August 31, 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.
The Grand Hotel grills snow crab on the rooftop for Mid-Autumn, Burger King sells beef combos for NT$99 everywhere except the airport, and Taiwan's most wanted mooncake is baked behind bars by inmates you cannot order from.
This week in brief
- Changhua Prison's mooncakes sold 67,000 units in one day; only able to order via phone in Mandarin
- Burger King's NT$99 beef combos run through 13 September but not at the airport
- Departure airport fee rises from NT$500 to NT$750 from 1 September, first increase in a decade
- Eat the National Palace Museum's Meat-Shaped Stone as hotpot through year-end
News & Openings
Taiwan's hardest mooncake to buy is baked in prison 「鐵窗牌」魅力驚人！彰監蛋黃酥開賣 首日6.7萬顆秒殺
Pre-orders opened 28 August, selling through September · Eight pieces NT$380 (NT$47.50 each)
Changhua Prison's "Iron Window brand" salted-egg-yolk pastries sold 67,000 of their 100,000-unit run on the first day of phone pre-orders, with buyers reporting between 60 and 600 redial attempts to get through. The box dropped from ten pieces at NT$410 to eight at NT$380. Phone-only, Mandarin-only ordering means visitors realistically cannot buy these, but the Ministry of Justice publishes a nationwide prison mooncake map covering 24 correctional institutions, some of which sell walk-in.
Kyoto ramen chain Kairikiya opens at Taipei Main Station 京都拉麵「魁力屋」9/1進駐台北車站
Opens 1 September
Kairikiya, which runs 150-plus branches in Japan and specializes in soy-sauce ramen with thin-sliced chashu, opens its second Taipei location at Taipei Main Station on 1 September. The station handles more arriving visitor foot traffic than any other point in Taiwan, which makes this opening more useful than the January flagship at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Nanxi.
Domino's Taiwan pulls simplified-Chinese delivery bags 達美樂外送袋「印簡體字」遭抵制
Published 31 August
Domino's Taiwan says simplified-Chinese printed delivery bags were one franchisee's doing and have been withdrawn. The bag was posted on Instagram Threads, with many Taiwanese responding their disapproval.
Deals & Promos
KFC Taiwan's four-cheese lava chicken burger 肯德基「熔岩四起司咔啦雞腿堡」9/1開賣
1 September–5 October · NT$118 à la carte; A set NT$174; XL set NT$236, plus NT$1 second tart via app
Cheddar, Parmesan, cream cheese, and mozzarella blended into a lava sauce, plus two cheddar slices, a hash brown, and a crispy chicken thigh fillet in a brioche bun with ranch. The XL set (burger, one piece crispy chicken, small fries, one egg tart, medium soda) ordered through the mobile app adds a second egg tart for NT$1, but the app requires a Taiwan phone number. A Taiwan-exclusive cheese-lava fried-chicken burger on sale for five weeks.
Burger King's NT$99 beef combos—not at the airport 漢堡王「牛牛牛開學季」3款牛肉堡套餐均一價99元
Through 13 September · NT$99 per combo
Three beef-burger combos—peanut bacon, double cheese bacon, BBQ bacon—at a flat NT$99, each combo includes small fries, and medium drink. Currently the cheapest full burger combo in Taiwan. Not valid at airport branches, factory-campus branches, or the Children's Amusement Park branch, which excludes exactly the arriving and departing visitors most likely to look for it. The airport exclusion is the detail worth leading with.
Pizza Hut Taiwan's September stack, app versus walk-in 必勝客指定大比薩199元起、買義大利麵或燉飯套餐送個人比薩
Various end dates through 21 September · NT$101 personal meal; NT$199 five-item meal; NT$249 takeout large; NT$565 weekday buy-1-get-5
The headline NT$199 takeout large pizza is app-only and a real barrier for short-stay visitors. Deals available at any store or on the website without the app include the free personal pizza with a pasta or risotto L set (through 21 September), the NT$101 personal-pizza meal, the NT$199 five-item personal meal, the NT$249 takeout large (through 14 September), Korean seafood pancake buy-one-get-one at NT$199, and jalapeño cheese sausage buy-one-get-one at NT$109. Weekday-only takeout buy-one-get-five (thick-crust large plus two small pizzas, two sides, and a drink) starts at NT$565, through 18 September.
