Night Market

People of the Night 16 (興仁花園夜市)

The Hsing-Ren Garden Night Market (興仁花園夜市) is a newly-opened night market located in Bade City (八德) in Taoyuan County. The night market is over 6000 square meters making it possibly the largest in northern Taiwan. While shooting this night market, I have to say that it has quickly become one of my favourite night markets to visit out of all of them.

It has almost everything I could want! Not only does this night market have all the typical night market fare you would expect, but it also has vendors selling fresh oysters and fresh Thai shrimp. There's San Francisco style pizza by the slice, American grilled steaks, Hong Kong Dim Sum, Ramen, Mongolian BBQ and Taiwanese Indigenous BBQ. There are places to sit down to drink some fresh draft beer with friends and places to buy cocktails mixed with fresh juice! What else could you want in a night market? You can eat, drink, and have fun all night long. 

The Hsing-Ren Night Market is a "garden" or "flower" (花園) night market which is the "new" thing here in Taiwan popularized by the Tainan Garden Night Market (台南花園夜市) and the Fu Da Garden Night Market (輔大花園夜市) in New Taipei City. 

These kind of night markets are quite popular among younger crowds and a lot of the food that has swept the nation over the past few years have been products of these style night markets as they attract younger people who are more willing to try new and more exotic foods.   

I will make four posts in this series with over thirty shots and I hope that you will like what I have for you! 



1. Grilled Oysters (烤生蠔) 

In my first post in the series I posted a shot of Oyster stand with the boss in the distance. In this shot we have a father and son manning a grill with fresh oysters being prepared for customers.

I'm not sure why oysters are such a big thing at Hsing-Ren night market, but my guess is partly because of the clever way the night market is set up with some vendors offering seating to its customers.

I've been to the night market several times while shooting this series and thus far the only seafood I've had is the fresh Thai shrimp, so I can't attest to how these oysters taste, but it seems like this stall is quite popular, so I imagine they're really good.  

2. Hong Kong Shao Mai (港式燒賣) 

The Hsing-Ren night market has five stalls selling Hong Kong style food. Food from Hong Kong is somewhat of a rarity in Taiwan's night markets, but Hsing-Ren has this vendor selling Shao-Mai (燒賣), another place selling Dim Sum, some curry fish balls (a popular HK street food) and a couple of places selling Hong Kong-style teas (凍頂檸檬) 

I haven't tried this particular stall, but I did have some Rice Noodle Rolls (腸粉), some dumplings and some Char Siu Buns (叉燒包) at another vendor close to this one which were all quite good, especially considering you are in a night market and not an expensive hotel.

Quality Cantonese food is a bit of a rarity in Taiwan, especially when it comes to traditional-style Dim Sum and it seems more often than not that the best Dim Sum I've had in my life was back home in Canada or of course on my many visits to Hong Kong. 

3. Seafood Hot Pot (台灣鯛魚砂鍋)

 Another night market rarity and probably a Hsing-Ren only vendor is this extremely busy Seafood Hot Pot vendor. For me, a trip to the night market usually includes a five-course meal with appetizers and dessert that altogether costs about 200NT (About 6 dollars) 

I probably wouldn't even consider going to a night market for just one dish and then leaving - but then again Hsing Ren isn't your typical place. People have been lining up to get a seat at this stall for a while and if you do get a seat, you're sure to be stuffed by the time you leave. 

If you look at the pots in the bottom left of the shot they give you an example of what will be in your soup. You can also add various other seafood dishes if you are in a group making it a more expensive affair.

The name of this shop is 「鯛魚」(diao1 yu2) which is more or less a nicer way to refer to "Tilapia" a fish most Taiwanese consider to be a cheap low-quality fish. The pot is filled with the fish, a bunch of vegetables and their secret soup base and then cooked extremely quickly over a hot flame. 

It was difficult to get a shot of these guys because they're extremely busy. They move extremely fast and they're never in the same place for more than a few seconds. I stead of having a portrait o decided to go for the environment to show what was going on.  

4. Braised Food (超黑的滷味)

Your typical braised food (滷味) comes steaming hot for you making a meal of various kinds of meat and vegetables. This is different kind completely. The kind this boss sells are more like freshly made appetizers or 「小菜」that you have before a meal here.

The black looking food you see the boss preparing are dried tofu (豆乾) which is a speciality food here in Taoyuan. Beside the dried tofu is coagulated pigs blood with rice (米血) and is really not as disgusting as it sounds. The vendor serves other kinds of braised foods including edamame beans (毛豆) and pigs ear (豬耳) that go great with beer at a restaurant!

