Sanmin Market (三民市場) is a traditional daytime market in Kaohsiung that also becomes Sanmin Street Night Market (三民街夜市) at night.
No matter what time of day you come, Sanmin Market offers a glimpse into the daily life (and eating habits!) of Kaohsiung people.
In several of my Taiwan itineraries, I recommended grabbing a quick local lunch in Sanmin Market before or after visiting nearby attractions like Sanfong Temple and Sanfong Central Street.
But with no English signs or menus on this traditional food street, I realize this could be a little intimidating. That’s where this guide comes in!
Below I’ll introduce some of the best street foods worth trying in Sanmin Market, whether you visit in the daytime or evening.
Sanmin Market Quick Introduction
Sanmin Market (also called Sanmin First Public Retail Market or 三民第一公有市場) is located in Sanmin district of central Kaohsiung city, only one kilometer from Kaohsiung Station.
The district was formerly known as Sankuaicuo (三塊厝), and the nearby train station, the first stop after Kaohsiung Station on the local train line, still has that name.
The market dates back to the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945) in Taiwan. While there is no specific founding date, it likely grew as a trading hub along the nearby canal.
Today, Sanmin Market has it all. In the morning, local shoppers (especially elderly) park their scooters at Sanmin Street entrance, browse the street for household goods and snacks, and enter the large indoor wet market (菜市場) to buy fresh meats and produce.
At lunchtime, restaurants along Sanmin Street are packed with locals, while in the evening, the same street becomes a small night market called Sanmin Street Night Market (三民街夜市).
In other words, no matter when you come, you’ll be able to soak up the bustling atmosphere and taste some interesting local foods.
Also read my guides to other traditional daytime markets in Taiwan and the best night markets in Kaohsiung.
Getting to Sanmin Market
If you’re staying in one of the many hotels around Kaohsiung Station or Formosa Boulevard Station (see my recommended hotels here), then you can most likely walk to Sanmin Market in 15 minutes or less.
If you prefer to get even closer, you could ride a local train from Kaohsiung Station to Sankuaicuo Station (1-2 minutes, swipe EasyCard), visit Sanfong Market Street first (3 minute walk from station), walk to Sanfong Temple (3 minutes), then walk to Sanmin Market (2 minutes).
On one of my morning visits, I rented a YouBike, parked it along the street to visit the market, then continued on to Shoushan Mountain to go hiking with monkeys.
The main (eastern) entrance of Sanmin Market street is here, while the indoor wet market building is here on the south side of the market street.
Walking west along Sanmin Street, the traditional shops and restaurants stretch three blocks (590 meters). The first two blocks in from the entrance are the traditional market section and especially packed in the morning.
The highest concentration of restaurants and night market section is here in the third block, or far western end of the street, best in the afternoon or evening.
Sanmin Morning Market
If you visit Sanmin Market in the morning (6 AM to Noon), you’ll find the eastern entrance to the street transformed into a temporary parking lot for scooters.
The first two blocks of Sanmin Market become a sea of people, especially elderly locals hunting for bargains on household items, clothing (even underwear), and freshly prepared foods.
On the south side of the street, make sure to step into the large Sanmin Market building, which is the indoor traditional wet market. Locals go there to purchase a wide variety of meats, seafoods, fruits, veggies, tofu, and vegetarian ingredients.
There are over 100 stalls inside, and the market is considered to be on the more sanitary side, as far as traditional markets in Taiwan go.
While the indoor market is open seven days a week, I found it noticeably quieter when I visited on a Monday morning. Sanmin Street was, however, still bustling.
If you’ve come for breakfast, you can enjoy a bowl of thick meat and fish soup here (large TWD 60, small 45, option to add various noodles) or vegetarian foods here (8 AM to 1, closed Sundays).
You’ll also see various grab-and-and go prepared food items and random breakfast food stalls set up in the morning. For example, there was a tempting sticky rice roll (飯糰) vendor set up at the entrance to Sanmin Street when I visited.