Festivals & Events
Grand Hotel runs a two-night rooftop barbecue
25–26 September · Adults from NT$2,580, children from NT$1,290, in-house guests from NT$2,380
The Grand Hotel's Mid-Autumn barbecue runs the first two nights of the four-day holiday weekend, with American-style charcoal ribs, wagyu burgers, grilled snow crab, and a live band.
Eat the National Palace Museum's three treasures as hotpot 青花驕延續與故宮聯名合作，加碼肉品
Through 31 December
Wang Steak Group's Sichuan green-peppercorn mala hotpot chain continues its tie-up with the National Palace Museum, plating the Meat-Shaped Stone, the Jadeite Cabbage, and the Mao Gong Ding as a two-person hotpot set. The main course now adds beef bacon on top of the existing house-cut chuck beef and premium pork belly, and the green-peppercorn ice cream gets limited museum packaging. Eat the Meat-Shaped Stone as hotpot, then go see the original in Shilin—a genuinely novel museum-and-meal itinerary.
Alishan runs stargazing trains in mid-September 阿里山林鐵「星空鐵道之旅」即將啟程
13–14 September
Special stargazing services sold as single-day and two-day options, alongside the existing Vivid and Formosensis themed tours booked through Lion Travel. Booking is via the official Alishan ticketing site, Chinese-language only, and these sell out.
On the Calendar
Departure airport fee rises NT$250 from 1 September 機場服務費將2階段調整 9月漲至750元
Effective 1 September 2026; second stage 1 September 2028 · NT$500 → NT$750 → NT$1,000
Every passenger departing Taiwan pays the airport service fee, collected by airlines inside the ticket price. It has been frozen at NT$500 for over ten years and rises to NT$750 on 1 September, then NT$1,000 on 1 September 2028. The transit and transfer facility fee rises on the identical schedule. Even after the rise, Taiwan stays cheaper than Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan.
Repeat-visitor reward opens for registration 1 October 國際旅客重遊加碼獎勵 10/1上午10時開放線上登錄
Register from 1 October; arrivals 10 October 2026–31 March 2027 · NT$5,000 solo, NT$8,000 with companion (lottery)
Any international traveller who entered Taiwan on or after 1 January 2023 qualifies as a repeat visitor. Independent repeat travellers can win a NT$5,000 stored-value spending card; bringing a companion tops the package out at NT$8,000. It is a lottery, not an entitlement—registration opens 10:00 Taiwan time on 1 October for arrivals from 10 October through 31 March 2027.
Alishan Forest Railway resumed service on 26 August 阿里山林鐵8月26日全線恢復營運
Suspended 24–25 August, resumed 26 August · Full refund, no fee, one-year window
The precautionary shutdown extended through 25 August and then lifted, with full resumption on 26 August covering the main line, Zhushan, Zhaoping, and Shenmu branches. Ticket holders for cancelled services on 24–25 August can claim a full refund with no handling fee for one year from the travel date, at any Alishan Forest Railway station or via 7-Eleven ibon machines. The line has now been suspended repeatedly in 2026—also 12–13 July and 10–11 June—so it remains weather-fragile.
Magnitude 5.8 quake off Taitung, intensity 4 on Green Island
25 August 15:00
The quake struck 48 km east-south-east of Taitung at 13.1 km depth on 25 August, triggering a national phone alert. Maximum intensity was level 4 on Green Island, with level 3 in Hualien, Chiayi, Yunlin, Tainan, and Taitung. No significant damage reported, and intensity 4 is rarely a reason to change plans.