Rao He Night Market Eats

Getting to Rao He is no easy feat...especially if you are walking from Houshanpi station like we did. It is more convenient for commuters taking the railway though, being right smack outside Zhongshan Railway Station. Be prepared for an approximately half and hour walk during winter. I would love to think that Rao He was exceptionally crowded because of the weekend when we were there.



胡椒饼 spotted before the entrance but the famous one is located behind the entrance arches!



Through and through so famous, from the moment we stepped in till the moment we stepped out, queues were unforgivingly long!



Hands made for kneading-twisting-moulding of buns!



Prized buns.



With a texture of a crispy bun and doughy innards, the black pepper only hits you much later into the juicy meat bun. Well worth the queue and definitely a must eat at Raohe!



The news featured a popular winter dish earlier in the day - 麻油雞. 麻油王 is one of the many stalls selling it at Raohe.



Everything with sesame oil!



麻油雞 and noodle (NTD 110), generous portions of both noodle and chicken! Only sesame oil fans need bother.



More of the hearty portion. Taiwanese chicken are much bigger than our kampung chickens and juicier too.



Call me weird but the craving for 滷肉飯 superceded that of pork ribs so we ended up with a bowl from a pork rib stall?!


Boring looking 滷肉飯 (NTD 20). Totally disgusting with almost no meat but all lard bits and the bowl reeked of the pork smell. Completely baffles me how all the pork rib diners could pair this with pork ribs! First attempt that was super disappointing.



Can you guess what was next on the agenda?



At a stall that specialised mainly in smelly tofu and duck's blood...



Yes, oyster egg (NTD 50)! Increasingly so, we found outselves fulfilling the must eat wishlist from places that hardly specialised in them!



Just the way I envisioned it - more goo than egg and oysters. The orange sauce was more sour than savoury actually and the starch was honestly quite delish.



Next on the list...was icecream popiah (NTD 40)!




Well by this time I have learnt not to trust queues nor paper clippings nor television mentions anymore but I feared I may have to leave Taipei without trying this.





Wrapped so snug just like a popiah.



Amazing how chewy the popiah skin is, and how finely grated the peanuts are...the vegetables tossed in actually taste quite good and finally icecream that goes so well.

Two thumbs up!



My favourite couple highly recommended 狀元糕! He seems to have moved from the end of the market to the beginning so watch out for him!



Black sesame or peanut.



Almost like kueh tutu but chewier and the fillings are more evenly spread out. Of the two, I actually preferred peanut better.



The thing differend about Raohe Night Market is, they have alot of stalls encouraging diners to sit down for a proper meal. What I disliked most was the throngs of people making their way through the night market - I literally inched my way in and out of the maze.



And of course braised meats which are a common sight across all nightmarkets.

I'm undecided if Rao He or Shi Da is a personal favourite. Rao He specializes more on food whilst Shi Da encourages shopping and eating at the same time.

Rao He Night Market
Near Houshanpi Station