Ximending is not only one of the most popular areas to stay in Taipei but also a foodie’s paradise (see my Ximending food guide!)
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re staying Ximending and thinking about where to eat in the morning. Below I’ll introduce some of the most famous and my personal favorite Ximending breakfast shops.
And even if you slept in till the afternoon, or perhaps you’ve got munchies in the middle of the night, some of these are actually open 24 hours!
While you’re making your breakfast plans, also see my guide to the 10 best breakfast shops in Taipei – most of the city’s best are NOT in Ximending, including Fu Hang, the city’s most famous one.
I’ve also introduced the best breakfast spots around Taipei Main Station, which is not far from Ximending.
Ximending Breakfast Top 3
These are my person choices for the best breakfast options in Ximending area.
Yong He Soy Milk Ximending
Yong He Soy Milk Ximending (西門町永和豆漿) is the most “famous” breakfast shop in Ximending. However, don’t confuse it with the many other Yonghe Soy Milk shops in Taipei city – they are unrelated.
Yong He Soy Milk Ximending attracts a constant crowd of mostly foreign tourists and ordering there can feel a little chaotic. It’s open all night and all morning, but takes a break from 2:30 to 9:30 PM.
The menu here is expansive, with popular items including soup dumplings (湯包 or tangbao, see #1 below), steamed buns stuffed with chicken leg (G腿堡, #2 below), clay oven rolls (燒餅 or shaobing, #9 below) with ham and egg, and bacon egg crepes (蛋餅 or danbing, #8 below).
To order, grab a picture menu and check the items you want. Also draw a line beside 外帶 (take away) or 內用 (to stay). There’s a Mandarin menu or a foreign one with English, Korean, Japanese, and Thai.
Despite its fame, locals give this breakfast shop mediocre reviews. Most consider it inferior to Yonghe Soy Milk King Fuxing South (read about that one in my guide to the best breakfast shops in Taipei), the best known of all the “Yonghe Soy Milk” places in the city.
Fuhong, Caihong, Jianhong & Xiao Wu Beef Noodles
Just north of Ximending, there’s a handful of famous beef noodles shops, all open 24 hours.
If beef noodles for breakfast sounds unusual, well, many locals would disagree, especially elderly ones. These super chewy noodles in a fragrant soy-based broth can be slurped down any time of day or night.
Fuhong (富宏牛肉麵), Caihong (采宏牛肉麵), Jianhong (建宏牛肉麵) & Xiao Wu (小吳牛肉麵) Beef Noodles are all on the same block. Fuhong stands out as the most famous one and Caihong is a close second, but they are all similar and good.
They all offer classic beef noodles (牛肉麵), beef offal noodles (牛雜麵), and beef soup with no noodles (牛肉湯). Usually you get the choice of wide (寬) or thin (細) noodles, and a small (小) or large (大) bowl. There’s no English.
Most of them also have at least one vegetarian option and it’s a good one: those same chewy noodles, but served with sesame sauce (麻醬麵). Here’s how to order vegetarian food in Taiwan.
These are also easy walking distance from Taipei Main Station.
Golden Flower Grilled Toast
For a non-traditional option, Golden Flower Grilled Toast (金花碳烤吐司專賣) does huge toasted sandwiches, some of which are literally overflowing with melted cheese.
Some of the sandwiches here are so big that they come severed with a stick to hold them together. And for the especially cheesy ones, you’ll even get plastic gloves for the inevitable mess you’re going to make of it – just like they always give at those whole roasted chicken places across Taiwan.
There are over two dozen types of sandwich on the menu, but no English, so prepare a translation app if you need it. There are a few tables but expect a bit of a wait for one at peak times.
This breakfast shop is just half a block south of Red Theater, near Nishi Honganji Japanese shrine.
Other Breakfast Shops in Ximen
Here are several more breakfast options in Ximending, in no particular order.
