Spencer Costanzo

TAIPEI Guide

Updated Jan 1, 2020
Key
★ = Worth a stop
★★ = Worth a detour
★★★ = My top picks

Restaurants & Street Foods
  • Breakfast Laboratory (pork/cheese/spice sandwich plus coffee on the street outside)
  • Zheng’s Pork Knuckle (tender pork with egg, pickled greens, and rice)
  • TKK (fast food fried chicken. try the fried rice wrapped in chicken skin)
  • 號大四方蛋餅 (breakfast, danbing with radish)
  • Lan Jia Gua Bao (gua bao, the famous one)
  • Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿, very famous, tons of breakfast options)
  • Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodles (famous beef noodle soup. get the half tendon half beef)
  • 老張炭烤燒餅店 (cheap & tasty shaobing. nice selection of sweet & savory)
  • ★ Jin Ji Yuan (try whatever looks good. great spot for high quality take-out dim sum)
  • ★ Din Tai Fung Xinyi (the original. lived up to the hype. just make sure to go right at open so you don't have to wait)
  • ★ Tianjin Flaky Scallion Pancake (I highly recommend the Taiwanese basil with egg and spicy sauce)
  • ​★ Jiushi Niu Beef Noodle Restaurant (delicious)
  • ★ Manor Beef (Kosei rec, great spicy beef noodle soup with shank & tendon. noodles really stand out here)
  • ★ 號秦小姐豆漿店 (fantastic danbing, egg crepe roll. Thick, chewy crepe)
  • ★ Fuzhou Pepper Buns (Bib Gourmand, in Raohe market, pork pepper buns. lives up to the hype)
  • ★ Jia Zhen Breakfast Restaurant (delicious steamed bun with pork chop & egg! Perfect breakfast dish)
  • ★青島豆漿店 (fantastic local breakfast)
  • ★★ Grandma's Breakfast Restaurant (阿婆早餐, red rice roll with youtiao & pork floss was amazingly good. perfectly sticky rice, crisp youtiao and lots of flavor from floss & some pickled veg)
  • ★★ Ruian Soy Milk (get the xian dou jiang, savory soy milk dish)
  • ★★ 號一甲子餐飲 - 祖師廟焢肉飯、刈包 (amazing Gua bao, my favorite one right now)
  • ★★ Wanda Grilled Sesame Seed Shop (the best version of savory baked onion cakes with sesame seeds)

Bakeries, Pastries, Desserts
  • Boite de Bijou (bacon epi)
  • Pure Bread Bakery (bakery)
  • Rise Bakery (bakery)
  • Soypresso (soy ice cream & soy milk)
  • 滿樂鐵板吐司 (yam paste meat floss sandwich)
  • 號庄頭豆花担 (tasty traditional Douhua!)
  • 山水伯豆花 (traditional douhua. Great on a hot day!)
  • 巷5號江記東門豆花 Dongmen Jiang Ji Douhua (traditional douhua with peanut, YUM!)
  • Bolopan (the melon pan with BUTTER is too good. so decadent)
  • ★ 愛玉之夢遊仙草 (jelly dessert topped with taro balls, tapioca, and swimming in sugar syrup. perfect on a hot day)
  • ★ Yungfu Ice Cream (peanut butter, red bean, taro, passionfruit, etc! since 1945)
  • ★ Soy Bean Desserts (all desserts soy)
  • ★ 鴉片粉圓 (tapioca & aiyu jelly speciality recommended by Kosei! super good)
  • ★ Kajitsu (canelé are impeccable, especially the chocolate. Beautiful dacquoise, scones, and roll cake too)
  • ★ 龍潭豆花 (traditional douhua recommended by Kosei. so smooth. quality stuff)
  • ★★ Crispy Fresh Donuts (a perfect donut, perhaps one of the best in the world)

Bubble Tea
  • 50 Lan (these are everywhere & I like their plum kumquat tea)
  • Yi Fang (一芳) Taiwan Fruit Tea (very popular for a reason)
  • ★ Tiger Sugar (老虎堂, brown sugar milk tea, yum)
  • ★ Xing Fu Tang (Happiness Bubble Tea. great brown sugar milk tea!)
  • ★★ Jenjudan (珍煮丹(大安復興店, brown sugar milk tea, amazing)
  • ★★ Milk Shop (迷客夏, classic milk tea. Kosei rec, super good brown sugar milk)
  • ★★ Chen San Ding Bubble Tea (陳三鼎黑糖粉圓鮮奶 專賣店,  top tier boba experience)

HIGHLIGHTS

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Just so delicious and $0.80!! I hadn’t heard of this dish until I arrived in Taipei □ #鹹豆漿 #youtiao #taipeieats

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 6, 2019 at 5:03am PDT

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2:56pm Taipei: Thin, well-caramelized shell with a custardy (and in this case chocolatey) interior. Thanks for another great rec @bigpigporket □ #canele #canelé #カヌレ #wanhua

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 26, 2019 at 3:22am PDT

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Another crazy good brown sugar bubble tea. 3 boba down, 27 to go. More recs please! □ #珍煮丹 #brownsugarmilktea #jenjudan

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 4, 2019 at 10:13am PDT

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12:21pm Taipei: Douhua with peanut, taro balls, ice □ #douhua #tofupudding #豆花 #taroballs

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 29, 2019 at 6:27am PDT

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7:58am Taipei: This red rice roll was fantastic with youtiao, pork floss, and some pickles I couldn’t exactly identify □ #fantuan #riceroll #taipeibreakfast #youtiao

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 22, 2019 at 6:27am PDT

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6:55am Taipei: Slightly sweet steamed bun with pork chop, egg, and a sweet/spicy sauce. Breakfast in Taipei □□ #饅頭 #mantou #taipeibreakfast #taiwanesebreakfast

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 23, 2019 at 4:12pm PDT

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5:17pm in Taipei: Look at all that tender pork! □□ #taipeieats #taipeifood #zhongzheng

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 12, 2019 at 5:56am PDT

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Taro paste & pork floss sandwich. A super tasty combo & impressive sandwich ? #滿樂鐵板吐司 #porkfloss #taipeieats #taipeifood

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 7, 2019 at 7:45am PDT

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4:25pm Taipei: First bites of Taipei! A Taiwanese basil/egg onion pancake & then 30 seconds later this juicy bun. Thanks @chengko_tw □ #taipeieats #taipeifood #yongkangstreet

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 1, 2019 at 5:03am PDT

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The most satisfying tapioca pearls I’ve tasted so far. They’re scooped straight out of a vat of hot brown sugar caramel. And the liquid is pure Taiwanese milk! Top tier □ #tapiocapearls #陳三鼎 #brownsugarbubblemilk

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Apr 6, 2019 at 5:42am PDT

Spencer Costanzo | Email Me
www.SpencerCostanzo.com