Lunchtime and Sanmin Street Night Market
Most restaurants along Sanmin Street are open from lunchtime till evening, so I’ll cover them together in this section, starting from the eastern entrance and heading west down the three streets.
Rice Fragrance Scholar Cakes
One of the first stalls you’ll in Samin Market is Rice Fragrance Scholar Cakes (稻香狀元糕, here, 3:30 to 10 PM, closed Mondays).
Scholas cakes are a traditional dessert made of steamed rice. They come in a shape that resembles a hat worn by scholars in ancient China.
This very traditional cake is becoming rare nowadays, so take your chance to try it here.
The cakes cost TWD 70 for six of them, with the choice of peanut (花生) or black sesame (芝麻) filling. Since this item (and the next one) are desserts, consider to grab these on your way out of the market.
You can also find these at Wenhua Road Night Market in Chiayi and a variation of them at Nanmen Market in Taipei.
Mochi at Lao Zhou’s Hot & Cold Beverages
Just 30 meters in from the main entrance to Sanmin Street, Lao Zhou’s Hot & Cold Beverages (老周冷熱飲, #126, here, 10:30 AM to 11:30 PM every day) is one of my most recommended spots in Sanmin Market.
Operating since 1958, this hole-in-the-wall shop is famous for their large and freshly-made mochi (燒麻糬).
The mochi are boiled in a vat at the front until perfectly Q (chewy) then coated in copious amounts of peanut (花生) or black sesame (芝麻) powder. They go for TWD 30 a piece – I went for one of each, but it was a lot!
The mochi were still warm when I got them and some of the best I’ve ever had.
The stall also serves traditional shaved ice (剉冰, TWD 60), iced flour tea (古早味麵茶冰, TWD 40-60, a specialty usually associated with Lukang Old Street in Central Taiwan), and a few other iced and hot sweet soup desserts.
Note that there’s another very similar shop with similar (but even larger) menu just before it (#122, here). You can’t go wrong with either one, but I recommend Lao Zhou’s for the simpler menu with photos you can point at if needed.
Sanmin Street Old Noodle Stall
At the intersection of Sanmin Street and Lane 130, Sanmin Street Old Noodle Stall (三民街老麵攤, #132, here, 4 PM to 11:30 PM) is a long-running and very typical local Taiwanese noodle shop.
Grab a paper menu, take a seat, and use GoogleTranslate to navigate the long list of options. People will typically order a bowl of noodles or noodle soup plus a few small sides, with options like steamed sweet potato leaves (地瓜葉), dried tofu (豆乾), braised egg (滷蛋), or boiled squid (小卷).
The food here isn’t likely to blow you away or be the best on your trip. But if you want to experience the kind of quick but satisfying meal that the average Taiwanese enjoys several times per week, here you go!
Duck Meat Rice at Zhouji’s or Sankuaicuo
While Taipei has its chicken rice and Chiayi has its turkey rice, Kaohsiung’s Sanmin Street is especially known for its duck rice (鴨肉飯) – so much so that some locals even call it “Duck Rice Street” (鴨肉一條街).
When most locals think of Sanmin Market, the first thing that comes to mind is duck meat rice. Given that this dish is so closely tied with Sanmin Market, if meat-eaters are only going to try one thing here, I recommend that you make it this.
The duck meat is smoked then shredded into strips and served atop a bowl of rice, with some meat juices, and usually strips of bamboo.
I recommend either of the below for trying this iconic local dish:
- Zhouji’s Angelica Duck (周記當歸鴨, #148, here on the second street, 9 AM to 8 PM, closed Thursday) I had it here and it was excellent.
- Sankuaicuo Duck Meat Rice (三塊厝鴨肉飯, #192, here on the third street, 11:30 AM to 3 PM, 4:30 to 7 PM) This is the most famous one, but it was closed when I visited on a Monday)
Both restaurants have a variety of other duck dishes, like duck meat angelica soup, duck with vermicelli, and more. Locals especially enjoy duck dishes in winter.
