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The Best Places in Taiwan

Eat + Drink + Do, change section

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Cuisines

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  4. The scent of braised pork hits you before you find the stall number. What started as a night market cart has been around forever and grown into a proper sit-down spot in Huaxi Street, bright and clean inside. The draw is braised pork rice, the sauce glossy and dark, sweet-savory and sticky in the best sense. Stewed cabbage cuts through it neatly. The Michelin Bib Gourmand crowd knows what they're doing ordering nothing else.

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  6. Rank 75. Xie Shopkeeper

    Chinese Seafood

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  9. A Tainan institution that claims to have invented calamari rice noodle soup, which is exactly the kind of claim a third-generation family shop earns the right to make. The thick rice noodles are hand-made from brown rice for fragrance and bite, and the clear broth runs peppery, clean, and slightly sweet. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Small, air-conditioned, and packed on holidays, so arriving early is the move.

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  10. Rank 75. Yeh San Duck Thick Soup

    Xingang Taiwanese

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  11. Rank 75. Yi Ge Rice Vermicelli

    Taiwanese Noodle Shop

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  12. Rank 75. Yi Jia Zi

    Tainan Taiwanese

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  13. Rank 75. Yi Wei Pin

    Taiwanese

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  15. Rank 75. Yu Yu 1969

    Taiwanese

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  19. Rank 75. Yung Yen

    Taiwanese

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  21. A Kees van der Westen Slim Jim sits at the center of this six-seat counter cafe in Da'an, and everything else organizes itself around that machine. The Folks has been a one-man operation forever, roasting its own beans on-site with a lean toward Guatemalan lots. The pace is unhurried, the bar seating feels closer to a chef's counter than a coffee shop, and a takeaway cup costs a little less if you're in a hurry.


  22. A stripped-back specialty coffee shop that roasts on-site and keeps the menu tight, Normal Coffee is where you go when the coffee itself is the point. The sourcing is the story: alongside the usual origins, they carry beans from the Alishan Mountain Range, Taiwan-grown and genuinely hard to find in the city. Espresso and pour-overs, a smaller footprint, no lifestyle clutter. It's the quieter, more focused sibling in a growing Taipei coffee group.



  23. The front wall opens entirely to the street, so Wenchang St. drifts in with every customer. This is an espresso-focused coffee shop run by someone with a background in blend development, and the menu stays short on purpose. You can stand at the counter for a quick shot or drift toward the open edges and stay longer. The kind of place that already feels like it's been here forever, even though it hasn't.


  24. A roasting room visible from the counter sets the tone at this Taipei specialty coffee shop, where the in-house slow drip takes a full day to prepare tomorrow's batch. Dark wood and a calm atmosphere keep the focus on what's in the cup, not the interior. The menu runs espresso, pour-over, and cold drip, with a side-by-side espresso set for anyone who wants to think a little harder about what they're drinking.


  25. Berg Wu won the 2016 World Barista Championship, and the trophies are right there on the exposed brick wall in case you missed it. This specialty coffee shop treats a cup of pour-over with the same ceremony as a tasting menu, with staff explaining the menu in detail and checking back on your experience. Geshas run to the higher end of the price scale, which tells you the crowd skewing here: serious enthusiasts, not laptop campers looking for an outlet.


  26. Rank 227. Adachi

    Sushi

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  27. Rank 227. Akame

    Taiwanese

    The winding mountain road to Guchabo'an village is part of the meal before you've sat down. Akame, named for "grill" in the Rukai language, is a restaurant rooted in the food culture of Taiwan's indigenous tribes, run by a chef who grew up in this village and forages much of what lands on the plate. The cooking is punchy and specific to this hillside, with wildflowers doing more than decoration. It holds a 50 Best Discovery listing.

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  29. Rank 227. Bar Otani

    Japanese Cocktail Bar

    Black walls and no music mean the only sounds in this cocktail bar are ice cracking in a shaker and the low hum of a freezer, which turns out to be the right soundtrack. Tucked inside an old office building off Zhongshan North Road, it runs on the Japanese model where the bartender reads your mood and builds something around it. Small, dark, and unhurried, it suits lone drinkers best.

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  30. Rank 227. Coast

    Thai Seafood

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  31. Rank 227. Draft Land

    Cocktail Bar

    Every cocktail here comes out of a tap, which either sounds like a gimmick or a revelation depending on how you feel about the format. Draft Land is a cocktail bar built around that single idea: a rotating lineup of house-made drinks served on draft, so you can taste before committing. The Drinks Lab collective runs outposts across Asia, and this Taipei location has the energy of a place that knows it's onto something without needing to announce it.

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  32. Rank 227. Gallery 20.5

    Cocktail Bar

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  33. Rank 227. Lab

    Cocktail Bar

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  35. Rank 227. Swallow

    Cocktail Bar

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  36. Rank 227. Tei by Obond

    Taiwanese Cocktail Bar

    Behind wooden doors on Guangfu South Road, a tea room gives way to a hidden cocktail bar where Taiwan's teas anchor everything on the menu, fermented, carbonated, or distilled into something you wouldn't expect. The drinks pull from producers around the island and borrow loosely from the world of wine. It earned a spot on The 50 Discovery list, which about sums up the vibe: a little secret, a little serious.