Ximending Soy Milk
If the wait at Yonghe Soy Milk Ximending looks too long, there’s a smaller breakfast shop just down the street that’s usually not busy.
Ximending Soy Milk (西門町豆漿) is unassuming but has been going strong since 1978. The hot item here are the rice balls (飯糰), which you can order the usual way (with meat floss, dried turnips, and fried dough stick) or with more unusual options like seaweed or pork cutlet.
An English menu is posted on the wall to the right, but doesn’t include every item.
Personally, I recommend the tuna, egg & sticky rice egg crepes (鮪魚蛋香米卷). It’s not so common to see sticky rice inside an egg crepe, plus it came with a delicious black bean sauce, which I’ve never seen in any other breakfast shop.
The elderly lady-boss (老闆娘) here seems to range from friendly to grumpy, and she doesn’t like being photographed – you’ve been warned!
Ximen Noodle
Ximen Noodle (西門麵店) is a well-known (among locals) 24-hour, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Ximending. It’s not breakfast food per se, but many people will have it for that.
The menu is features classic noodle shop fare, like black vinegar noodles (烏醋乾麵), wonton soup (餛飩湯), fish ball soup (魚丸湯), and pork knuckle rice (豬腳飯). Like most noodle shops, it’s common to order one main noodle or rice dish per person plus one or more small sides to share.
Because Ximen Noodle is right next to the Red Theater LGBTQ+ bar district, it’s especially popular among the late-night, post-drinking, gay crowd, and there can even be a wait in the middle of the night.
Shen Ye Wei Gui
She Ye Gui (深夜未歸) is another 24-hour breakfast shop in Ximending, and this one features actual breakfast foods – leaning more towards modern and not so traditional Taiwanese breakfast fare.
The menu here is one of the longest I’ve seen, so you may need a few minutes to pore over it – there’s no English, so use a translation app if you need to.
Egg crepes (danbing), clay oven rolls, toasted sandwiches, breakfast burgers, green onion cakes, and other usuals are all here. But, somehow, their single hottest item is pan-fried instant noodles.
It could be pointed out that quantity is not always better than quality – locals tend to rate this breakfast shop poorly.
But if you’re in Ximending late at night and need some typical breakfast fare before crashing, with a seat and short wait pretty much guaranteed, this will be your best option.
Gan Mei Alley
If you’re looking for more of a sit-down, table service, brunchy kind of place, then Gan Mei Alley (甘妹弄堂 – 西門店) is the best option in Ximending. Open from 7 AM to 9 PM, this place is popular for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
The menu here is modern and varied, with numerous items that you won’t commonly see elsewhere. These include steamed bun with peanut butter and pork, steamed bun with thick cheese patty, and fried orange tofu.
But probably their most popular item is the teppanyaki dumplings, which come connected by a thin, crispy layer of fried cornstarch.
The service is friendly, kids are welcome, and there’s English on the menu. Try to avoid peak meal times, when there’s usually a line.
Ximen Yong He Soy Milk King
You may be surprised to learn that there’s actually a Yonghe Soy Milk King (永和豆漿大王) right in the popular Ximending Pedestrian Shopping Area.
But don’t get too excited – this is a just a repeat name for so many breakfast shops in Taipei, and it has no relation to Ximending Yonghe Soy Milk (#1 in this article) or Yonghe Soy Milk King Guangfu South (one of the city’s most famous breakfast shops).
In fact, this Yong He Soy Milk King gets straight-up horrendous reviews from locals, but I’m including it because of its super convenient location. It’s very close to Yonghe Soy Milk Ximending and Ximending Soy Milk.
If you’re staying in Ximending and you just want some quick and typical Taiwanese breakfast to take away, without waiting in a long line for a “famous” breakfast shop, then this one will do just fine. The sign says “Ximen Yong Ho Soya Milk” and there’s English on the menu board.
There’s a predictable but rather limited menu of clay oven rolls, egg crepes, and soup dumplings. It’d connected to a shaved ice shop.