Since unexpectedly making Kaohsiung home due to COVID, we have been lucky enough to thoroughly explore the cheap, delicious food scene that Taiwan is famous for. Although this has been heavy on the waistline (we can’t stop eating, everything is so good!), it’s been light on the wallet, with dishes ranging from $1-$3 USD per meal.
The secret to finding the best Taiwanese food is to go to the small stands/storefronts in front of people’s houses instead of sitting down at a restaurant. Here, you’ll find the cheapest and most authentic Taiwanese dishes. The challenge in this is that most of these places do not have any online presence, so it’s best to just wander around the busy streets following your nose!
Although every stand has its own charm and specialties, here are 5 of our favourites in the Kaohsiung Yancheng District (by Love River):
#1 – 田記豆漿 (Tian Ji Dou Jiang)
A typical Taiwanese breakfast joint, Tian Ji Dou Jiang has all your traditional Taiwanese staples – green onion pancakes (蔥油餅), pot stickers (鍋貼), pork and cabbage buns (高麗菜肉包), and my personal favourite, long clay oven rolls (燒餅). If you’re looking for something to wash it down with, they also offer delicious homemade soy milk (豆漿).
The prices are super cheap, with a full breakfast ranging from $0.50 – $2 USD per person.
Our Order:
1 potsticker, 1 pork and cabbage bun (slathered in green onion sauce), 2 green onion pancakes, and 1 long clay oven roll
#2 – 永和小籠包 Yonghe Steamed Dumplings
This highly specialized stand, open for lunch and dinner, offers only three dishes – steamed soup dumplings (小籠湯包), pigs’ blood soup (豬血湯), and hot and sour soup (酸辣湯). While all three look delicious, we can never pass up the soup dumplings, and have had way too many since finding the stand.
The dumplings are sold in baskets of nine, priced at $2USD per basket (which also contributes to us constantly returning). The stand also provides ginger and pre-made sauce for every order!
Our Order:
1 basket of soup dumplings each
#3 – 台中小排麵 (Taichung Short Rib Noodles)
This noodle stand specializes in Taichung style soup noodles and fried noodles. Their menu includes many different cuts of meat (pork, seafood, and beef), sautéed with their signature sauces and thrown into a delicious soup. For cooler days, opt to try the noodle soup, and for warmer days, fried noodles are a great option. If you like spicy, they make a delicious homemade spicy sauce to add to your order!
The prices range from $2 – $4 USD per bowl of noodles.
Our Order:
1 short rib beef noodle soup, and 1 pork rib noodle soup
#4 – 丰美食自助餐 (Fengmei Cafeteria)
Fengmei is a cafeteria style restaurant with 20-30 different dishes available for you to pick and choose your own lunch/dinner box (便當). The cafeteria style is perfect for anybody who likes trying a bunch of different foods, because you can take as much or as little of each dish that you like!
The price is entirely based on how much food you take, but you can easily get a full meal (with rice, a meat, and vegetable side) for $2-$3 USD.
Our Order:
Whatever we’re feeling that day! The chicken leg in sauce is always a winner, though.
#5 – 鼎新古早味(Ding Xin Traditional Pork Bun)
Easy to miss if you’re walking by, this shop is literally a table set up in front of the chef’s house. The delicious pork buns are made of a homemade flour bun, peanut powder, sauerkraut, roasted pork belly, and cilantro.
Each bun is less than $2 USD, and the meat is so tender it melts in your mouth!
Our Order:
1 pork bun each, extra cilantro