The Liuhe Night Market has been around since the ’50s, and whether it’s a fun way to spend an evening or an overpriced tourist trap is a matter of some debate online. I will say that I saw more white faces at that market than in any other place in Taiwan, so there’s that. But I also ate some tasty food.
There are a lot of food vendors at the Liuhe Night Market. It goes on for a couple of blocks, and it’s pretty much food, food, and nothing but food.
Of course, one thing that you pretty much have to get while you’re in Taiwan is the classic pork sausage in a rice sausage.
Yes, it’s a sausage in a sausage, though technically the outer sausage is glutinous rice inside a sausage casing.
At this particular stall they add chili sauce, garlic, ginger, and pickle slices before cramming in the pork sausage.
It’s quite tasty — the pork sausage is greasy and sweet, and the glutinous rice is a good vehicle. You’d think the flavours would be overbearing with all that garlic and ginger, but it works. The glutinous rice was a bit dense — I think it needed to spend a bit longer on the grill — but other than that I quite enjoyed this.
Everything at the market is fairly pricey, so rather than get a bunch more small things and wind up overspending, I went to this place specializing dumplings and soup.
The soup was thick, with a nice sweet and sour flavour. It was packed with tofu, along with a bunch of other soft and crunchy bits and bobs (quality food writing, right??). I enjoyed it.
The pork (I think) dumplings were nice and fresh, with a pleasantly chewy exterior encasing juicy meat. It’s a bit bland on its own, but then that’s why the soy sauce and chili oil are on the table.
Location: Liuhe 2nd Road, Xinxing District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 800
How to find it: It goes on for quite a while, so once you’re in the area it’s basically impossible to miss.