Iced Ai Yu
If you’re visiting on a hot day, I recommend a bowl of Iced Ai Yu (愛玉冰, #165, here, no set hours but I saw it in the morning and afternoon) on the second street.
Ai Yu is a jelly made from seeds of the fig tree. It is very light, citrusy, and refreshing. At this stall, it is served in a small bowl (to stay) or cup (to go) with lemon juice and sugar. Use the spoon or straw to mix the jelly and liquid together and enjoy.
Just watch for the large bowls of the jelly on the front of the stall.
Inviting Fish Head Stew
My remaining food recommendations are clustered together at the far western end of Sanmin Street (the third block), as you can see in the above photo.
The first one is Inviting Fish Head Stew (侑砂鍋魚頭, #184-1, here, 11 AM to 8 PM, closed Mondays).
If you didn’t have a chance to try the Netflix-featured fish head stew at Smartfish in Chiayi, here’s your chance to try it in Kaohsiung.
The dish here features a thick soup made with cabbage, corn, tofu, tofu skin, black fungus, and fish balls.
You can order the soup on its own (燒鍋菜, TWD 90), topped with deep fried fish pieces (燒鍋菜加魚條, TWD 120, most popular item), or with a whole deep fried fish head (鮭魚頭切塊加菜, TWD 180).
The stall is usually set up in front of a tiny temple – just watch for the bamboo basket with fried fish pieces on display.
For vegetarians, try Sanfong Vegetarian (#189, here, 11 AM to 9 PM), with items like vegetarian noodles (乾麵, TWD 40-50), dumpling soup (餛飩湯, 50-60), vegetarian braised pork rice (素燥飯), vegetarian rolls (素卷), and steamed greens (燙青菜).
Sanmin Street Roasted Horse Eggs Old Shop
Don’t be fooled by the name – we all know horses don’t have eggs. But you may not love the story of where the name of Sanmin Street Roasted Horse Eggs Old Shop (三民街老店燒馬蛋, # 191, here, 8:30 AM to 7 PM, closed Mondays) comes from.
Shao Ma Dan (燒馬蛋 or “roasted horse eggs”) are a Southern Taiwanese variation of deep fried sweet potato balls (地瓜球) that are super chewy (from the addition of tapioca starch), hallow with a small loose ball of red bean inside, and coasted in sesame seeds.
A long time ago, their oblong shape reminded people of horse testes, hence the name “horse eggs”.
If you can keep that image out of your mind, the sweet potato balls are a fun, chewy snack, and the stall has been very popular among locals for decades.
Eat them right away for the best texture. I also tried one of their deep fried taro wheels (芋頭餅), but found those a little dry – just go for the horse balls.
Liao Family Black Wheel
My final entry also has a name that doesn’t really match the dish. But this was a fun lunch that was actually probably my personal favorite in all of Sanmin Market.
In southern Taiwan, the term hei lun (黑輪) – derived from the Japanese word oden – can refer both to either round fish cakes or oden-style foods in general (various items stewed in soy sauce and daishi broth).
The Mandarin characters translate literally as “black wheel” but is actually just the Taiwanese language phonetic transliteration of the Japanese word “oden”.
At Liao Family Black Wheel (廖家黑輪, #191, here, 10:30 AM to 9 PM), a cook at the front grills Taiwanese sausages. Behind. There’s a large oden vat with various skewered and floating items, such as white radish, mushrooms, tofu, blood rice cakes, fish balls, and fish cakes.
For my lunch here, I first ordered a sausage from the cook at the front. Then I chose my own items from the oden vat and sat at a table, where I could add my own sweet soy paste, chili sauce, and pickled ginger.
I could also help myself to a bowl of the daishi broth. They gave me the sausage once it was ready, and I paid at the end.
I understand that stepping into small local restaurants like this and others on Sanmin Street can be intimidating for visitors. I hope my guidance in this article gives you the confidence to dive in and enjoy. Let me know how it goes!