The Best Local Eats at Chiayi’s Wenhua Road Night Market

Not many tourists spend the night in Chiayi city, and if they do, it’s usually because they plan to catch an early bus or train to Alishan the next morning.

If you are one of these, you might as well make good use of your night in Chiayi by checking out the city’s best street food at Wenhua Road Night Market!

Chiayi is my wife’s hometown, and I love this city and county. It is thus with great pleasure that I present my guide to Chiayi Night Market!

In it, I’ll introduce some special dishes plus the ones popularized by the Netflix Street Food Asia episode on Chiayi. This is one of the most non-touristy markets in Taiwan, so get ready to get local!

Welcome to Wenhua Rd Night Market!

Chiayi city has long been a place where local indigenous people met with Han Chinese and later the Japanese to do trading.

While there’s no exact founding date of Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市), some of its oldest food vendors go back to 1945, the end of the Japanese colonial period.

For decades after, Wenhua Road was a busy commercial street with many food options. The night market most likely came into being in the early 1990s, as it was included on a list of “Chiayi’s New Eight Scenic Spots” in 1995.

Chiayi is on the fringe of Tainan, the original capital of Taiwan – for part of the Japanese period it was even part of Tainan prefecture.

Therefore, many foods commonly associated with Tainan (which locals consider the food capital of Taiwan) are also found in Chiayi. A few examples are beef soup, eel noodles, and Spanish mackerel soup.

However, Chiayi does have some specialties of its own, namely turkey rice (a version of Taipei’s chicken rice) and fish head stew. Both of these can be found in Wenhua Road Night Market.

In 2019, when the Netflix’s Street Food Asia series quite surprisingly did an episode on Chiayi (rather than any other city in Taiwan) and featured the above two dishes, it put Chiayi on the map for the foreign foodie masses.

Previously, most foreign tourists would rush through Chiayi city to get to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area.

Now, more and more of them are actually stopping or spending a night in the city, especially to try these foods and to check out the handful of cool sights in the city.

But even with that increased interest, there still aren’t many tourists at Wenhua Night Market compared to other more famous night markets in Taiwan.

Some of the specialties I’ll introduce below may require you to push your limits, depending on what you’re used to, with a focus on meaty dishes and desserts. Vegetarians can still find plenty of choices in the night market, too.

Where Is the Night Market?

Wenhua Road Night Market is a 15-minute walk east of Chiayi station, where many visitors arrive in the city.

If you arrive at Chiayi HSR station, you’ll need to take the free shuttle or a taxi (30 min) into the city. See my train and HSR guides for more info.

The night market occupies a stretch of Wenhua Road, which in the daytime is open to vehicle traffic.

The night market’s northern end is Fountain Circle (中央噴水池, here), with its unmissable golden statue of a baseball pitcher – baseball being Taiwan’s favorite sport.

From there, the market stretches 400 meters south to Minzu Road (民族路) at the northern border of Wenhua Park (文化公園, here).

Best Hotels Near the Night Market

On my most recent visit, for researching this article, I stayed at Orange Hotel (see on Booking / Agoda). It was just one block north of Fountain Circle, so it was perfect for accessing the night market.

This was a pretty standard hotel but just fine for my needs. There were some baseball memorabilia in the lobby.  

Other hotels I recommend in Chiayi city include:

• Chiayi King Hotel (see on Booking / Agoda): Another standard three-star hotel closer to the train station but further from the night market
• Mega Hotel (see on Booking / Agoda): Nicer option and great for families
• Chiayi Petite Hostel (see on Booking / Agoda): My recommended hostel in the city.

What to Eat at Chiayi Night Market

Now we’ve to the most important part. What are the best foods in Chiayi Night Market?

Like any night market in Taiwan, it’s easiest to just stroll and taste anything that looks yummy. You’ll also find plenty of shops selling clothing, accessories, and other items interspersed with the food stalls.