After taking this shot the boss noticed me and asked me if I wanted to sample the tofu. I'm a big fan of the dried tofu that you can buy here in Taoyuan, so of course I obliged. It was really tasty and almost resembled black liquorice.

If I'm ever planning to have friends over for some drinks, I'll be sure to head over to this place to pick up some of his food for the party!   

5. Turkish Ice Cream (土耳其冰淇淋) 

Turkish Ice Cream is a pain in the ass. Whenever you try to order one they play a bunch of tricks and make a fool of you in front everyone. As a foreigner, I stand to stand out in crowds and would much rather blend in than become a public spectacle. With these guys it is always in good fun though. Their ice cream is homemade and is much different than what Taiwanese people are used to as it can be chewier.

It seems like these stalls are always popular wherever you go throughout the country. People like to interact with foreigners and they like the way the foreigner jokes around with them.

When I took this shot the Turkish man was playing some tricks on the girl with a really straight face while her friends were behind him watching and laughing. I wanted a portrait of the vendor, but I thought the addition of her friends in a wider environment would add more context. 

6. Grilled Shellfish (烤生蠔/干貝) 

This stall is yet another busy vendor selling grilled seafood - she is selling grilled oysters, scallops, clams and snails. Grilled seafood is a big thing at this night market although I think that this stall probably has the largest variety of shellfish of all of them.  

I come from Nova Scotia, a small province on the east coast of Canada that is well-known for its scallops and my mother is a master of cooking them - So its hard for me to want to buy scallops still on the shell with cheap cheese on top. That is my personal opinion however as there was a long line at this stall each time I visited.

If I had to choose, I'd probably go with the grilled snails over the rest of what is being grilled here. I'm a big fan of the mixed pepper and salt that is sold here and when its grilled on top of the snails it gives terrific flavour. 

When I took the shot the boss was busy at work. It wasn't easy to get a shot of her taking a break or getting her to notice me and look in the camera. Her business is booming and she doesn't have much time to take a break. 

7. Korean Pan fried Kebabs (韓醬鐵板串燒) 

This vendor sells chicken kebabs basted in a Korean chili sauce and then cooked on a Teppanyaki grill. These chicken kebabs are similar to the kind I wrote about in my first post in this series. The difference with these kebabs is that they have the Korean sauces, which is extremely tasty and appeal to all the young people who are in love with Korean culture. 

When I took the shot I tried to get the boss hard at work, but his wife noticed and made an interesting gesture. Street photography is all about candid gestures and it is common to see people like a deer in the headlights. That is part of what makes it interesting to me. 

I haven't tried these chicken kebabs yet, but I plan on heading back to the night market and trying them for sure. 

8. Taiwanese Sausages (台灣香腸) 

Taiwanese sausages are a mainstay of Taiwan's street foods. It seems like no matter where you go, there is someone selling some sausages and there is always a line of people waiting to buy them. 

I guess you could say that the Taiwanese love of their sausages is quite similar to the way Americans think of hot dogs. If you ask me though a hot dog has nothing on a Taiwanese sausage - They are served hot, juicy and are full of flavour when you eat them. They're served on a stick and you always have the option of taking a few cloves of garlic to eat them with. 

They're cheap and because of the high demand they are always made fresh. If you end up at a night market and you really have no idea what to get to eat, a sausage might be your best choice! 


This post concludes my Hsing-Ren Night Market series - I had a lot of fun shooting this night market and ate some great food each time I visited!

This night market isn't your typical night market and while it has all the foods you have come to expect at night markets around the country, it also goes above and beyond introducing new foods to the Taiwanese public! 

One could hope that grilled steak, pizza by the slice, döner kebap and fresh Thai shrimp become regular night market fare around the country! 

Below you will find a gallery of all the shots from this series as well as some shots that didn't make the cut. 

I'll going to take a few weeks off to post a few non-night market posts and then start posting from Taiwan's most famous and iconic night market - Keelung's Miaokou Night Market (基隆廟口夜市) 


People of the Night 15 (興仁花園夜市)

The Hsing-Ren Garden Night Market (興仁花園夜市) is a newly-opened night market located in Bade City (八德) in Taoyuan County. The night market is over 6000 square meters making it possibly the largest in northern Taiwan. While shooting this night market, I have to say that it has quickly become one of my favourite night markets to visit out of all of them.

