And then of course, the star of the show: the night market. Like I mentioned earlier, “Miao kou” in Chinese literally means at the entrance of the temple. The temple in question is 奠濟宮 (see above), and all along the street it’s on, you’ll notice rows of yellow lanterns and matching metal signage for all of the stands (with questionable English and hopefully less questionable Japanese translations). But I’d recommend not reading the translations at all, because nothing sounds appetizing. Just follow your nose and go wherever is most crowded.
This is probably the most popular food-focused night market in Taiwan, and especially known for the fresh seafood. It’s popular for tourists (and about as tourist friendly as night markets come), but also very well loved among locals (re: my uncle will happily drive up here for dinner on any Saturday). Bourdain came here for The Layover, and to be honest this is probably the only part of his itinerary I’d willingly participate in.
With a fish market right around the corner, all seafood is cheap and fresh. If you see large piles of glutinous rice, that would be “oil rice,” a savory chewy rice dish steamed with meat, mushrooms, dried shrimp…a Taiwanese paella, if you will. Food snobs everywhere are probably going to kill me for even drawing that comparison. If it’s summer, definitely cool off with some “bubble ice.” It comes in various flavors from fruity to chocolatey to the Asian favorite red bean, but all of them are made to order and super fluffy. My favorite is chocolate and peanut – together, it tastes like a fluffy frozen Reese’s.