Stinky Tofu, Tanghulurs, and Other Street Food in Taiwan

When a self-confessed foodie goes to a new place, of course she's going to Google what kinds of foods to eat there.

My siblings and I went to Taiwan just before 2016 ended. It was an adventure of many firsts—first time for all of us to go to Taiwan, first time for two of my siblings to be out of the country, first time for all of us to travel somewhere without our family, first time for some of us to experience a weather colder than the usual 26-28 degrees Celsius we have in Manila.

Of course, we Googled where to stay, where to go, what to do, and most importantly, what to eat. Taiwan, apparently, is one of the best food trip destinations, with all their famous street foods and night markets We didn't get to eat all that we wanted to, but these are some of the best and tastiest street food we got to try.

Chicken sausage—the first street that we tried at the Maokong Gondola stop. It was hot and very tasty, considering that we arrived there past one o'clock in the afternoon and hadn't had lunch yet.

Bomb pancakes—make of glutinous rice flour, egg, and spicy sauce if you want.
Literally the bomb in flavour.

Fishballs with different flavours, such as original, curry, kimchi,sweet and sour, etc.

I'm not too sure of the name, but this has a pancake/waffle-like texture that has two kinds of flavours for the filling—red bean and butter

Stinky tofu! One of my top favourites the whole time we were in Taiwan. I crave it so much now and no matter where we try to find it here, it just isn't the same as buying it from a stall deep in Raohe Night Market. Stinky tofu is made of deep-fried, fermented tofu, sweet and sour sauce, tossed in with a few cabbages and carrots.

Ice cream in a lumpia wrapper (thin flour wrapper that's almost like bland crepe). The man making the ice cream sprinkles freshly ground nuts onto the wrapper, puts two scoops of ice cream (one pink and one purple), and then rolls everything up. Some people eat it with cilantro, but I requested that he not put it yet. I'm still training my taste buds where cilantro is concerned.

Flavoured chicken pops

Tanghulurs—strawberries (or cherry tomatoes) coated in hot sugar that crystalises after left out for some time. We first heard of tanghulurs when we read the book "Little Pear" by Eleanor Frances Lattimore, which is about a little Chinese boy. The book mentioned tanghulurs and we have wanted to try it since then. Imagine our joy finding it on the streets of Taiwan.

Beef noodle soup.
This is of the most famous dishes in Taiwan and you will be inclined to agree once you get yourself a bowl with it's thick noodles, steaming soup, and generous slices of chunky beef.

There's a lot more we ate that, due to my hunger at the moment, I didn't get to have a photo of. We had fried mushrooms, taro ball soup (which can be eaten hot or cold), pineapple cake, pearl milk shake (you can't find any other place where they make the pearls as chewy as they make them in Taiwan!), and the famous Hot Star Fried Chicken of Taiwan.

It's been around a couple of months, but we're still craving the street food from Taiwan. Especially the stinky tofu, for me. I can't wait to go back and eat it and try some more other street food.