If you like to plan your snacks in advance like I do, my below recommendations come from researching what locals recommend and then trying them out myself over the course of several nights.

We’ll start the walking tour at the northern end of the night market, Fountain Circle. The English translations of stall names are mostly my own.

Chiayi Fountain Chicken Rice

Turkey rice is Chiayi’s most famous dish, and this restaurant is said to be the oldest one in the city, dating to 1949.

While the restaurant’s Mandarin name 嘉義噴水雞肉飯 is best translated as Chiayi Fountain Chicken Rice, the actual sign has a more literal English translation: “Spraying Water Chicken Rice”.

It is here, not on Wenhua Road, but just a few steps west of Fountain Circle and the main entrance to Wenhua Road Night Market.

What’s the deal with “chicken” in the name when they actually serve turkey? Well, in Mandarin chicken is 雞 (ji) and turkey is the same but with one more character 火雞 (huo ji, literally “fire chicken”). They consider turkey a kind of chicken, so chicken in their name actually refers to turkey.

Anyways, I’ve tried a few turkey rice spots in Chiayi and so far this one is my favorite (but I certainly haven’t tried them all!) The portion is large, meat is tender, sauce is spot on, and it comes with a slice of yellow pickled radish.

On the menu, the turkey rice is called 雞絲飯 (ji si fan or “shredded chicken rice”) and goes for TWD 50 for a bowl. The menu features many other items, like sesame oil chicken (麻油雞), pork knuckle rice (豬腳飯), century egg tofu (皮蛋豆腐), and many soup dishes.

Ignore the very low rating on GoogleMaps. That’s because locals are particularly harsh when it comes to rating their favorites vs less preferred ones.

Which shop has the best turkey rice in Chiayi?

This is a hotly debated topic among locals. When this shop got the Netflix feature, many locals were angry and strongly disagreed.

On Wenhua Road, Chiayi Fountain Chicken Rice (above entry) and Guo’s (we’ll get there below) are the most popular.

Elsewhere in the city, depending who you ask, the best one could be this one, this one, this one, or this one. The popular restaurant Smartfish also serves turkey rice but it wasn’t my favorite.

Scholar Cakes

Entering now the night market, one of the first famous stalls will be here on your right (west side). The stall is simply named after the food it sells, Scholar Cakes (狀元糕 or zhuang yuan gao).

These steamed rice cakes have a distinctive shape that resembles a Chinese scholar’s hat in ancient times.

They are made by grinding glutinous rice, mixing it with sugar and flavored powder, pressing it into wooden molds with top-hat lids, and then steaming them from a pipe below. It’s fun to watch the vendor make them.

This is a snack you’d be hard-pressed to find in Taipei, but it’s more common in the south of Taiwan.

The two classic flavors are on offer: peanut (花生) and black sesame (芝麻). You can buy a single one (TWD 10) or tray of 8, 10, or 12 (TWD 80, 100, 120, respectively).

Be careful, as these are extremely hot when they first come out. Give it a minute before you take your first bite.

Note that it’s open in the daytime, too.

Happiness Grilled Dried Squid

I got excited when I read about this unusual stall. Alas, I was thoroughly disappointed when I actually got the food. But locals seem to love it and review it highly, so I’m still including it. Let me explain:

Happiness Grilled Dried Squid (開心魷碳烤乾魷魚, here, opposite the previous entry, closed Tuesday) does dried whole squid which are coated in sauce then grilled over a charcoal fire.

It’s run by a cute middle-aged couple – the woman takes orders and the man does the grilling.

When I ordered, my first surprise is that there was a 45-minute wait (Saturday night)! Since I was just starting my night market tour, I was OK with this. I chose a smaller dried squid, which they charged me TWD 50 for, took a number, and came back on my way out.

When I returned, more than 45 minutes had passed, so my finished order had probably been sitting in the paper bag for a while, unfortunately.

Anyways, I found that it was extremely dry, like so dry that it was very difficult to chew it. I couldn’t even finish my small order.

