Taiwan Travel: Taipei: Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

What comes to your mind when someone mention Taiwan? Night market? During our previous trip to Taiwan in 2015, we visited Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 (read our food diary at Raohe Street Night Market here), so this time, we decided to visit Shilin Night Market 士林夜市, which DaDi and I last visited it at another location more than 10 years ago.

Let me share with you our Shilin Night Market food map. Well, there is much more food variety as compared to what you see on our map, we are just sharing with you what went into our stomach during our two visits (yes, we went there on our first and last night in Taiwan).

base map source: Google Maps

Although the night market is called Shilin, you should alight at Jiantan Station 劍潭, instead of Shilin Station along Taipei Metro Tamsui-Xinyi line. Just follow the crowd and you will see a traffic junction. From the map, it may appear that Shilin Night Market is located further north. In fact, once you cross the road, you will see a stretch of food stalls along Jihe Road 基河路, leading to Shilin Night Market building. By the time we managed to reach the building, we were already 90% full!

The food area is located at B1.

Charcoal grilled chicken cutlet 家鄉碳烤雞排

I am sure that you would not miss this stall. You would see it once you cross the road, the queue  is forever very long! I think it took us about 10 to 15 minutes to get our charcoal grilled chicken cutlet. The skin is crispy, and the meat and juicy and tender. No wonder the queue is so long.

Prince cheese potato 王子起司馬鈴薯

As a cheese lover, I love Prince cheese potato! There are quite a lot of options on the menu. The potato is deep fried, it goes well with the creamy cheese sauce. The Japanese scallop one is slightly spicy, but we like the combination with bonito flakes.

Grilled beef cubes 火焰骰子牛

I recalled having the grilled beef cubes at Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 during our last visit to Taiwan, and I thought that it was not my cup of tea as it was too "well done" for me. But I didn't know why I decided to order this again. It turned out to be better than the one I had at Raohe Street Night Market. Anyway, at NT100, I should not expect the quality of the meat to be that of premium grade beef.

Stinky tofu 臭豆腐

Taiwanese stinky tofu is different from Hong Kong one! While the smell (I don't call that fragrance or aroma) of both types seem to be similar to me, Taiwanese one has a distinct alkaline taste, which I personally can't accept. However, DaDi found it delicious. Well, different perspectives.

Passion fruit cheese grilled oysters, scallops and lobsters

Another must-have dish for cheese lovers. The sight of torching of seafood made me drool. I can't remember the exact price, I think I spent about NT200+ on 2 scallops and 2 oysters. Buying two pieces is more economical than buying one piece.

Coffin bread 棺材板

There is a variety of fillings, and we chose seafood. Honestly I couldn't taste the seafood. Anyway, the buttered toast is quite crispy.

Oyster omelette 蚵仔煎, braised pork rice 滷肉飯, tempura 甜不辣

You can find a number of stalls selling oyster omelette at B1 of Shilin Night Market building. We settled at a stall called Zhong Cheng Hao 忠誠號蚵仔煎. We had oyster omelette (NT60), tempura (NT50), braised pork rice (NT25) and fried rice noodles (NT35). Unlike oyster omelette in Singapore, the one in Taiwan is soft due to the gravy, but we could find more oysters!

Biscuit crepe wrap 大餅包小餅

You can choose sweet fillings (e.g. peanut, sesame, etc) or salty fillings (e.g. curry). Our children like the one with peanut and sesame.

Le castella cake 樂古早味蛋糕

We happened to walk past the shop near the end of Shilin Night Market building. There was no queue at all! The cake is soft and spongy, even when we had the cake in the next morning, the texture was still the same.

Other than eating, there are a lot of game stalls in the area.

How to Get to Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Alight at Jiantan Station 劍潭 along Taipei Metro Tamsui-Xinyi line (red colour line). From Exit 1, walk about 100 m. 

Our Taiwan Travelogue 2017:

• Taiwan Family Travel 8D7N Free & Easy Itinerary (December 2017)
• 10 Tips for Planning a Trip to Taiwan with Children + Elderly Parents
• How to Get from Taipei台北 to Taichung台中
• Accommodation in Taichung: 53 Hotel 寶島53行館
• Accommodation in Taipei 台北: York Design Hotel
• Taipei 台北 – Shilin Night Market 士林夜市
• Taipei 台北 – Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂
• Taipei 台北 – Kao Chi @ Yong Kang Street 永康街高記
• Jiufen 九份
• Changhua 彰化 – Changhua Roundhouse
• Taichung 台中 – 玩One Pizza (DIY pizza buffet with indoor play area)
• Taichung 台中 – Taichung Second Market 台中第二市場
• Taichung 台中 – Miyahara 宮原眼科 & Fourth Credit Union 第四信用合作社
• Taichung 台中 – Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市
• Taichung 台中 – Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村
• Taichung 台中 – A Liang Mushroom 阿亮香菇園 and Master of Mushrooms Restaurant 菇神
• Taichung 台中 – Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林
• Taichung 台中 – Chung-She Flower Garden 中社觀光花市
• Taichung 台中 – Gaomei Wetlands 高美濕地
• Nantou 南投 – Cingjing Farm Green Green Grassland 清境農場青青草原
• Nantou 南投 – Puli 埔里 – Guangxing Paper Mill 廣興紙寮, King Garden 元首館

Our Taiwan Travelogue 2015:

• Taiwan with Children 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary and Accommodation (December 2015)
• 8 Tips for Planning a Trip to Taiwan with Children
• Taiwan Child-friendly Accommodations with Slides
• Free Gifts for Travellers @ Taiwan Visitors Association(Singapore Office)
• Shifen 十分 – Sky Lantern
• Yilan 宜蘭 – Child-friendly Accommodation with Slide自然捲北歐風格旅店
• Yilan 宜蘭 – Jimmy Square, Free Factory Tour, Themed Restaurants, Hot Spring
• Miaoli 苗栗 – Flying Cow Ranch 飛牛牧場
• Miaoli 苗栗 – Strawberry farm, Railway Museum, High Speed Rail
• Taipei 台北– Rilakkuma Cafe 拉拉熊咖啡廳
• Taipei 台北– BabyBoss 職業體驗任意城
• Taipei 台北– Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市
• Download our printable Taiwan 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary

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