A delicious and satisfying breakfast is an energizing start to the entire day. To the Taiwanese, it may well be the most important meal of the day. A homemade breakfast is comfort food at its best, but Taiwan’s streets and alleys also offer a dazzling array of breakfast options to be explored and enjoyed.
Breakfast Street Eats
Before the 1950s, Taiwan was an agrarian society and so the morning meal would often be taken at home, consisting of a bowl of white rice or porridge, paired with greens, tofu and pickled vegetables to power a hard day’s work. As the nation gradually transformed into an industrial economy, lifestyle changes also led to a flourishing of street food that began early in the morning, offering noodles, braised pork rice, rice cakes and more to feed workers as they headed out.
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Founded in 1936 in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng District, Cheng's Noodles, has grown from a street-side stall to a full-fledged establishment, witnessing the transformation of Yancheng over 90 years. Now, the eatery opens for business at 8am, serving its signature noodles in a flavourful broth made with pork bones and local chicken, to be enjoyed with side dishes such as sliced chicken, blanched pork offals, radish, fish roe and fish maw. Whether on their way to work or school in the morning or getting off the night shift, patrons can be found here having their fill at all times of the day.
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In Qianjin District in Kaohsiung, Cianjin Braised Pork Rice boasts a similarly rich history. Established in 1959, the eatery opens its doors at 7.15am each morning, serving Southern-style Taiwanese braised pork rice with a topping of fish floss. Here, the back cut of the pork belly is used, which makes it particularly rich and fragrant. Paired with soft-boiled duck egg or fried fish maw, the dish makes for a delicious and satiating start to the day.
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In the street food haven of Tainan, breakfast options are even more diverse and closely interwoven with local culture. Arrive at 5am at A Hsing Congee and tuck into a bowl of rice porridge simmered in fish stock with fresh milkfish and fragrant garlic crisps. Or visit any of Tainan’s famed milkfish speciality stores such as A Xing Shi Mu Yu for a bowl of milkfish intestine soup or fish skin soup.
For midnight owls and early birds, restaurants such as Shang Hao Chih Beef Soup are open from midnight to early morning, serving freshly butchered beef or mutton soup, a hearty, warming start to the day.
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The morning street food scene is also vibrant in Taiwan’s northern cities. 80-year-old Mai Mien Yen Tsai in Taipei’s Dadaocheng and 70-year-old No Name Noodles in Taichung both open at 7 a.m. The former serves noodles in pork bone stock or sweet black sauce, while the latter’s Shanghainese noodles are paired with perky elements like pickled mustard, pickled scallion, pickled cucumber and string beans.
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With commercialization, the humble porridge breakfast meal enjoyed by families at home in the past has also expanded into more dayparts. Bib Gourmand establishment Xiao Ping Kitchen in Taipei opens from dinner through to dawn, serving comforting porridge and dishes to late-night workers and early birds.
Post-war Influences
After World War II, large numbers of immigrants brought along the tastes of their hometowns with them, expanding the diversity of breakfast culture in Taiwan. From Northern China came soy milk, fried dough sticks, or stuffed flatbreads and rice balls. First established in New Taipei City, Yong He Soy Milk is now found all over Taiwan, while popular breakfast joint Fuhang Soy Milk, located on the second floor of Huashan Market in Taipei City, opens at 5.30am, drawing hour-long queues for its signature soy milk and danbing, thick chewy pancakes filled with fluffy eggs.
The nearly 30-year post-war stationing of American troops in Taiwan from 1950 to 1979 also meant the introduction of Western-style breakfast traditions such as sandwiches and burgers, as well as beverages like black tea and tea with milk. Mei Er Mei’s chain of Western-style breakfast shops, with its iconic red, orange and yellow signboard, has become an indelible part of Taiwanese food culture.
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