I think this food is just not my thing. I’ve never been a fan or dried seafoods in Taiwan. And here, it seems like the grilling just makes it even drier – maybe it’s best if you can get it right off the grill.

According to local reviewers, this food brings back nostalgic memories of their childhood, when they would sneak pieces of dried squid from the bag then warm them over a flame in the courtyard of their house.

Some point out that, while dry at first, it gets tastier as you chew it longer. Others mention it’s best enjoyed with liquor.

My wife also told me after that it’s much easier to eat if you tear it into very thin strips instead of sticking the whole piece in your mouth. Next time I’m going to give it a second shot with these tips in mind.

Love Meow Waffles and Exploding Egg Cakes

Hopping back to the right (west side) of the road, Love Meow Waffles and Exploding Egg Cakes (愛喵雞蛋仔 & 爆漿雞蛋糕) is here, just past a little side lane that leads to a cool circular block of houses.

This dessert stall does two things. The first is soft waffles with heart-shaped bumps. These come stuffed with ice cream and your choice of toppings: strawberry (草莓), brown sugar with pearls (黑糖珍珠), or Oreo in a chocolate flavored waffle (巧克力).

The second dessert available here, and the one which I tried, is the “exploding eggs cakes” (爆漿雞蛋糕).

The word “exploding” here is used in many Taiwanese night market foods to indicate it has so much sauce or stuffing inside that it will “explode” out – usually quite an exaggeration. And egg means that the cakes are made of but also shaped like eggs.

There are many possible flavors, like chocolate, matcha, Oreo, dried radish, and custard, but I went for an order of the most expensive one, double cheese (雙倍起司乳酪, 10 pieces for TWD 100).

As I watched her make my order, she placed cubes or white cheese and an orange cheesy sauce inside the batter on the hot plate.

These were quite tasty and I’m sure any kid would love them. Many locals apparently do, too – the stall has over 1000 ratings and 4.9 stars.

Smartfish

Continue south and you’ll soon reach Zhongzheng Road. Turn left and walk 50 meters to find Smartfish (林聰明沙鍋魚頭, here), Chiayi’s most famous restaurant.

This is the restaurant that was heavily featured in the Netflix Street Food Asia show. Dating to 1953, and already popular before the show, they have been particularly busy ever since, and even opened a second location here just a couple minutes’ walk past it.

When I told my father-in-law, who is originally from Chiayi, that I was going to Chiayi to eat theree, he laughed and said he can just make this dish for me at home.

When you arrive there, you’ll need to take a number either to stay (內用) or to go (外帶). At busy times, it can take up to 1.5 hours. When I went at a non-peak time, I waited about 30 minutes to be seated. Keep in mind its open in the daytime, too.

Smartfish’s famous stew is made by boiling pork belly, cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, tofu, deep-fried tofu skin, Taiwanese shacha sauce, green onions, and cilantro.

The classic version, fish head stew (沙鍋魚頭) comes with a whole deep fried silver carp head, which does have a decent amount of meat on it.

On the menu, this is called 燒鍋菜+魚頭 and comes in sizes meant for 4-5 people (TWD 520), 2-3 people (380 for salmon head (鮭魚頭), 350 for silver carp head (鰱魚頭)), or 1 person (190).

You can also get a single portion of stew with fish meat instead of a whole head (燒鍋菜+魚肉, TWD 120), or a single portion of the stew only with no fish (燒鍋菜, TWD 100).

For my visit, I had to try the whole fish head stew, and I can confirm that it is indeed delicious and I think deserves the reputation.

I recommend ordering some plain rice, braised pork rice, or turkey rice (I found theirs was nothing special and didn’t come with the pickle) to go with it.

Guo’s Chicken Rice

Returning to Wenhua Road and continuing south, the next notable stop is Guo’s Chicken Rice (郭家雞肉飯, here on the left). Dating to 1945, this is one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in the night market – every local person will know it.  

