First Night Market Experience At Feng Jia Night Market 逢甲夜市

This is supposed to be the largest night market in all of Taiwan.  Since it was our first night market experience, we weren’t sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t what I had imagined it to be like.  There were many brand name stores and shops lurking around the market, but I was expecting more of a traditional night market with just stalls of food and cheap things to buy. In reality, it was more of a huge shopping area.  It was still quite nice though, but I feel like we actually didn’t explore the market to its full potential.  Nevertheless, our most important agenda for exploring a night market is the food and we definitely tried a great deal of that!

Lin’s One Mouthful Dumplings 林記一口煎餃
This stall was appropriately named as the dumplings were exactly as described.  Pan fried bite sized dumplings that were crispy on the outside and full of meat filling on the inside.

Croquettes 幸ㄝ日式可樂餅
I was walking around the market when these Japanese style croquettes caught my eye.  They came in a variety of flavours including curry, milk, crab, and corn.  I decided to try the original as there was a sign indicating that it was the most popular.

The actual visual of the croquette was very different from the plastic models.  I didn’t find them to be anything special and would probably not order it again if I went back.  The owner was extremely friendly and chatted with me the entire time she was preparing the food.

Fried Chicken 全國大腿排
We’ve heard so much about the huge pieces of fried chicken at Taiwanese night markets.  We came across this stall which had a bit of a line up, so we decided that this would be the stall we’d try Taiwanese fried chicken.  They were consistently frying the chicken, but due to the long line up, we still ended up having to wait almost 20 minutes.  Like with most night market foods, there was a variety of seasoning and sauces we could choose from.

We went with the Japanese teriyaki flavour and it was delicious.  The chicken was juicy and the amount of sauce they give you is perfect.  It was definitely well worth the 20 minute wait.

Mr. Wish
We ordered our first bubble tea of the trip and I was totally unprepared for all the choices that they threw at all.  I’m not talking about the different flavours of drink choices they had.  I’m talking about the questions they kept asking us about how much ice and sugar we wanted.  Apparently, there are at least 5 levels of ice, sugar and pearls we could choose from – none, little, half, 3/4, full.  You could probably choose to double as well if you wanted to.  So you could order a milk tea with half ice, 3/4 sugar and extra pearls.  

Big Sausage Wrapped Around Small Sausage 大腸包小腸
There was a huge line up for what looked like a hot dog.  I wasn’t too interested at first, but once I caught site of the line, I decided that we needed to try it.  I had read that this was a very popular snack in Taiwan and the long line of people couldn’t be wrong.  Well, in reality, I should have stuck with my first instinct as it was definitely the item I liked the least that night.  It consists of a sausage wrapped in what appears to be a hot dog bun.  The “bun” is actually made of glutinous rice and is then stuffed with a cabbage, cucumbers and a bunch of other vegetables.  It just didn’t work for me and I was left wondering why it is such a popular item.

Tofu Fries
We were about to leave when this sign suddenly caught my eye.  The sign asks if you’ve ever eaten tofu fries.  Well, I just had to try this as I love tofu and I love fries.  I couldn’t think of a better combination!   The “fries” basically just tasted like deep fried tofu and were delicious!  We also ordered a chocolate soy milk which was equally as yummy.

We loved our first night market experience even though it wasn’t exactly what we were expecting.  The only negative side to the Feng Jia Night Market is that it is located quite far from the main train station.  The one way bus ride alone takes approximately 45 minutes.

For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Fengxia Market.

Address:                   403台中市西屯區文華路
Getting There:       From Taichung Railway Station, take Bus 25 or Bus 35 to Feng                                                      Jia University (逢甲大學) stop.  The bus ride will take around 45-50                                              minutes.