First Day in Taipei: Arriving in the Rain, Din Tai Fung, and Raohe Street Night Market

We landed in Taipei for the first time and it was immediately raining. A thunderstorm, actually. We decided this was not going to slow us down. Four nights. We were going to make it work.

Here is everything from Day 1 in Taipei, including the practical arrival stuff we wish someone had told us and all the food.

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Getting from Taoyuan Airport to the City

Currency exchange

We brought $100 USD and exchanged at the airport. The rate on Google was around 3,261 NTD per USD at the time, but the actual rate after fees came out to about 2,994 NTD (rate of 30.24 with a 30 NTD fee). That is normal for airport exchange counters. Not bad overall.

Taiwan money feels different depending on the denomination: the 1,000 and 500 notes are more plastic and durable, the 100 note is more paper. Also comes with coins.

SIM / data

We used Air Alo eSIM and connected to Chunghwa Telecom (5G) immediately after landing. No kiosk, no physical SIM card. Having working data from the moment you land makes navigating a new city significantly easier.

Airport MRT (The Purple Line Express)

The airport MRT is fast, clean, and easy to use. We took the Purple Line express from the airport into the city. Stops at A8, A3, and A1 before reaching Taipei Main Station. Credit cards work at the gates (tap to enter and exit). We tested this and it worked first try.

The ride into the city takes under 40 minutes.

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Breakfast: Local Xiaolongbao Near the Hotel

Before doing anything else, we found a random xiaolongbao restaurant near our hotel on Google. No Michelin recognition, no specific recommendation from anyone. Just highly rated and nearby.

It was very, very good.

The meat inside was clean and not greasy at all, which we noticed immediately. Good amount of ginger balanced throughout. We paid 150 TWD for eight pieces, which felt like exactly the right price. Strong first impression of Taiwanese food.

We would go back to this random spot over a lot of more famous options just based on the quality of that morning.

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Din Tai Fung (Afternoon)

Din Tai Fung is the internationally famous Taiwanese xiaolongbao restaurant with locations in many countries. We had to try the original version in Taipei to compare.

Price comparison: Our morning local xiaolongbao was 150 TWD for 8 pieces. Din Tai Fung was 140 TWD for 5 pieces. You are paying for the brand and the experience here.

What we ordered:

• Xiaolongbao: More ginger forward than the local spot, skin is noticeably thin. Very good. Whether it is better than the local spot depends entirely on your taste preferences.
• Spicy cucumber: Popular side dish. Cold cucumber in a spicy and aromatic dressing that smells incredible before you even taste it. We both loved this.
• Pork chop with fried rice: Fatty but not greasy, juicy throughout, well seasoned. One of the better pork chops we had in Taiwan.
• Braised beef noodle soup: Clean flavor, not too salty, and the beef was very juicy. Everything in the bowl worked together.

We finished everything. Din Tai Fung also has a stamp card you can collect across different locations, which is a fun detail if you are visiting multiple branches or cities.

They sell a stuffed dim sum mascot (they call it the pau family) in the gift area. Cute and very on-brand.

Verdict: Worth going at least once. The spicy cucumber and pork chop stood out more than the xiaolongbao for us, which may be the wrong opinion but it is an honest one.

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ChaTime x Demon Slayer

Cha Time, one of the major Taiwanese bubble tea chains, had a Demon Slayer collaboration running during our visit. The cups featured Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, and the whole setup was very limited-edition feeling.

We ordered the roasted milk tea. Good, well-balanced. The menu was entirely in Mandarin with no English, which was part of the adventure.

Taiwan genuinely knows how to make tea. This is not just a thing people say. The quality across even regular bubble tea shops here was noticeably higher than what we were used to.

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Raohe Street Night Market (Evening)

Raohe is one of Taipei's most popular night markets and it shows. It sits behind a large temple entrance that you walk past to enter. By the time we arrived, it was still drizzling but the crowds were already deep and umbrellas were everywhere. We navigated through all of it.

What we tried:

Shakya (Custard Apple)

We grabbed a shakya from a vendor and neither of us had ever tried one before. The fruit looks alarming from the outside, slightly resembling mashed banana in texture. The flavor is completely its own: mildly sweet, slightly pear-adjacent, no sourness at all. There are seeds you spit out as you eat.

It is genuinely hard to describe. You just have to try it when you are in Taiwan. It has become one of those fruits that you think about after the fact.

Pepper Bun (Hu Jiao Bing)

This is THE thing to eat at Raohe. It is the first vendor you see when you walk in and the line is usually long. We got lucky and walked up without much of a wait.

The pork and green onion filling is baked inside a sesame-crusted dough. The outside is crispy with multiple flaky layers. The inside is dense, meaty, and has a distinct peppery heat that sneaks up on you. Eating it hot out of the clay oven is important. This is the kind of snack that you finish quickly and then immediately wonder if you should get another one.

Worth the wait every time.

Boneless Ribs Crisp

100 TWD for small, 200 TWD for large. We got the small size and immediately understood why people come back for more. The juicy portions were exceptional. The outside had the right amount of crunch and everything inside was tender and flavorful. I finished it and immediately started talking about getting a second one.

Corn and Cheese with Chocolate Drizzle

90 TWD for a large portion. This one looked questionable on paper: corn, cheese, marshmallow, chocolate drizzle, birthday cake crumble, and sprinkles. The vendor was methodical and detailed in how he put it together.

It should not work. It did work. The combination of the sweet, the savory, the warm, the crunch is completely illogical but thoroughly enjoyable. We ate all of it.

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Practical Notes for Raohe Night Market

• Trash cans: Usually located at the front (entrance) and end of the market. Do not look for them in the middle. Carry a small bag for your wrappers until you find one.
• Rain: Totally doable. A compact umbrella and you can eat and walk your way through the whole thing.
• Weekdays vs weekends: We visited on a weekday and it was already busy. Weekends will be significantly more crowded.
• Timing: Evening is when it comes to life. Most stalls open by 5-6pm and stay open late.

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Day 1 Verdict

Taiwan food lives up to everything everyone says about it. The flavors are distinct, the quality is high across the board from street food to restaurants, and the range is better than anywhere we have eaten before. We had a full thunderstorm on arrival day and still ate extremely well.

Four nights felt like it was not going to be enough by the end of day one.