You’ll definitely see the lines of locals (one line to stay and one to go) but it’s all a little chaotic. I gave this one a miss because I’d already had my fill of turkey rice at this point.

Besides the turkey rice (雞肉飯, TWD 55 for a small bowl), their other signature dish is turnip cake soup (粿仔湯, TWD 55), which has cubes of turnip cake in a meat broth with green onions.

Other popular items are sticky rice sausages (糯米腸) with peanuts and pig’s blood soup (豬血湯).

Soy Milk Stand

One of the most popular breakfast shops in Chiayi, Soy Milk Stand (豆奶攤, here on the right) has been running since 1963. It stays open from 5:30 PM till noon the next day. Watch for the display at the front with rows of soy milk cups (see photo above).

The sprawling menu includes all the modern Taiwanese breakfast classics, from toasted sandwiches and breakfast burgers to green onion pancakes and steamed buns stuffed with various things.

Simply grab one of the menus, use your translation app if needed, mark the items you want, hand it to the staff and pay. There’s more seating on the second floor.

Mii Gou Korean Hot Dogs

A fun non-traditional or non-Taiwanese choice, Mii Gou (米粒熱狗, here on the southwest side of the intersection) does a variety of Korean gamja-hot dogs, which are like Western corn dogs but crunchier surface, they usually have melted cheese inside, and they come with sauce or flavored powder topping.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I tried the squid ink cheese dog (TWD 60). The squid ink doesn’t really add any flavor but just gives the outer layer a black color.

Inside, the top half was melted cheese and the bottom half was dog.

I got to add my own sauce and powder from the stand, with choices like honey mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, plum powder, sugar powder, and more.

This was a fun treat, especially the long strings of cheese I could pull out with each bite – if I had had a travel companion I could have got a better photo of this.

Besides dogs, the stand also has Korean fried chicken and Korean crispy fries.

Tainan Shanhua Beef Soup

From the intersection where the Korean dog place was found, I walked a few steps west down Guangcai Road (光彩路) to find Tainan Shanhua Beef Soup (牛老六牛肉湯, here).

As the name suggests, this hole-in-the-wall shop does Tainan-style beef soup. Unlike Taiwan’s more famous beef noodles, this dish is more simple – just pieces of beef in a clear broth with no noodles.

Judging by the reaction I got, they don’t see many foreigners here.

On the menu, you can choose soup with beef meat (牛肉), beef brisket (牛腩), beef heart (牛心), beef liver (牛肝), beef testicles (牛蛋), or do like I did and just take a chance on the combination (綜合), which comes with a bit of everything. You can go with small (TWD 120-150) like mine or large (170-200).

My order was brought to my table by a young girl, the child of the owners, who was helping out – I thought it was quite cute.

The meat and broth were excellent and many local reviewers describe this place as high value.

You can help yourself to soy sauce, black vinegar, green onions, and strips of ginger to dip the meat pieces in. Try with and without – they really change or enhance the flavor of the meat.

Youli Crispy Skin Pork

Continuing south, another stall that’s highly reviewed by locals, and so I had to try it, is Youli Crispy Skin Pork (有利脆皮豬, here on the right).

The stall is pretty small – just watch for the long pieces of grilled pork belly in the display.

Honestly this was a little pricey, at TWD 200 for a small portion (or 350 for large), but it was freakin delicious. The meat is tender, spices are perfect, and skin is extremely crunchy.

The take-away only order comes with copious amounts of raw onion – just let him know if you don’t need it.

Fried Snails

Want to go super local? Hang a left down Lanjing Road (蘭井街) to find a makeshift stall derelict metal stall with a red sign that says “生炒螺肉” (Fresh Fried Snail Meat, here).

I got a small plate of fried snails for TWD 100, plus they sell cold beers and have tables.

The snail meat, which if you’ve never tried before is kind of rubbery, is fried with loads of fresh Taiwanese basil, soy sauce, and garlic. It’s served with a garlicky dipping sauce.

