4ever Discovering
Shilin Night Market: Your Key to Endless Street Food
You Better Come With an Empty Stomach; You Will Be Leaving Stuffed to the Brim
Emily and I tutor French every Tuesday night right near one of the local night markets in the city. Lucky for us, we always leave hungry and are in dire need of some delicious street food. We decided it was about time we try the Shilin night market! Only a few MRT stops away from our company’s main office, Shilin is known as one of the most ‘touristy’ night markets in Taipei. Unlike Shida, this one sold a lot more street food. Shida sold a lot of clothing and shoes; whereas, there were rows and rows of street vendors at Shilin. Talk about cheap heaven!
When we walked to Shilin, Emily and I quickly realized this was not an ordinary market. You can easily get lost in all of the streets, and we never really knew if we had already walked down the road. There were so many different directions you could go; we need to go back just to make sure we have seen everything! The first road started with more of a carnival than a food heaven. When we were walking down, all we could see were different fair games, like throwing a dart at the balloons, and shooting at different targets. Not really what I was expecting. After taking a turn at the end of the road, we left the carnival and walked our way to all of the food we were dying to eat. Here are some of the foods we tried at Shilin (caution, this may make you hungry):
1. Fried Squid Bits: These are by far, one of the best foods I’ve eaten in Taiwan. Because it’s an island, there is a lot of seafood you can eat here, squid being one of the most popular choices. These little squids bites are deep-fried and seasoned to make them taste like heaven on earth. I think Costco needs to start selling them as some of their appetizers; I know I would buy them every week! You get quite a lot of squid in your bucket too, so it’s great for sharing (or munching on them all by yourself).
2. One-Bite Crabs: Again, sticking with your seafood, these one-bite crabs are known around Taiwan. They are about the size of a loonie, and deep-fried to make them extra good. Because they are so small, you just eat the entire crab, with the shell and legs still intact! At first I thought the legs might get stuck in my teeth or something, but it tasted delicious! It was nice and crunchy, and felt like I was eating chippies! You get about 15 little crabs in your bucket, so you could easily share them, or enjoy them to yourself!
3. Homemade Spring Rolls: I love spring rolls, egg rolls, cabbage rolls; any kind of roll! When I saw this adorable, old married couple making homemade spring rolls at their stand, I knew I had to try it! They were probably in their 70s and working hard to make hundreds of spring rolls a night. Talk about hard-working! Now, I’m not completely sure what was in these rolls, but I know a few of the ingredients. You would be amazed at the amount of food I don’t know what I’m eating here! These spring rolls started with a rice tortilla, filled with bean sprouts, pork slices, crushed peanuts, cabbage, and some other meat. To finish, she added some spicy sauce and rolled it up perfectly. This was the best spring roll I had ever tasted, and know for a fact, I will be going back regularly to eat these and support the cutest couple.
4. Freeze-It Yourself Ice Cream: After eating our main courses, Emily and I decided we needed some dessert to end our walk through the Shilin night market. This vendor had a freezing cold skillet where you could choose your own ice cream to be made on the spot. I choose a blueberry and corn flakes flavour (I don’t know why, but every flavour included corn flakes. I’m assuming to add a little crunch?). The ice cream starts from a liquid, and then the worker pours your flavour on the cold plate. It instantly begins to freeze, making ice cream. After about 15 seconds, it is ready, and the worker scrapes the ice cream off of the skillet, into your cup. They are scraped into little rolls, and topped with whipped cream, marshmallows, cookies, more corn flakes, and sprinkles. It is the ultimate ice cream sundae. It was awesome to watch them make ice cream right in front of your eyes. This was worth it just the watch them make it! It was just an added bonus to eat the dessert.
Night markets are always a great way to try some of the local food from the country. The portions are small, so you are able to try several different dishes a night. They are always busy, and you can always find a good deal! I really enjoyed Shilin; I found the food was the highlight, but I would also go back to look at all of shops. I saw some nice clothes I don’t really need, but would love to buy! The Shilin night market was lively, delicious, and a great area to stroll to find some traditional Taiwanese culture. I know Emily and I have already talked about going back next week after tutoring to get some more squid and spring rolls!