Guest Motel – Zhubei Branch

This unsophisticated eatery champions home-style Hakkanese fare whose low fat and sodium content is rich in healthy benefits. The welcome drink, sicklepod tea, is said to promote bowel and eye health. Their signature Silkie chicken herbal soup is slow-cooked for eight hours with over 30 Chinese herbs. To highlight its herbal aromas, the health tonic is intentionally unseasoned. For starch, try their fried rice with home-made pickles loaded with savoury depth.

Founded by a vegetarian F&B group in 2020, Shan Guo Tang boasts a lofty space drenched in natural light. The Japanese-inspired wood-rich interior feels serene. Unlike many vegetarian joints, the menu brims with creative gems based on Taiwanese, Sichuanese and Jiangzhe cuisines. Stir-fried vegan pork with French beans and pickled gourd seduces with crisp textures and big-boned flavours, ideal with steamed burdock rice.

This bright, cosy shop moved into this space in 2022. Their signature item of braised pork rice topped with a sunny-side up egg has won the hearts of many local gourmets. The glistening sauce is slow-cooked for 10 hours to allow the flavours to mingle and the hand-diced pork to soften; the runny egg yolk is the centrepiece, enrobing every grain of rice with custardy nectar. Fans of spicy food should add a dab of dried radish chilli sauce with anchovies.

For 20+ years, Garden.V has been valued by locals for its authentic Jiangzhe fare served in generous portions. The three-storey space feels airy and bright thanks to full-length windows. Certain items, such as cabbage rice with Jinhua ham, need to be pre-ordered. Be sure to check out the glass display case for cold appetisers and sides – the kao fu, or fried wheat gluten with mushrooms and bamboo shoot, is savoury-sweet and incredibly appetising.

This stall in Dongmen Market has long been around and it specialises in thick rice noodles in a clear broth made with chicken bones. The signature seafood taro rice noodle soup is the must-try: deep-fried sea bass fillet, milkfish balls, shrimps and fried egg bits impart robust flavours; scallions deep-fried on site add extra fragrance; the chunk of creamy and starchy taro that melts in your mouth is the icing on the cake.

Come here for the island's favourite food – Taiwanese beef noodle soup. Unlike for your typical red braised variety, this shop doesn't add spicy bean sauce and Sichuan spices to the broth. Boneless short ribs are braised in a soy-based stock with vegetables and fruit for at least 3 hours. The resulting broth imparts a deep meaty flavour and a mild fruitiness; a knob of homemade beef fat takes the umami up a notch. The marinated meats are also worth trying.

This simple shop has been around for 30-odd years. Folding tables and plastic stools under the building’s overhang may not sound sexy, but its signature duck with a mild smoky flavour, served either with steamed rice, fried noodles or Hsinchu rice vermicelli soup, is more than worth the trip. The locals adore their sautéed duck blood curd with chives and pickles – the jelly-like curd works well with the sweet, sour and spicy sauce.