I’m ambivalent on the texture of snail meat, but there’s no denying they make it taste good here.

Yellow Girl Dongshan Duck Head Store

Continuing south, the next stop worth mentioning is Yellow Girl Dongshan Duck Head Store (黃毛ㄚ頭東山鴨頭專賣店).

There’s a few things to pick apart in the name here…First, “Yellow Girl” is not a racial reference (should we tell them?) 黃毛ㄚ頭 or is an idiom for a very young girl, so young her hair is still yellow, and has a bit of a negative meaning. The owner here just chose it as a funny name. The ㄚ is a not a Mandarin character by a phonetic symbol in Taiwan’s bopomofo pinyin system.

Second, “Dongshan Duck Head” is a famous chain or style of luwei (滷味) stalls found across Taiwan.

What is luwei, you ask? This is a style of braised foods where multiple items, including duck heads, duck necks, organs, pig skin, tofu, eggs, fish cakes, radish, and more, are marinated in a fragrant broth for a long time.

The items are then put out on display at room temperature, you choose whatever you want with tongs, then they dress them up with more sauce and spices, and give it to you in a plastic bag.

It’s extremely delicious and I do recommend trying not just this one, but any luwei stall you come across in Taiwan, even if you stick to less adventurous items like tofu and radish.

There’s another popular luwei stall here just before Yellow Girl. It had a wider variety of veggies and other items. It’s long-running and very popular – you’ll need to take a number and then tell them which items you want when it’s your turn. I think Yellow Girl is better, though.

Rainbow Sweet Potato Balls

A few steps past Yellow Girl and on the same side, I spotted these rainbow-colored sweet potato balls.

You don’t get to choose, but your order could have a color scheme that matches Pokeballs, Patrick the Starfish, Sulley from Monsters, Inc, or others.

I’ve seen and tries the exact same stall at Kenting Night Market. Fun colors aside, sweet potato balls are always a pleasant treat. Light and airy, they are best eaten right away and are deliciously chewy.

The stall supposedly uses natural ingredients to color their balls. The sign indicates they are: dragon fruit (red), bamboo charcoal (black), sweet potato (yellow), matcha (green), purple yam (purple), and butterfly pea (blue).  

These are also vegan-friendly.

Sichuan Girl Hot and Sour Noodles

Continue south to the next intersection, Yanping Road (延平街) and turn right on it to find this legit Sichuan noodles restaurant. The full name is Guimanting Jiangxiang Garden – Sichuan Girl Hot and Sour Noodles (桂滿庭醬香園~川妹子酸辣粉, here).

This is another spot where the welcoming staff were surprised to be serving me, a foreigner. It’s a makeshift kitchen on the street with some seating, and the owner really is from China.

I decided to get the vegetarian noodles here (素食套餐, TWD 100). The lady boss asked me whether I was “pure vegetarian” (純素 chun su) or “side of the pot vegetarian” (鍋邊素 guo bian su).

The latter means you’d be willing to eat from the side of a pot that had some meat in it, similar but not exactly the same as “flexitarian” in English.   

I didn’t want to take any chances here (Sichuan food is known for being crazy spicy), so I went for little spicy (小辣 or xiao la).

The soup came with peanuts, bean sprouts, greens, and tofu. It still had a nice kick to it, with some Sichuan peppercorn numbness coming through, and I really liked the thick glass noodles used.

South of the Night Market

The night market comes to an end at Minzu Road (民族路).

Although not part of the night market, if you continue one block further south, there’s a string restaurants popular among locals, directly opposite Wenhua Park, including:

• This long running (1983) Taiwanese-style sushi restaurant, with grab-and-go options.
• This oyster omelet and meesua (vermicelli stew) restaurant.
• Ah An Mi Gao, running since 1976, with Tainan-style Spanish mackerel soup, xianmigao (鹹米糕, like luroufan or braised pork rice but uses glutinous rice), and bean curd soup (油豆腐湯). Has English menu.