It has almost everything I could want! Not only does this night market have all the typical night market fare you would expect, but it also has vendors selling fresh oysters and fresh Thai shrimp. There's San Francisco style pizza by the slice, American grilled steaks, Hong Kong Dim Sum, Ramen, Mongolian BBQ and Taiwanese Indigenous BBQ. There are places to sit down to drink some fresh draft beer with friends and places to buy cocktails mixed with fresh juice! What else could you want in a night market? You can eat, drink, and have fun all night long. 

The Hsing-Ren Night Market is a "garden" or "flower" (花園) night market which is the "new" thing here in Taiwan popularized by the Tainan Garden Night Market (台南花園夜市) and the Fu Da Garden Night Market (輔大花園夜市) in New Taipei City. 

These kind of night markets are quite popular among younger crowds and a lot of the food that has swept the nation over the past few years have been products of these style night markets as they attract younger people who are more willing to try new and more exotic foods.   

I will make four posts in this series with over thirty shots and I hope that you will like what I have for you! 

This post will be all about drinks that you can get at the night market! 



1. Watermelon Juice (西瓜汁) 

Some guys have this awesome ability to drink an entire beer in seconds. Truthfully I can drink a beer pretty quickly, but when it comes to watermelon juice there is no comparison. If you give me a 500cc cup of watermelon juice, it will be gone in seconds. I don't know what it is about watermelon juice, but it is amazing. Watermelon was always crazy expensive back home in Canada, so we never thought to make juice out of it. Here in Taiwan though watermelons are everywhere in summer and they are really cheap. So cheap that a 500cc cup of freshly blended juice is less than a dollar. I really liked this shot because the stall was cool looking and the young girl running it noticed me taking the shot and looked directly into the camera. 

2. Starfruit Juice (楊桃汁) 

While I was still in university back in Canada, an international fruit store opened up near where I live. For most people this probably doesn't seem like a big thing, but I'm from the east coast of Canada where that kind of thing isn't really common. When the store opened up I fell in love with starfruit. I bought them often and enjoyed the taste. When I arrived in Taiwan and had my first night market experience, one of the first things I noticed was a starfruit juice vendor at the entrance of the night market. After buying a cup I quickly found out that not all fruit juices taste like the fruit that they're made of. I wasn't a fan of starfruit juice at all and up to this day almost ten years later I still haven't tried it again. This vendor however was quite popular and when I took the shot one of the people working there looked into the camera making the shot much better. 

3. Fruit Juice and Papaya Milk (新鮮果汁/木瓜牛奶) 

This fruit juice vendor originated at the Zhongli Night Market and is so popular that they have expanded to several locations around Taoyuan county. They are most famous for their papaya milk, but they sell a wide range of fresh fruit juices and blended drinks as well. Whenever I go to the Zhongli Night Market I always make sure to buy a grapefruit juice from this stall but the stall at Hsing-Ren was so busy every time I went that I wouldn't even bother. 

I took this shot on a rainy day when the night market wasn't so busy. I was happy to get a wide angle shot of the stall and even happier to have one of the workers look directly into the camera as I took the shot. If you are ever in Taoyuan at a night market and you see a stall that looks like this be sure to try some of their awesome drinks - especially the papaya milk which is a must-try for people visiting Taiwan!  

4. Watermelon Juice/Milk (西瓜汁/西瓜牛奶) 

Summer is coming, so there is no lack of places selling watermelon juice and other summer treats. This stall is selling mango smoothies, watermelon juice and watermelon milk. I can't drink milk, so I can't really explain how a watermelon juice tastes, but the people here in Taiwan like to mix their fruit with milk, so it is quite normal to see stuff like this. If you go to 7-11s around the country it is normal to find banana-milk, apple-milk, strawberry-milk, etc.

Mango season is just starting here and fruit markets are starting to fill up with the awesome fruit. I'll be back to this night market for sure to have a mango smoothie (芒果爽) which is a thick blended drink with mango and ice and is sure to cause a bit of brain freeze.  

5. Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶)

It wouldn't be Taiwan without some pearl milk tea right? One of the most popular drinks around the country is pearl milk tea, or bubble tea. I love having some of these tasty tapioca balls in my drink, but unfortunately I can't have milk, so I really have no idea how awesome a pearl milk tea is (sad face) I will often add bubbles to my fruit teas or green teas though so I'm not that deprived. This stall sells pearl milk tea, green tea, black tea, oolong tea, etc. The most popular thing that they sell is pearl milk tea or black tea with freshly made brown sugar (黑糖) When I took the shot, the girls working at the vendor seemed quite interested that a foreign guy was taking their picture, so they looked curiously into the camera. 

