ShiLin Nite Market
ShiLin Nite Market is THE Nite Market to visit in Taipei. It started out more than 100 years ago centered around a local temple. It's very popular and in recent years experienced enormous growth- now a massive warren of alleys and lanes filled with people swarming the food carts and pawing thru the clothes and nicknack's. There seem to be a large number of roving vendors, that operate under the radar, since if the police wander by checking licenses, they all dodge away down little back alleys and trundle out after the police are past. They set up their carts in the middle of the street forcing the crowds to swirl and eddy around as people to stop to sample and buy the treats. Apparently this is quite a tradition, dating back to immigrants from China clashing with local aborigine villagers forcing them to flee into the Yamingshan mountains. In order to sell their goods they had to "ghost" in and out of the ShiLin area to avoid notice- Ghost Market is another name for the area. There's a massive food court area built that was supposed to control food sanitation and crowding in the streets. But its a fairly well acknowledged fact that the best stalls are still in the older section (altho the popular ones also maintain stalls in the new food court) it just hasn't achieved the critical mass the planners had hoped for. The most excellent tasty Chou Doufu (fried/stewed stinky tofu) stall is near the intersection of the temple street and the main strip altho I can't tell you the name of the stall or the streets? Just walk till you see a long line of people facing towards the stinkiest spot in the area. Sahm Shung Di (tofu pudding) doufu hua is packed all the time. Near the movie theater, there is a long line of people waiting for the deep fried chicken fillet. Again you notice the line around the block for one stall and the almost lifeless neighbor (victim to the ruthless Taiwan foodie standards).
Earwax? Eh? speak up I can't hear you. If you've had problems with your hearing the first place to stop is the earwax removal stand. for a couple hundred kuai, you can have a paper tube inserted into your ear, set alight and wait patiently for the wax to get sucked out into the tube. Afterwards the paper tube is cut open to reveal your collection of ear wax for you to gasp in astonishment (and your friends' to laugh & take pictures) over what was housed in your auditory canal.
The first cart we stopped at was rectangular duck blood sausages cooked in a steam box, dipped in spicy sauce, peanut dust and green onion. Dense and chewy this is a hearty meal in it's own right. Good thing Jenny and I are sharing everything. Ginormous sausages and special squid ink sausages are porkly rich and tasty. Definitely cholesterol on a stick... We pass on the gelatinous stuffed dumplings in favor of the ubiquitous oyster omelet- crispy egg outside stuffed with oysters, veg & amoeba like filling smothered in spicy sauce (aka booger pancake according to Jenny). These are the specialty of the area, and everyone has their own version. I can't get over how few oysters there are and how accurately booger describes the experience. Next on the list Frogs' eggs drink (you can see the green frog with eggs coming out of it's ass)- delicious tapioca pearls stewed in brown sugar, with milk and ice. For an extra $10 kuai you can add Lime "jello" made from the spongy white stuff that used to be a small brown ball. Altho a fantastic concoction, it seems to succeed despite the marketing (it really does look like frog's eggs). Other tasty treats are shaved seed & nut brittle, BBQ'd chicken butts, deep fried pastry- rolled in rice flour pancake. An interesting candy is a zillion sugar threads stretched out, then wrapped around peanut or sesame fillings. On the way out we pass a stall where you can tell that cooking corn over the grill is hazardous- the guy has a burnt red face and singed eyebrows. Stop at the shaved ice stalls and fruit stands for a traditional Taiwanese summer treat of fabulous fruit snacks.
Altho it's called the ShiLin Nite Market, the best MRT stop is JiantanZhan. Stalls are open from about 5:30 pm till well after midnite and the last train home. Start anywhere and wander till you overload on the crowds.