First-hand reviews of restaurants, night markets, and bars, with the occasional guide to making Taiwan easier to travel.
Review
Sep 2026 Shilin, Taipei
I've eaten at more than a hundred ramen shops around Taipei, and Douraku in Shilin is one I keep coming back to. It started as a Fukuoka-style yatai in 2016, and the Japanese-style broth is rich without being undrinkably salty, the kaedama is free, and the karaage and chashu rice are as good as the ramen. Kalen went gekikara on the spicy tonkotsu; I stuck with the deluxe shoyu.
Review
Aug 2026 Wanhua, Taipei
I'd wanted to try 門前隱味牛肉麵 since I first saw it on Instagram: an Ichiran-style beef noodle shop where you eat in your own booth and the bowl arrives through a bamboo blind. I walked into the Ximen branch on a weekday afternoon and ordered the mala half-tendon half-beef with wide noodles, plus spicy glass noodles and pickled green mango. Is it too expensive for a bowl of beef noodle?
Guide
Aug 2026 7 min read
Three more craft beer spots in West Taipei, following up the first roundup: a café that pours craft beer from noon, Mikkeller's bar at the edge of Dihua Street, and a brand-new outdoor bar in Ximending. Also, the issue with beer flights in Taipei
Review
Aug 2026 Tamsui, New Taipei
My first time visiting Giguo, a Japanese-style hot pot chain: Sichuan broth with a meltable bear, an all-you-can-eat sides, and impressive dessert and drink options.
Review
Aug 2026 Tamsui, New Taipei
Mercuries is the beef noodle chain you can walk past a hundred times without going in, always near a grocery store. I finally went back after a year and a half and ordered the NT$229 original beef noodle set. It's fast, it's convenient, and that's the high point.
Review
Aug 2026 Neihu, Taipei
Taipei's summer humidity sends everyone indoors, so I spent five hours at Journey Kaffe in Neihu: a no time-limit cafe with power outlets at every table and a kitchen where you can assemble your own pizza. I had the spicy tomato and chicken pasta, a chicken Caesar salad, brownie cheesecake, and a banana and berry smoothie, and walked out into a much cooler evening.
Review
Aug 2026 Tamsui, New Taipei
Our family's go-to when nobody feels like cooking: all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ and hot pot at Dabaozhu in the Tamsui Prosperity Plaza Mall. We pile the grill with beef, pork, and marinated chicken thigh, throw vegetables in the kimchi broth, and finish with ice cream — all for under NT$500 a person.
Review
Aug 2026 Beitou, Taipei
A local friend told me there's a place in Beitou run by an ex-Din Tai Fung chef, serving the same fried rice and chilli-oil wontons at half the price. They warned me about the queue. I walked in on a Monday afternoon and sat straight down.
Review
Jul 2026 Da'an, Taipei
Mongolian Barbecue was invented in Taipei by a man who wanted a catchy name. Grassland went the other way: the founders travelled to Mongolia before opening in 2006 to learn how to cook Mongolian-style. Two locations show they made the right choice.
Review
Jul 2026 Wanhua, Taipei
My local friend suggested Sunway, and I'd already had it bookmarked for the salmon nigiri everyone photographs. We both left a little deflated, the pieces are too big and awkward to eat, but does that make it a bad value?
Guide
Jul 2026 7 min read
Tamsui has six Starbucks, and they're more different than you'd expect: one for the sunset, one that feels like sitting in a forest, one on the wharf overlooking the water and Lover's Bridge, and a few that are just a reliable coffee near the MRT or bus. Here's each of them, and which is worth the extra walk.
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