Shih Lin Night Market Eats

Shih Lin Night Market has to be Taipei's most famous. Located near Jian Tan Station and not Shih Lin, of the few I headed to, this is the closest to the station.




One of the most famous - Aptly named Hot Star Large Fried Chicken. In fact, franchises of this can be found at other night markets too, the most touristy thing to do however is, buy it where it originates from!



A rather brisk queue.



Massive sized chicken cutlets at NTD 55 each. They insist on no chopping or cutting it up, saves time for sure!



Fried till golden brown and dusted with spices.



Thick juicy chunk of chicken with a really spicy flavouring to make this night market favourite so good! The main grouse is it does get soggy towards the end. One draw about this - the portion of chicken is unbelievably huge, I wonder where these chickens are from. Besides, these patties are not blended ones, comes with the soft bones intact!



Just two doors away is their "Big Sausage Wrap Small Sausage". I skipped "Big Bun Wrap Small Bun" after hearing all the negative reviews.



Busy at work.



Two specialties - diced sausages or the rice sausages with meat sausage.



Accreditation.



Long and fat.

 

So here's the deal, at NTD 50, you get a bak zhang equivalent of a glutinous rice roll brushed with a delectable sauce and filled with pickled vegetables. The cherry on top of the icing - that chewy meaty grilled pork sausage. Arguably the best across all night markets. I kid you not when sheer disappointment sinks in when all there is within the sausage are fatty chunks. 

 

Crowd favourite and probably so because of the novelty - coffin bread!



Tools for temptation.



Everything at NTD50, when in doubt go for the one with all flavours.



Nicely deepfried - oh so love the golden brown!



Abit of this and abit of that.



Swiftly it gets cut with such precision.



Everything goes into the coffin.



A ladle of goo, literally. A starchy gummy blobby mess.



For as long as the theatrics lasted, it was interesting to watch.



CHEY! Honestly, tasted like chunky soup with bread. Bread bowl would have been more wholesome but I guess, novelty does sell.









Innovative way of keeping the chopstick wrappers from being littered all over.



Possibly the only peanut candy store there is within the main Shih Lin Market grounds. Freshly made on the spot, this was also the most expensive of the trip. My suggestion - head elsewhere!



Oh hello you!



Soon you'd realise so many stalls have stamps of approval from all over - it's just how familiar you are with these variety shows and the hosts.

Walking away from the main building just diagonally across brings you to almost two full streets of eats. Good heavens!








We literally squealed in delight when we spotted Prince Cheese Potato from afar. Read on...



Loads of toppings.



Easy to order menu.



These two folks are on 食尚玩家, used to be in a boyband called Tomorrow. Anyway, we spotted this online and tracked it down.



What goes into the delectable cheesy topping.



Decadence much!



Final product with everything you can imagine in it and on it.



Simply a deconstructed potato spud, they deepfried the mashed potato to recreate the spud, topped it off with a mountain of ingredients and drenched it in 4 cheese sauce. Yet, it was all mush. Soft-soft-soft and saucy. Flavours were not distinct and disappointing. At this juncture, we were already beginning to question the validity of all the raving reviews these taiwanese food hosts gave.



Fried milk!



Cubes of solidified milk.



Final product after all that frying.



Crisp shell hides a molten milky stuffing - sweet! I actually liked it.



卤味 is one of the must eats and this Kao Hsiung stall is a definite must try!



Take your pick in all that pile.



They refry it, chop it up and toss it into a bag. We were probably the only ones in the queue with such a miserly portion!



Caramelized duck wing was finger licking good! Loved how the spices permeated every bite. Duck tongue too wowed, soft and tasty...yummy!



Some random sugarcane stall.



Comes with a sugar cane bottle too!



The rest of the stalls at the main night market.




Spotted along the streets - fried pumpkin balls.



The eating continues...anywhere, everywhere.

If eating is not quite your thing, how about some childhood carnival games? Shih Lin Night Market is the grand dame of all them all, not quite in history but popularity amongst tourists. There are snacks that are only available there but by and large, most of them are available at the others as well.