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  37. Rank 227. Voice-Over

    Cocktail Bar

    Vintage vinyl on the turntable, warm light, and cocktails made with fermented pineapple and eucalyptus: Voice-Over is a carefully considered cocktail bar in a former clinic that itself took over a much older house, which gives the place a pleasantly layered sense of calm. The silent-film inspiration runs through every detail without ever feeling like a theme bar. A 50 Discovery from Asia's 50 Best.

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  38. Rank 239. 3927

    Modern Taiwanese

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  39. Rank 239. 85TD

    Modern Cantonese

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  46. A beef shabu-shabu restaurant in Rende that runs its broth for eight hours before the doors open, so the golden, clear stock already tastes like someone else did the hard part. Hand-sliced beef from nearby Shanhua is the whole point, swished briefly through the pot. You fill out a form to choose your cuts, then help yourself to the sides and the braised beef rice that everyone ends up with anyway. No reservations, so arrive with patience and low blood sugar.

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  47. Rank 239. Aleisha

    Mediterranean

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  48. Rank 239. Amajia

    Taiwanese

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  49. Rank 239. Anchovy

    Seafood

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  51. Rank 239. Apis Grill

    Barbecue

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  52. Rank 239. Baho (Da'an)

    Barbecue

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  53. Rank 239. Bak Kut Pan

    Malaysian

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  54. Rank 239. Bencotto

    Italian

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  56. Rank 239. Bo Home

    Taiwanese

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  57. Rank 239. Brisé

    Contemporary French

    An open kitchen in a sleek modern room, where contemporary French cooking quietly folds Asian ingredients into the kind of seasonal menu that changes every few months and makes last season feel like a different restaurant. The chef's touch is restrained on the plate but precise underneath, and the weekday lunch set is a sensible way in. Tucked down a lane in Zhongshan, it's a Michelin Guide selection that rewards a little effort to find.

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  58. Rank 239. CEO 1950

    European

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  63. Rank 239. Cheng Jia

    Taiwanese

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  64. The wooden tables are covered in what looks like a kindergarten art project, and the room is packed before you've found a seat. This is an old-school Taiwanese rice shop built around one thing: smoked duck over steamed rice with a sauce the family isn't explaining. The duck leg rice sells out daily, which means arriving with a plan. A bowl of duck offal soup alongside is the move regulars already know.

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  65. Rank 239. Cheng's Noodles

    Noodle Shop

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  66. Rank 239. Chi Yuan

    Taiwanese

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  67. Rank 239. Chia I

    Seafood

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  71. Rank 239. Cho

    Taiwanese

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  73. Rank 239. Chuan Fu

    Wagyu Japanese

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  74. Rank 239. Chuan Mu Yuan

    Cantonese

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  76. Rank 239. Chun Yu Garden

    Creative Chinese

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  77. Rank 239. Clover

    Contemporary French

    Jean-François Piège's first restaurant outside France sits inside a luxury department store, which sounds like a punchline until the food arrives. This contemporary French tasting room runs seasonal menus that pull hits from Piège's Paris restaurants and fold in local Taiwanese ingredients along the way. The wild raspberry soufflé with pistachio ice cream has its own reputation. Dress up; Bellavita is that kind of building.

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  79. Rank 239. CRATAIN

    European

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  82. Rank 239. Dasuke

    Contemporary Japanese

    Counter seating, dimmed lighting, and a sake list deep enough to require tasting notes set the tone at this intimate omakase spot in Da'an. The kitchen draws on Niigata flavors and locally sourced ingredients, and the menu lands somewhere between Japanese tradition and something harder to categorize, including a deep-fried patty of beef and sashimi served in a house bun, which is either an act of genius or a dare, possibly both.

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  83. Rank 239. Di Yi Ding

    Omakase Japanese

    A restored 1960s mansion houses this intimate omakase counter, where the price of your meal is set by the ingredients rather than a fixed menu, an arrangement that keeps things honest and slightly suspenseful. Seafood is sourced from partner fishing boats around Taiwan and select Japanese imports, and first-timers tend to anchor the meal around crab or lobster. The wine list leans French, but BYOB is welcome.

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  85. Rank 239. Eastern Castle Noodles

    Cantonese Noodle Shop

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  86. Rank 239. ÉCRU

    Japanese-influenced French

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  87. Rank 239. EMBERS

    Taiwanese

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  88. Rank 239. enPure

    Modern Taiwanese

    A garden path leads you in before the food even starts, which sets the tone: this is a tasting menu restaurant in a minimalist room of brick red and grey, where a former interior designer runs the kitchen. The cooking is modern Taiwanese, built around local produce, and the rice cooked in a claypot with tea seed oil from a partner farm is the kind of dish that makes the sourcing worth mentioning. The tea pairing is an easy yes.

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  89. Rank 239. Ephernité

    Contemporary French

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  91. Rank 239. FIRNS

    Franco-Asian French

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  92. Rank 239. Firoo

    Wood-fired Taiwanese

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  93. Rank 239. Fleur de Sel

    Contemporary French

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  94. Rank 239. Fon-Cé

    Latin American

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  95. Rank 239. Forchetta

    Taiwanese

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  97. Rank 239. fumée

    Yakitori Japanese

    The open kitchen runs loud and hot, with flames climbing high enough to make the modern room feel like an old Tokyo alley. Fumée is a yakitori restaurant inside the Regent Hotel, running two nightly seatings through a set tasting menu with an optional sake pairing. It's the sister spot to an Osaka original, and the sourcing shows in the skewers. Sleek space, serious smoke.


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  99. Rank 239. Gi Yuan

    Sichuan

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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

    How we score →

    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.

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