Taiwan is all about the food, and I feel like we haven’t spent quite enough time talking about food, so we’re going to have a little bonus post, just on breakfast.There are three types of breakfast in Taiwan: Street Food, Western, and Traditional.
Our first experience was with Street Food. In Ximen area in Taipei everything is closed in the mornings. We walked along abandoned streets that were bustling just the night before. But there was one cart open, making my favorite food of all time, scallion pancake. There’s nothing like freshly made scallion pancake off the street stuffed with basil and sweet soy sauce. Yum.
There are also a few hole in the wall places open with lines. There you can get xiao long bao (yes, these dumplings are a breakfast food in taiwan), fatty meat rice, and turnip cake. Super yummy and cheap (not like at Ding Tai Fung in Californa). We also got a burrito-like thing with fried dough and pickled veggies and egg wrapped in sticky rice. It was awesome.
At one of the airbnb’s we stayed at, the host brought us street food breakfast (you know, bed and breakfast). It was egg pancake which was super yummy, fresh soy milk, and a chicken sandwich. Yep, it was like having a really good fried chicken sandwich for breakfast. Why not?
Like much of Asia, there are also lots of Western-style coffee shops which serve sandwiches. We didn’t try any, but knowing how the Taiwanese love food and toast, those plain looking sandwiches are probably really good.
Later in the trip, we kept getting free breakfast with our hotels. The traditional Asian breakfasts are awesome because because they usually have cooked food (just like lunch food) as well as buns and fruit and congee. When we got off the sunrise train in Alishan, we had an included breakfast at a shop right next to the station where they were churning out food soup kitchen-like. All you can eat, just move fast!
The highlight of these breakfasts for me was the congee. Taiwan style congee is thicker than Cantonese congee and very plain. But then you add things inside like pickled vegetables, peanuts, and pork floss. I LOVE pork floss. I grew up eating pork floss and butter sandwiches. And in Taiwan I rediscovered this love. The pork floss in Taiwan is really finely shredded and goes great with congee. Ninety-five percent pork floss and five percent congee is about the right ratio. The pork floss was so good at the hotel in Chiayi that we took some with us and savored little bites for the next three weeks!
Breakfast isn’t usually my favorite food, but in Taiwan every meal is precious. Looking forward to coming back soon.