Keelung Night Market is located in the center of Keelung City. Keelung Night Market’s full name is Keelung Miaokou Night Market, “Miaokou” in Madarin means “the doorway of the temple”; the origin of the night market has much to do with the Dianji Temple. In the early days, the gathering of the pilgrims brought some outdoor performers and entertainers performing near the temple as well. Then there are street vendors selling food and drink, attracting a large amount of traffic to this area; all of these factors contributed to the rise and prosperity of Keelung Night Market.
The number of vendors increased and the night market gradually expanded from its center at Ren 3rd Road into Ai 3rd Road and Ai 4th Road. Many food experts praise Keelung Night Market as having “the largest variety of dishes in the whole of Taiwan”. Being one of the biggest night markets in Taiwan, Keelung Night Market is just 10 minutes walk by the Keelung Port. That is exactly why tourists love to visit and get their belly filled in their first stop of Taiwan tour.
In this article we are going to list out all the must-eats and the personal choice from the insider. Let’s get started our Taiwan food tour!
- Nutritious Sandwich (No.58)
This one selling “Nutritious Sandwich” is one of the most iconic vendor in Keelung Night Market. The ingredients in the fried bread are cucumbers, ham, braised eggs, tomato and salad sauce. You will have big chances to wait in a queue most of the time.
- Chenji Pao Pao Ice (No.41)
Pao Pao Ice means “bubble ice” in Mandarin, but in fact is shaved ice with creamier texture closer to ice cream. Topped with fruit, condensed milk, and all the range of flavours as displayed on the board outside. When the summer comes, there are queues in front of both Chenji and Shenji Pao-Pao Ice (No.37). At NTD.50 (US$1.65) per cup, this is a hefty dessert for small change, with a flavour to suit anyone’s taste.
- Wuji Crab Thick Soup & Glutinous Oil Rice (No.5)
Those two delicacy this shop selling are surprisingly one of the must-try in Keelung Night Market. The most recommended way to enjoy is to order one each for a person; the price of Crab Thick Soup is currently NTD.60, and Glutinous Oil Rice is NTD.30.
There are also restaurants are not numbered like those vendors on Ren 3rd Road. Those hidden gems are easy to be concealed sometimes, let Justaiwantour take you to explore them:)
- Ji Jia Zhu Jiao Yuan Zhi Zhuan Jia
“Ji Jia” means “house of Ji”, “Zhu Jiao” means “pig feet”, “Yuan Zhi” means “original flavor” and “Zhuan Jia” means “expert”; so the meaning is “Ji family is an expert of making original flavor (not braised) pig feet”. This is one of my favorite taste that I must recommend to you; the pig feet are well cooked and the broth is delicious, the collagen is good for your skin!
Pig feet (with soup) small size (NTD.200) is for 1~2 person, medium size (NTD.350) is for 2~3 person, and large size (NTD.500) is for 3~4 person to share. There are some side dishes such as handmade noodle topped with special garlic sauce, definitely worth a try.
- Delicious Sugarcoated Stick
To be honest, you can effortlessly seeing dozens of sugarcoated stick street vendor everywhere, even in Keelung Night Market. This vendor is only be known by local and insiders. Located on Ai 4th Road, you can see a long queue surrounding this little trolley. The owner boiled the sugar freshly as well as coating the fruits, and the price is more reasonable range from NTD.25 to NTD.40. Don’t miss this one when you are looking for some Taiwanese traditional sweets!
Midnight Special !!!
If you are staying overnight in Keelung and happened to love sea foods, you must be interested into this local fish market – Kanziding Fish Market. Being identify as Taiwanese version of “Tsukiji Fish Market”, Kanziding Fish Market’s origin can date back to Qing dynasty. During the Japanese colonial period, The Japanese built a pier in the late 1920s, making it easy for fishermen to offload their catch next to the market
The Japanese built a pier in the late 1920s, making it convenient for fishermen to offload their harvest right beside the market, and easy access to the railway network as well. Those advantages make Kanziding the largest fish market in northern Taiwan nowadays.
Due to the short amount of time pulling in, my family and I decided to go on a 4-hour night market food tour. But before it was dawn, when the night market started, we had a nice walk by the port. We enjoyed the view of many spectacular ships and cruises. The cruise ship is a lot bigger when we stand at the port.
After a while, our tour guide took us to the temple of Keelung, which is also the main attraction. It is amazing to see this astonishing 146-year-old temple so prosper and full of people. Our tour guide said there is a typical way to interpret what the gods are telling the people by drawing. How interesting! But what we were most excited about was the food of the night market.
After the sun went down the lights of the streets lit up and gave the streets a completely different vibe. I started smelling some great smell of food. And our tour guide began to take us on a journey of Taiwanese cuisine. We definitely had seafood, I tried some fried squid, grilled oysters, stir-fried shrimps. Some were covered with all kinds of spices and some are covered with only a coat of bat. They were all so fresh and tasty! There was also famous fish meatball soup to try and sausages. One of my favorites is a soup with rice-made slices, it was kind of like noodles, but much wider and thicker. Last but not least, for dessert we had taro balls, which were again, delicious!
The one day tour in Keelung was absolutely amazing! Especially the delicacy in the night market. I would for sure recommend everyone to come to see for yourself!
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