TaitungEat Recommendations
Featured
Nan-Bei Dumpling House at 117 He-Ping Street in Taitung City has been around for more than forty years. Its oversized steamed dumplings — thin-skinned, bouncy and packed with juicy filling — are the headline act, joined by boiled dumplings, fried noodles, stir-fries and homestyle plates. Orders are taken on handwritten slips, sauces are self-serve, and spice fans should ask for the house peeled-chilli condiment. The two-storey room is often packed; lunch runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner 5 to 8:30 p.m., with an average spend of about NT$400 per head.
Hotel Royal Taitung in the city centre pairs modern minimalist rooms with a popular late-night buffet. Non-guests can buy in for the 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. midnight buffet, which spans hot dishes, fried snacks, braised items, salads, bread and seasonal fruit. Adult pricing is about NT$350 plus 10 percent service, children around NT$200 plus service, while hotel guests can take a bed-and-two-meals plan covering breakfast and the late buffet. The bright, roomy restaurant suits families and friend groups looking for a value stay-plus-dine combo in Taitung.
Eat
Qi-Li-Xiang Pan-Fried Buns is a thirty-plus-year snack institution tucked in Lane 385 of Zheng-Qi Road in Taitung City. The signature is a fist-sized pan-fried bun with a crisp golden base and a soft, generously filled interior, made even better with the house sweet-chilli sauce. Braised snacks round out the menu, prices are gentle — a single bun is just NT$25 — and queues are common. The plain shop on the corner of Zheng-Qi and Nan-Jing roads does both eat-in and takeaway.
Ka-Zi-Er Dorado Specialties at 115 Da-Tong Road in Cheng-Gong Township, Taitung, is a creative snack shop built around the local dolphinfish (gui-tou-dao). The kitchen folds the firm, white fish into classic Taiwanese dishes — dorado braised-pork rice, oyster omelette, fish-paste soup, fried fish cutlets and dumplings — for an affordable, distinctly local menu. Décor mixes old Taiwan with indigenous motifs, and the shop's packed rooms, mentions on the Taiwan Lu-Rou-Fan Festival list and frequent food-show features make it a Cheng-Gong must-try.
Under-the-Banyan Rice Noodles on Section 1, Zhong-Hua Road in Taitung City has been slinging bowls for more than fifty years. The signature rice-thread noodles come with house chilli oil, golden kimchi, crispy fried dorado and other small plates that locals and tourists love. The roomy interior turns over queues quickly at peak hours; there is no air-conditioning, but the clean broth and old-school flavour more than make up for it — a Taitung essential.
Fu-Yuan Tofu Shop in Chi-Shang Township near Fu-Yuan Elementary School has served the village for more than fifty years. The signature is a fruit-and-vegetable-fermented 'non-stinky' stinky tofu that is crisp outside, custardy inside and costs only NT$40 to NT$50 — locals and tourists line up for it. Soy milk, flavoured tofu pudding and grass-jelly tea fill out the menu, making it an ideal rest stop after cycling the famous Brown Boulevard. The bare-bones alley shop with its elementary-school-desk seating has a strong rural-Chi-Shang vibe.
Blue Dragonfly Fried Chicken is Taitung's only thirty-year-old fried-chicken specialist and is famous for its old-school Taiwanese flavour. The crust is thin, salty and shatter-crisp while the meat stays juicy, sold in combos of drumsticks, wings and bite-sized pieces with pepper-salt fries on the side. The simple dine-in room often has a queue, drawing locals and visitors who want a hit of nostalgic Taiwanese fried chicken.
Chen-Jia Scallion Pancake and Oden on Section 1, Si-Wei Road in Taitung City is a thirty-year-old sidewalk stall. The menu is built around thick, fluffy scallion pancakes; oden sticks, rice-blood cake and corn from NT$10 each; and free daikon-radish soup on the side. Prices are gentle, flavours are honest and queues are routine. There is no decor to speak of — just an arcade stall — making it a perfect on-the-go fill-up.