7 Taiwanese Breakfast Foods You Need to Try in Taiwan

Whether you're surfing on Taiwan's east coast around Hualien, lazing on beaches in Kenting or exploring the capital, Taipei, enjoying a Taiwanese style breakfast is essential and one of the best things to do while in Taiwan. With breakfast shops and cafes often featuring a wall of menu items, more often than not only in Mandarin Chinese, we're here to help you decide what to order.

Turnip Cake

A popular food known as lo bak go in Hong Kong, the Taiwanese version of turnip cake or radish cake is a little different. Called luo bo gao in Mandarin, it's commonly eaten as a breakfast food, pan-fried until crispy and covered with a savory sauce. Order it like the locals do with an egg on the side to complete this delicious, cheap breakfast snack.

Salted Soy Milk or Doujiang

Soy milk called doujiang is the soul of Taiwanese breakfasts. It's often sweetened and served as a drink, but the salted version is a popular breakfast food too. With most breakfast foods in Taiwan quite carb-heavy, salted soy milk is an attractive option for those who are looking to watch the pounds.

For one of the best bowls of doujiang in Taipei, head to Fu Hang Soy Milk. their version is extra creamy and flavorful compared to some breakfast shops in the capital. It's hugely popular so it's highly likely you'll need to queue up. Whether it's worth the wait and effort depends how you value your time, but no one can deny their breakfast items are delicious and cooked to perfection.

The store opens bright and early at 5:30 AM, so if you really want to try Fu Hang without the wait then get there as early as you can.

Youtiao

While you might want to steer clear if you're on a diet, deep fried bread is always a delicious option. These deep fried breadsticks or cruelers known as youtiao are common all over Taiwan and China and are one of the most popular things to eat in the morning. It also goes perfectly with a bowl of salted soy milk to dip in the delicious savory, creamy liquid.

Danbing, Taiwanese Egg Wrap or Crepe

Like almost every country in the world, eggs are also a morning staple of Taiwan. With a plethora of names in English from Taiwanese egg pancakes, egg crepes or egg wraps, these delicious savory crepes called danbing are the perfect way to tell if a store is great or just an average joe. The best places make them fresh, with quality ingredients. Lazy places just might use frozen premade wraps that clearly shows in the mediocre taste.

Yong He Soy Milk King in Da'an offers one of the best Taiwanese egg wraps or danbing in Taipei.

Shaobing Youtiao

Just in case that deep fried bread doesn't seem like enough calories, the Taiwanese have you covered by wrapping it in some more bread. It may be a carbohydrate overdose for most but the combination of shaobing youtiao is delicious and should be tried at least once.

Bubble Milk Tea

This popular beverage might be a drink but the filling tapioca balls inside make it often more than enough to fill you up for breakfast. With a gazillion different drink shops selling bubble tea or boba all over the streets of Taipei, it's a quick and satisfying fix to breakfast while visiting Taiwan. We'd recommend trying the brown sugar version of bubble milk tea for it's extra flavor.

For a list of the best of the best, check out our roundup of the best bubble tea shops in Taipei here.

Scallion Pancake, Cong You Bing

One of the best breakfasts to 'grab and go', Taiwanese scallion pancakes are the perfect hand-held breakfast food. Pan-fried with a very generous amount of oil, cong you bing are cooked until perfectly crispy with a deliciously flaky texture. The addition of scallions spread throughout the pancake give it an extra kick of flavor.

Search

Customer Support

7 Taiwanese Breakfast Foods You Need to Try in Taiwan