🌜A Nan Sesame Oil Chicken 阿男麻油雞 is one of the 南機場夜市 Nanjichang night market stalls in the Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection 2018, 2019.
It is a blend of full bodied chicken soup and sesame seed oil, so full of naturally sweet flavour and alluring aroma. There's also a bit of heat from julienned ginger in the soup and hints of rice wine. If you like more wine, just dash in more from the bottle of rice wine provided on the table.
Go for the meaty chicken thigh which is tender, juicy and rich with sweet savoury flavour. But, you need to be early as their chicken thighs sell out fast.
Eat the sesame oil chicken soup with (optional) savoury mee suah (rice noodle) wet with chicken soup and sesame seed oil plus topping of pungent fried garlic bits.
Restaurant name: A Nan Sesame Oil Chicken 阿男麻油雞
Address: No. 34, Lane 311, Section 2, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Nearest MRT: Longshan Temple (Blue Line)
Tel: +886 955 572 506
Hours: 5:00pm – 12:00 midnight (Mon off)
🌜Stinky Tofu Boss 臭老闆 現蒸臭豆腐. Come to Taiwan, must of course try at least one stinky tofu. This one at Nanjichang night market is in the Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection 2018, 2019.
When you come to Nanjichang night market, you will find that there are 2 Stinky Tofu Boss stalls and a few other brands. The respective bosses were originally partners, but this is the original stall and only one in the Michelin Bib Gourmand list.
It's 2 slabs of steamed tofu topped with mushroom, peas, julienned ginger served in a shallow plate with watery reddish looking sauce. The soup has flavour and aroma of fermented bean paste, herbs and spice. It tastes savoury spicy (customers can choose the level of spiciness).
The tofu which is freshly steamed on order is soft and porous - full of holes which are logged with the flavourful soup. The tofu tastes savoury sourish and has the characteristic aroma of fermented tofu.
This is a vegetarian stall (no egg). They have a popular vegetarian version of lo rou fan (stewed pork rice). You can also try their unique bitter gourd with rice noodles (mee suah).
Restaurant name: Stinky Tofu Boss 臭老闆 現蒸臭豆腐
Address: No. 6, Lane 313, Section 2, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Nearest MRT: Longshan Temple (Blue Line)
Tel: +886 2 2305 2078
Hours: 11:30am – 10:30pm (Weds off)
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🌜Sung Ching Taiwanese Burrito (Popiah) 原松青潤餅 is the only popiah street cart stall in the Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection 2019.
The thing about Taiwanese popiah is they are huge and chocked full of over 10 types of ingredients - amazing. Amazingly good.
Sung Ching serves popiah wrapped in a huge piece of freshly made, not too thin wheat crepe. Savoury sweet sauces and also wasabi are lathered on the crepe. Then loads of ingredients are piled on, including stewed julienned carrot, radish, cucumber, bean sprout, char siew, fried tofu, fried crispy pork, cilantro, crushed peanuts etc. Their "secret weapon" is fresh nori powder - no secret lah but most other stalls don't have this.
With all these things inside, I just let you imagine the explosive flavours yourself lah 😄 Everything is hand made, so be early if you don't want to be miss this. It will be hard to get back to Singapore / Malaysian style popiah after this.
Restaurant name: Sung Ching Taiwanese Burrito 原松青潤餅
Address: No. 29, Lane 313, Section 2, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Nearest MRT: Longshan Temple (Blue Line)
Tel: +886 930 406 677
Hours: 3:30pm – 9:30pm (Mon off)
🌜Unnamed Clay Oven Roll 無名推車燒餅 is a charcoal fired clay oven on a push cart stall named in the Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection 2019. The humble stall is a local favourite before the Michelin inspectors caught up with them.
Everything is hand made at the stall from kneading and rolling the dough, filling it with minced meat, chopped scallion, red bean paste or sugar (kosong or plain version), to frying them on the griddle or baking them on the oven. It is actually a flat piece of dough folded into a flat roll with ingredients inside, dusted with sesame seeds and then fried or baked.
This is one box you have to check for an authentic Taiwan street food experience. Fans like this stall for their piping hot crispy, flaky crust and generous fillings, be it aromatic savoury sweet scallion or sweet red bean paste. The minced meat version tastes savoury sweet peppery. The plain version is savoury sweet with caramelised sugar in the folds.
Restaurant name: No Name Clay Oven Roll 無名推車燒餅
Address: 100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District, Alley 5, Lane 315, Section 2, Zhonghua Road
Nearest MRT: Longshan Temple (Blue Line)
Hours: 4:00pm – 8:00pm (Sun off)
🌜Lai Lai Dumpling 來來水餃店. Nanjichang night market is ground zero of dumplings in Taipei but none made it into the Michelin Star or Bib Gourmand honour roll 😅 Nevermind lah. There are at least 4 famous dumpling shops here and Lai Lai Dumpling is a big favourite of locals.
Every dumpling is hand made here at Lai Lai, actually every shop in Taipei dumpling alley also. The dough is hand kneaded, packed with minced pork & finely diced cabbage, and folded into a little meat purse. The dumplings are then cooked by boiling in large pots of water. They make and serve thousands of dumplings every day.
The dumplings are served in a plate, without soup. They aren't very pretty nor dainty but they are invitingly plump, like urging you to sink your teeth into the little meat pillows. The skin, not thin but tender and very smooth. (They also have chive dumplings, if you don't like too much meat.)
The meat dumplings have a homely feel and taste sweet savoury from the juicy fresh pork. The bits of cabbage add a bit of crunch and another layer of sweet flavour. The emphasis is on the natural flavours of the fresh ingredients. If you like, you can spice it up with a vinegar dip (but many fans like eating them neat).
You can eat your dumplings with small side dishes like stewed tofu slices, stewed pig ears, or their popular sweet and sour soup etc.
Try Lai Lai's competitors at Nanjichang night market too, if you are a dumpling fan. They also have their legion of die hard supporters.
Restaurant name: Lai Lai Dumplings 來來水餃店
Address: No. 9, Lane 309, Section 2, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Nearest MRT: Longshan Temple (Blue Line)
Tel: +886 2 2305 1561
Hours: 5:00pm – 11:30pm
Nanjichang Night Market 南機場夜市 is a favourite of locals as it is less jam packed with tourists and has many local flavours. Not the biggest night market but it has the highest ratio of good food stalls and lowest chance of wasting calories.
However, it is less accessible - the nearest MRT station at Longshan Temple (Blue Line) is not walking distance to this night market (unlike Shilin and Raohe, the glitzy tourist hotspots). The best way to get here is by taxi. But, if you like an unembellished authentic local experience, Nanjichang night market is the one to visit.
Date: 5 May 2020
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