If you live in Taipei, Shilin Night Market is a must-visit attraction that you have definitely been to, or at least heard of. In recent years, Shilin Night Market has slowly been taken over by new, flashy food stalls that go viral on Instagram, and the traditional Taiwanese cuisine stalls often get forgotten.

Recently, I invited my friend, a Shilin Night Market master, to venture deep into this famous food jungle to try some of the viral food stalls, as well as some underrated items that often go unnoticed.

 

1. Happy Sweet Potato Ball 快樂地瓜球

Seeing this place again after a long time brought back good memories. This has always been my favorite spot for sweet potato balls as a kid, and as the name of this store says, their sweet potato balls make you happy.

As a sweet potato ball professional, there are a few criteria that make them good. They have to be big, crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside, and most importantly, you have to be able to taste sweet potato flavor inside the fried balls. A lot of potato balls I’ve eaten before are soggy because they were fried for too long, or they just tasted like normal fried dough with no potato flavor.

I have tried many other sweet potato ball stalls over the years, but nothing tops this one. For starters, for only 50 NTD, the portions are huge. They fill the entire bag until it is almost overfilled, and the fried balls themselves are huge. The outer layer is crispy, but the inner layer is bouncy, and the two textures contrast very well. Not only are the portions bigger and cheaper than those of other stalls, but I like this one the best because with each chew, the sweetness of the potato comes out more and spreads around your mouth.You can choose to add powder toppings to your order, like plum or pepper powder, with no extra charge, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it. If it is your first time trying Happy Sweet Potato Balls, it is best to eat them as is.

2. Aniki Potato (老大薯條)

This stall was all over my Instagram page for a long time, and I always wanted to try it. But every time I went with others, nobody wanted to share with me, so this time I snatched the chance and split it with my companion for this trip.

I held high expectations as a bunch of Instagram creators really hyped this spot up, describing it as a 21st-century innovation that deserves a Nobel prize. Unfortunately, it was average at best.

The price was 150 NTD, but the fries were really long so I thought it was fair. Although nobody else was in line, the wait time was still around 10 minutes, which is way too long a wait time for a stall with nobody in line.

The taste itself didn’t make up for the long wait time, nor for the rather high price. You could order seasonings and a sauce to drizzle over your fries, and I ordered the pepper seasoning with honey mustard sauce. But since the fries are very long, the seasonings didn’t reach the bottom, so only about one-third of the fries had flavor. As for the bare fry itself, it’s not super crispy or flavorful, and the oil aftertaste was prominent.

Again, it isn’t bad or disgusting, it’s just fries. The only selling point is the fact that the fries are very long, but I think going to McDonald’s and getting a large fry is more worth your money. They are cheaper and better.

 

3. Jiao Tang Feng 焦糖楓串燒

This store was on the outer-edge of the night market, so it was a bit hard to navigate and find. However, the long trip to the store was worth the delicious skewers we received.

This was a store that sold Taiwanese traditional grilled skewers, offering a wide variety of options, including tempura, chicken hearts, green beans, tofu, chicken legs, and more. My friend and I ended up ordering two grilled chicken skewers, two beef-wrapped onion skewers, and one tempura skewer. It came down to 30 NTD per skewer, roughly, and we both agreed it was a fair price.

Now this is our fault, since they told us it would take around 15 minutes for the skewers to be done (because they have to actually grill raw meat, and it takes time), so my friend and I decided to go back to the inside of the night market to check out other food stalls. But being two directionally challenged people, we got lost in the market. So by the time we found our way back to the skewer shop, all of our food was cold.

But surprisingly (and thankfully), the cold skewers still tasted scrumptious. Despite being cold, the meat was still juicy and not tough or chewy. I could tell they marinated the meat for a long time because they didn’t put much salt or pepper on the outside, but the meat was flavorful regardless.

My favorite one was the beef-wrapped onions, and I thank my friend for forcing me to try it because I’m usually a picky eater and hate onions. But after one bite, it’s like those memes where something explodes in your brain, because, God, was it nearly life-changing. The onion wasn’t spicy at all; in fact, it was sweet, which created a nice contrast with the salty meat.

Overall, heavily recommended.

 

4. Come On Eat Candy (今晚吃糖)

A classic in night markets: tanghulus (糖葫蘆). Tanghulus are fruits coated in a hard shell of melted sugar, and if you’re Taiwanese or even just Asian, you have probably tried this at least once.

I bought one green grape tanghulu for 60 NTD, and my friend bought two imported strawberry tanghulus for 100 each. This may sound pricey, but after checking other tanghulus shops, I realized it’s all around the same price.

At first, I had some doubts about this store since it was big and flashy, and usually small stalls beat chain stores. But this store exceeded my expectations and served us tasty tanghulus.

I used to not like tanghulus because the first time I ate them, the sugar coating was way too hard and sweet, and the fruit inside was warm and mushy, so it was just flat out disgusting. But this time the sugar was just thin enough for it to be crispy, and it wasn’t so sweet that it gave me diabetes. The fruit on the side was cold, making every single bite extremely refreshing.

