July 7, 2013: 夜市… Taiwanese night markets!!
Location(s): 高雄 (Kaohsiung)
Ever since arriving in Taiwan, I’ve been waiting to go to visit and eat at a 夜市 aka night market.
This part of Taiwanese night life is rarely found anywhere else in the world and is a mess of a treat. Crowds of people walk into each other like Gators trying to walk into the Swamp for a football game, the smell of food (savory and stinky) is omnipresent, and game hosts try to hustle you out of your money.
Welcome to 瑞豐夜市, the Ruifeng Night Market
While I’m not big on large, fancy Taiwanese dinners, I adore eating 台灣小吃 (Taiwanese “snacks”) as a meal, and night markets have tons of vendors selling various snacks.
First up, one of my all-time favourites: 炸雞排 (Taiwanese fried chicken)
Every time I visit Taiwan, I HAVE to buy this type of fried chicken. Seasoned differently in Taiwan, this juicy chicken is hard to find in the US.
Up next is a terror to my nostrils: 臭豆腐. Even though the person selling this dish may be far away, this prominent smell warns you when it you are approaching it. Although it smells terrible when you bite into it, people swear by its (somehow) delicious flavor (yuck!).
And then my parents ordered one of my LEAST favourites: the (in)famous 臭豆腐 (STINKY tofu)
And as we’ve seen before, 小龍包 (soup dumplings)
Another interesting part of these night markets are the small games you’ll find. There are darts, pinball machines, small fishing games (with nets and small, live fish), bingo, etc. They lure you in with a small fare, but in order to win prizes, you end up playing many times and spending more than you thought you would.
A type of pinball game
Mahjong BINGO for Hello Kitty toys
Night markets are great places to eat dinner, shop and haggle for deals, and observe the locals. It’s hard to find markets like these in any other place in the world and can be one of the most Taiwanese things to do.
Chinese Lesson
瑞豐夜市 (rui4 fong1 ye4 shi4) – Ruifeng Night Market
小吃 (xiao3 chi1) – literally, “small eats.” 小吃 can be thought of as snacks or small portions of local Taiwanese foods
炸雞排 (za4 ji1 pai2) – fried chicken
臭豆腐 (chou4 dou4 fu2) – 臭 means stinky, and 豆腐 is tofu; thus, stinky tofu
David Hwang 