Jiufen (Outer Taiper)

From Taipei’s city center, we took a 90 minute bus to an excursion to Jiufen, a picturesque old town situated up on the mountain facing the ocean. Jiufen used to be a gold mining town and was at its peak during the Japanese colonization era, hence there’re lots of Japanese colonial buildings left behind. It has became a forgotten town until Hou Hsiao-hsien‘s late 80s film City of Sadness was set there and people began to discover its nostalgic beauty. Ever since the town became more and more touristy, now it’s filled retro Chinese teahouses, eateries, tourisy shops and bed and breakfast. Most of them did not miss the opportunity to cash in from the nostalgia boom.

The are many ways to navigate the town but the most obvious and easy way is through the “food street” where there’re lots of small eateries and shops. I actually like the food street very much even though it’s very touristy.

Octopus balls on stick

Roasted Snail. Yes it’s kind of gross but at least you don’t need to fork it out like when you eat escargot at French restaurant. They took them out and then chopped them up for you. It was delicious

Of course there wouldn’t be a Taiwan food street without sausages. This stall has lots of different flavors. We got the 3 in one combo which is regular, squid ink and Wasbi. The regular flavor taste very similar to the ones you can get at Sinbala.

Tanghulu – a type of Northern China street snack where fruits are dipped in sugar syrup. Traditionally they use hawthorn but in Taiwan, strawberries and cherry tomatos seem to be the more popular choices.

Grill Oyster mushroom

Fried quail eggs. Very cute!

You can see more Jiufen pictures here.

Tags: Street Food, Taiwanese, Travel Report