Breakfast in Taiwan and recommended places in Taipei
For Taiwanese living abroad, Taiwanese breakfast is definitely one of the things they miss the most. You can never run out of choices in Taiwan for breakfast!
We can roughly break the types of breakfast in Taiwan into two main categories: Taiwanese-style breakfast（台式早餐） and Western-style breakfast（西式早餐）.
Taiwanese-style breakfasts
Among Taiwanese-style breakfasts, you can have buns with (包子 bāo zi) or without fillings (饅頭 mán tou、花捲 huā juǎn), oven-basked thick/thin bread (燒餅 shāo bǐng、I’d call it Taiwanese panini) with fried bread stick (油條 yóu tiáo), egg pancake (蛋餅 dàn bǐng), soybean milk (豆漿 dòu jiāng), rice milk (米漿 mǐ jiāng), tulip cake (蘿蔔糕 luó bo gāo), rice ball/ Taiwanese kimbap (飯糰 fàn tuán), etc.
One of the things I’d recommend trying is soybean milk (豆漿 dòu jiāng) and egg pancake (蛋餅 dàn bǐng). Each place provides its own type of pancake, some provide thicker ones, some provide soft and tender ones, and some provide crispy ones (my personal favourite!). You can decide the flavor and filling you have rolled inside the egg pancake, such as tuna, pork floss, corn, cheese, or simply egg and scallions.
Different cities and counties in Taiwan also have their signature breakfast. When I was young and living in Kaohsiung, a city located in the southern part of Taiwan, I would have a rice dumpling (粽子zòng zi) and pork thick soup (肉羹湯 ròu gēng tāng) for breakfast. (We’ll talk about the battle of northern, central, and southern Taiwanese rice dumplings next time, lol).
You might also have noodles with/without soup (乾麵、羹麵、湯麵), sticky rice topped with minced port (米糕), beef soup (牛肉湯), or porridge (粥).
Western-style breakfasts
Western-style breakfasts include sandwiches, hamburgers, fries, nuggets, milk tea, and coffee. Some famous chains include Mei & Mei (美而美), My Warm Day Cafe & Brunch (MWD 麥味登), and Laya Burger (拉亞漢堡). These places also provide some traditional Taiwanese breakfast options. (Although my personal favourite Western-style breakfast is McDonald's Egg & sausage McMuffin, but I’m sure you’d want something other than McDonald’s while in Taiwan haha)
There are also many places for Western-style brunch.
Nowadays, people are really into intermittent fasting and would often skip breakfast. Also, some breakfasts can be quite heavy with excessive carbs and oils which make people tired, so it’s common to see people skipping breakfast or having a light breakfast like a cup of coffee with a tea-boiled egg (茶葉蛋 chá yè dàn), a Japanese-style rice ball (onigiri), or a bread from the convenience store (e.g., 7–11, Family Mart). I usually have a cup of sugar-free soymilk, a boiled egg, and some fruits or cereal for breakfast.
Places for breakfast in Taipei
This is a very famous Taiwanese breakfast place where locals would also go. It’s located on the second floor of a market and you’d usually see a queue from the second floor to the first floor, but the line moves quite quickly. The queue could last for more than 30 minutes.
Recommend: soymilk, signature thick bread with scrambled egg, caramel bun, sesame flatbread with egg and donut stick.
2. 青島早餐
My personal favorite during college. I love set #5: green fried pancake with ham & cheese & egg (蔥抓餅+火腿蛋+起士). All the sets come with a drink (black tea, green tea, milk tea, soybean milk, or juice). Many students go there are there are many schools around. If you don’t know how to order, simply ask one of the customers. I’m sure they’ll be glad to help out.
There are too many breakfast places and people usually go to the ones close to their home. The ones I recommended were close to the College of Social Sciences of NTU, where I studied. Now and then or if I happen to be in the neighborhood in the morning, I still go to one of them for breakfast.
If you want to find a breakfast place nearby, simply search “豆漿” (soybean milk) or simply “早餐” (breakfast), you’ll find so many. Don’t completely trust the reviews as everyone has their preference.
Hope you’ll also find your favourite breakfast spot while travelling in Taiwan!