I didn’t eat the strawberry ones (since I’m allergic), but 100 NTD was a fair price since the fruit was imported from Japan, so the strawberries were visibly larger than normal strawberry tanghulus, which cost 60 NTD.

 

5. Peanut Ice Cream Roll

Bracing for impact as I’m writing this, as a Taiwanese person, I should not be saying this. But peanut ice cream rolls are an abomination. Everyone around me seems to love them for no apparent reason.

I didn’t want to try this at first, since the concept of combining cilantro with ice cream sounded cursed to me. But my friend told me I had an inherent responsibility to try it out at least once in my life if Taiwanese blood flowed in my veins. She also kept telling me it doesn’t taste bad, and the more you eat it, the more you’ll like it, so I bought it with rather high expectations.

But after the first bite, I knew it was a mistake. The ice cream itself tasted cheap, like it wasn’t made with milk or cream. The peanuts were overly salty, and the crunchy peanut crumbs paired with the soft ice cream were a sensory nightmare in my mouth. And the worst of all: the fat pinch of bitter cilantro did not pair well with either the ice cream or the peanuts; in fact, it made the entire thing 10 times worse.

If you are an experimental person who likes to try out new things, sure, go for it. But just a warning ahead that if you’re expecting anything normal, it isn’t. Personally, I will never try this again, even if you give it to me for free.

 

 

6. Jiù shāo há (就燒蛤)

This is a must-try if you’re a seafood lover! Like the Happy Sweet Potato Balls, this is a stall that deserves more praise. For 150 NTD, you get a big bowl of steamed clams with whatever flavor you choose. My go-to order is garlic.

It’s a very generous amount of clams for the price, and I love this shop, especially because I’ve eaten a lot of steamed clams before, and a lot of times they don’t clean the sand out of the clam meat well. Although it still has a subtle fishy taste, the taste is a lot less distinct compared to other stalls, and you can’t expect someone to completely get rid of the fishy taste in clams.

The clams come in a bowl of delicious soup that is the perfect mix of the clam essence and whatever flavor you ordered. So whenever I order and I finish the clams, I drink the remaining soup in the bowl, which always hits in cold weather.

This place is underrated. Whenever I go, nobody is in line waiting for their clams, and it makes me sad. This stall deserves more attention.

 

 

 

7. Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms 燒烤杏鮑菇

Like the big French fries, this food stall was also hyped up on Instagram; even more popular among food content creators than the fries. So I got really curious and decided to join the long line, and waited for about 10 minutes to place my order, which is surprisingly fast.

I knew that grilling king oyster mushrooms is a difficult task from my experience with moon festival barbecues. Since king oysters have high water content, it is easy to make them watery and disgusting when not grilled enough. But if you grill them too much, the king oysters become too rubbery and flavorless.

But all of the Instagram creators I saw kept recommending it and said it was “deliciously chewy” and “flavorful”. So I thought that this stall must have cracked the code of mastering how to grill King Oysters, and I happily ordered the spicy and original (soy) flavor.

My first warning should’ve been when I only had to wait in line for 10 minutes. As I mentioned before, when you don’t grill king oysters for a long enough time, the water won’t cook out and it will be too watery. This was exactly what happened to my order, and it tasted rancid.

The entire experience was weird. Imagine a soft, squishy object that squeaks uncomfortably between your teeth with juice just spilling out from each bite, and the juice tastes like dirt. Along with it is a salty soy sauce that doesn’t pair well with the dirt juice, and a spicy powder that makes the overall flavor even more unbearable.

I am not exaggerating when I say I was completely scammed by Instagram Reels. Do not be tricked by the long line or social media; don’t waste your money on this.

 

8. Dōngrì xià níng 冬日夏寧

Instead of spending your money on the grilled king oysters, you should go directly to the stall next to it and buy some lemon winter melon tea. At first, this wasn’t intended to be part of the review; my friend and I just bought it to wash our mouths after the king oysters obliterated our taste buds.

But maybe God felt bad for us, because this was the best lemon winter melon tea I have ever had in my life. Instead of lemon concentrate or flavoring, this shop crushes fresh lemon in the cup and pours in chilled winter melon tea. Since it’s smashing an actual lemon, the citrus flavor is stronger and fresher than other lemon winter melon teas I’ve had before.

At 70 NTD, it was a fair price for a large, thirst-quenching cup of tea. All of the passersby went for the king oysters and not this shop, and I feel it’s my duty to let the light shine on this vendor.

 

 

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In the end, Shillin Night Market is fun because it’s filled with nostalgic memories, and a chaotic mix of hits, misses, and everything in between. While viral stalls that may dominate social media feeds don’t always live up to the hype, like the king oyster mushrooms, some quiet, underrated stalls might hide in the shadows waiting for people to discover them.

Of course, this is just a small slice of Shillin Night Market. There are hundreds of food stalls all packed into one place, and there’s no way I could’ve tried them all. So instead of just following reviews or saving viral videos, go explore the night market yourself, and you might just discover a stall that is made just for you.