August 24, 2026
Published
Table Notes rounds up the week's Taiwan food and travel news from Chinese- and English-language sources. Dates, prices, and promotions change quickly; check the linked source before planning around one.
Southern Taiwan took record rain this weekend—flooding cities, suspending the Alishan Forest Railway, and closing schools and offices. Meanwhile Kaohsiung announced its annual milk tea and fried chicken festivals, Jensen Huang bought buns during a two-hour stopover, and STARLUX added Kaohsiung as a third hub.
This week in brief
- Record rain flooded southern Taiwan; Alishan Forest Railway suspended through Monday
- Kaohsiung's milk tea festival gathers 70+ brands in Yancheng, Sept. 19–20
- Jensen Huang bought seven buns and 30 zongzi during a two-hour Taiwan visit
- Kaohsiung fried chicken carnival returns Oct. 24–25 with salted-egg-yolk theme
News & Openings
Record rain floods southern Taiwan, suspends Alishan Forest Railway 8月24日前防豪雨 熱帶性低氣壓與低壓帶影響 南部嚴防超大豪雨
August 22–24, ongoing
Tropical Depression TD24 dropped 450–500 mm on southern Taiwan over the weekend, flooding Kaohsiung (130 incidents), Tainan, and Pingtung and forcing evacuation of 2,203 people from landslide zones. The Alishan Forest Railway suspended all services Monday; ferries to Xiaoliuqiu stopped running; a fallen tree hit a Kaohsiung Light Rail train. Check cwa.gov.tw for current warnings—this is still evolving.
Jensen Huang's two-hour Taiwan stopover: buns and zongzi 黃仁勳閃電訪台 與妻現身包子店被目擊 助理外帶30顆肉粽
August 23, 2026
NVIDIA's CEO spent roughly two hours in Taiwan ahead of the company's August 26 earnings, buying seven buns—spicy pork, basil pork, chicken and cheese, scallion—at a shop on Jianguo South Road while an aide collected 30 zongzi from Wang Ji Fu Cheng, a long-established Taipei shop Huang has patronised before. Both places now have queues.
STARLUX adds Kaohsiung hub with daily Kobe, Okinawa routes
Announced August 21; routes launch January 1, 2027
STARLUX launches daily Kaohsiung–Kobe and Kaohsiung–Okinawa flights January 1, 2027, making Kaohsiung its third Taiwan departure point alongside Taoyuan and Taichung. Both routes run on A321neo aircraft for the first two months. This makes southern Taiwan a viable entry point for Japanese and Japan-based travellers, which reshapes who arrives in Kaohsiung and when.
Repeat-visitor incentive details: NT$5,000 plus NT$3,000 for companion
Proposed NT$5,000 + NT$3,000
The proposed NT$8,000 repeat-visitor incentive breaks down as NT$5,000 for the returning visitor and NT$3,000 for a travel companion, likely distributed via e-payment cards or vouchers based on past programmes. This is still a proposal aimed at the Japanese market—no application mechanism exists yet. A lot of existing content wrongly implies it is claimable.
Deals & Promos
Starbucks Taiwan's Mid-Autumn range adds Le Ruban pastry exclusive
On sale now; Le Ruban pastry from August 21
Starbucks Taiwan's 2026 Mid-Autumn collection spans 15+ items including a hot-air-balloon cookie tin that doubles as a nightlight, five mooncakes, and coffee-flavoured pastries. A limited egg-yolk pastry made with Le Ruban Pâtisserie is sold only at Starbucks Reserve DREAM PLAZA Taipei starting August 21. This is the version of Mid-Autumn gifting for visitors who want something recognisably Taiwanese without navigating a traditional bakery.
McDonald's Taiwan imports Korea's garlic beef burger, Japan's KitKat blizzard
Garlic burger to Sept. 1; KitKat blizzard to Sept. 8 · Garlic burger NT$119 single / NT$189 set; KitKat blizzard NT$69
The garlic double beef burger from the Korean menu runs through September 1 at NT$119 single or NT$189 as a set; the KitKat chocolate crisp blizzard from Japan is NT$69 through September 8. The taro pie also returned July 29. These cross-border items are filling the gap left by the withdrawn shrimp burger, for which refunds run to September 30.
Festivals & Events
Kaohsiung Milk Tea Festival gathers 70+ brands in Yancheng 「手搖飲之都」高雄奶茶節9/19、20登場
September 19–20, 2026
Kaohsiung stages its annual bubble tea festival for the first time in Yancheng district—MRT Yanchengpu Exit 1—pairing 70+ tea brands with the neighbourhood's street food. The city claims the title of Taiwan's bubble tea capital: 3,043 of the country's 15,969 shops are in Kaohsiung, generating NT$8.9 billion in 2025. The location is walkable, already a destination for Pier-2 and Bib Gourmand vendors, and unusually easy for a visitor to reach without planning.
Kaohsiung Fried Chicken Carnival returns with salted-egg-yolk theme 2026高雄鹹酥雞嘉年華10/24登場 廣發英雄帖 邀全臺炸物名店角逐年度金沙霸主
October 24–25, 15:00–21:00
Fifty specialist fried-food vendors from across Taiwan gather at Kaohsiung Far Eastern's Dream Square plaza for the city's sixth salt-and-pepper chicken carnival, each required to offer at least one salted-egg-yolk dish in competition for the "Golden Sand" crown. Runs 15:00–21:00 both days in an indoor-adjacent space, removing weather risk. This is the closest thing to a low-barrier ordering environment for Taiwan's most beloved late-night food.