inside


Hiking in and around Taipei

These are reduxes -- there are so many hikes it would be hard to list them all here, so I'm linking to other lists instead!

Short Taipei hikes for the hungover night owl

Longer Taipei hikes for the ambitious weirdo

Some of my favorite Taipei restaurants:


My taste in all things leans toward vintage/retro, so don't be shocked that I don't always recommend the hippest new restaurants. I'll always be drawn to old-style charm.

Tanuki Koji 狸小路 (Anhe Road) - my favorite Japanese restaurant in Taipei! Izakaya-style, but with unique food they craft for a unique dining experience

Auntie Hsieh's - (near Ximen) - old school Taiwanese food run by old ladies in hair nets, meals are set and set price depending on what they're cooking. Usually about NT300 per person.

Joseph Bistro (in the Songjiang Nanjing area) - fine dining Indian fusion with local ingredients. Try their lamb with argan oil and stinky tofu curry
Hui Guan - (south of Songshan Sports Centre) - Ningxia Muslim food, a delicious fusion between Chinese and Central Asian cuisine. Everything they have is excellent.

 Tian Fu - (Yonghe) - the best Sichuanese in Taiwan. Seriously.

Meat Love - (Xinyi and Keelung Intersections) - with the demise of my favorite Korean restaurant in Shida, this is the best Korean BBQ in the city

 Kunming Islamic Food - (MRT Nanjing E. Road) - also mentioned in my Indian Restaurants post, this place is an eternal favorite for their amazing samosas and fiery curries

 Shao Shao Ke - Xi'an (Central Chinese) food done excellently with a fine atmosphere

 The Noodle House - (Xinyi/Jianguo Roads) - fiery 紅油抄手 (wontons in chili oil) are a specialty here, also try their raw papaya in passionfruit sauce and coriander chicken small dishes

 Tiger Noodle (Jinhua/Yongkang Streets and Civic Boulevard)- noodles or rice puffs in fiery Sichuan-style soup

 Taiwan Daughter-in-law (Songde Road/Xinyi) - excellent old-school Taiwanese food, run by a friendly family from Tainan. Try their dry noodles - link in Chinese

 Tainan Shrimp Roll Rice - (Dihua Street) - I have no link for this place, it's a tiny restaurant that's half outside on Dihua Street, just across from the south end of Yongle Market. There are a lot of small restaurants here near the public square area, and this one is further in the lane, at the intersection of two lanes. The chopsticks are held in Colman's Mustard tins. It has the best Tainan-style shrimp roll rice in all of Taipei.

Peng's Garden - (many locations, I prefer the original one on Linsen N. Road) - the famous restaurant opened by Chiang Ching-kuo's chef, the inventor of General Tso's Chicken. Yes, you can get it here. Yes, it's delicious. No, it's nothing like the stuff in the US.

Longdu Jiulou 龍都酒樓 (also Linsen N. Road) - the best Peking Duck in Taipei, no question. We're also fans of Celestial though they're not the only game in town

Silver Wings 銀翼 - (Jinshan South Road) - Hangzhou-Suzhou style food, affiliated with the ROC Air Force, and extremely good. 
Burma Street - (Zhonghe/Nanshijiao) - not a restaurant itself, but a street full of Burmese restaurants. Especially recommended is Golden Peacock and the restaurant with salads and mohinga


 Excellent Japanese and Thai restaurants - all in southern Taipei, though the post is quite old 

 BBQ Stinky Tofu in Shenkeng - any stand will do. I like it with the pickled spicy cabbage

Tonghua Mifen 通化街米粉湯 - (Fuxing South Road between Da'an and Technology Building) - this excellent small Taiwanese restaurant is not on Tonghua Street, but has good small dishes for a satisfying local meal 

Dee (Dunhua South Road) - beautifully decorated Thai restaurant with especially good soups

Bottega del Vin and Cantina del Gio - (Zhongxiao Dunhua) easily the two best Italian restaurants in Taipei, run by a father-son team

Liquid Bread Co. (Yanji Street) - Excellent sandwiches, giving stiff competition to the well-known Toasteria. Good for a Reuben, though my favorite is the Korean Pork Belly, and Red Point's Reuben is probably the best in all of Taiwan (Carnegie's has the best club, just don't go during typical bar hours)

Teotihuacan (Anhe Road near its terminus at Dunhua) - the best Mexican I've had in Taipei, though I also liked Twinkeyz Tacos

Sate House Indonesian - (Leli Road) - probably the best Indonesian food in Taipei

Pinxian 100 Hot Fry 品鱻 - (Leli Road) - Probably the best of the 100NT-per-dish quick-fry places in Taipei, try the pig liver

Mountain Tea House 貓空 山中茶 - 景觀餐廳 (on Maokong) - this place can be hard to find. When you get to the correct address, go up the stairs and enter the restaurant to the left (the one to the right has different owners; I've never been there). Very good tea (beer is also available), fried sweet potato, lemon diced chicken and other local staples. 

Lusang (Yongkang Street) - featuring Yilan-style Taiwanese food. This post is very old, from my early days in Taiwan, but the restaurant is still there and it's still great

James Kitchen (Yongkang Street) - I love this very Taiwanese, Hakka-style restaurant near the back end of Yongkang Street in an old Japanese house. It might be one of my favorite restaurants in the entire city.

Heritage Bakery & Cafe (Hankou Street near the Old Post Office) - unreal cinnamon rolls, excellent cakes and good sandwiches round out this welcome addition to Taipei's cafe scene

Jolly (three locations) - modern Thai with their own brewery, I never leave disappointed. My favorite location is the one on Hengyang Road as its in an old house

Oriental Cuisine Guizhou Food (Dihua Street) - excellent gourmet-style Guizhou food, by a Taiwanese chef who went to Guizhou to learn to make it. I used to live in Guizhou so I know it's good

The Antipodean Specialty Coffee (Neihu) - more than just coffee, they have excellent brunch-like meals and some outdoor seating


Food Reduxes (many of these need updates -- stay tuned)