As a bit of an anecdote into the differences in language: Black Tea is 「紅茶」or "red tea" in Chinese and Brown Sugar is 「黑糖」or "black sugar." I find that quite interesting. 

6. Starfruit Juice (蜜桃湯) 

Here we have another starfruit juice stall. This one is a bit more traditional than the previous one (which probably means that the juice is even more terrible) and it seems like most people, buy large bottles and take them home. Starfruit juice isn't particularly expensive and is much cheaper than most other juices. It comes in sweet or salty flavours and you can buy it cold, warm or hot. 

Health is probably the reason the majority of people drink starfruit juice as it is great for sore throats and coughing. It is also great on hot days when you've sweat too much and need to quench your thirst. If memory serves me correctly it tasted a little bit like cough syrup, so maybe that's why it is good for a cough!  

7. Korean Ice Cream (拐杖冰) 

This is the newest fad sweeping the nation and I have almost absolutely no idea what it is. What I do know is that they are popular in Korea and likely became popular here because of the influence of a Korean drama. I know that it is ice cream and it looks like the ice cream is somehow pumped into that "churro" looking thing. Every thing Korea is popular in Taiwan now. The fashion, culture, music, food, etc. have all recently become readily available around the country. This is just another example of Korean influence on Taiwanese people and it is fashionable to eat this kind of thing. The good news is though that Korean interest in Taiwan is reciprocal and Korean tourism here is booming like never before. 

If anyone knows anything more about this ice cream, let me know in the comments below and I'd be glad to add some information!  

People of the Night 14 (興仁花園夜市)

The Hsing-Ren Garden Night Market (興仁花園夜市) is a newly-opened night market located in Bade City (八德) in Taoyuan County. The night market is over 6000 square meters making it possibly the largest in northern Taiwan. While shooting this night market, I have to say that it has quickly become one of my favourite night markets to visit out of all of them.

It has almost everything I could want! Not only does this night market have all the typical night market fare you would expect, but it also has vendors selling fresh oysters and fresh Thai shrimp. There's San Francisco style pizza by the slice, American grilled steaks, Hong Kong Dim Sum, Ramen, Mongolian BBQ and Taiwanese Indigenous BBQ. There are places to sit down to drink some fresh draft beer with friends and places to buy cocktails mixed with fresh juice! What else could you want in a night market? You can eat, drink, and have fun all night long. 

The Hsing-Ren Night Market is a "garden" or "flower" (花園) night market which is the "new" thing here in Taiwan popularized by the Tainan Garden Night Market (台南花園夜市) and the Fu Da Garden Night Market (輔大花園夜市) in New Taipei City. 

These kind of night markets are quite popular among younger crowds and a lot of the food that has swept the nation over the past few years have been products of these style night markets as they attract younger people who are more willing to try new and more exotic foods.   

I will make four posts in this series with over thirty shots and I hope that you will like what I have for you! 

This post is all about the female vendors at the night market! 



1. Photography lessons from the Snail Lady (燒酒螺攝影課)

Customer relations are an important part of being a successful entrepreneur. Here we have a woman selling snails which were soaked in rice wine and chili - a snack that makes an excellent companion food for drinking. Instead of selling though, the boss lady is teaching a customer how to get the best shot of her snails. While it may seem otherwise, the people at the night market are always personable and friendly people so don't be intimidated by them or their snails! 

2. American Style French Fries (美式脆條)

These french fries are about as "American" as poutine - But hey, maybe it's more about the serving size than the taste. A few years back a company named "Ireland's Potatoes" opened up in Taipei and it became popular to top french fries with different kinds of sauces. This young lady sells her fries with everything from 'Thousand Island' salad dressing to 'Sour Plum' powder. She's got honey mustard, sour creme and some kind of ice cream flavour. I prefer my fries with a little sea salt and vinegar, but maybe that is because I'm Canadian. No matter what flavour you try, it seems like a bowl of her french fries will be a meal, they're not that expensive and probably much better than what you'd get at McDonalds. 

3. Stuffed Chicken (雞翅包飯)

Another new entry in the chicken market is stuffed chicken and this shop sells a few varieties of the stuffed bird! The first kind is a chicken wing stretched out and stuffed with rice. The other uses chicken skin as a wrapping and has diced chicken and rice inside which is then wrapped up, deep fried and finished over a grill.

I find both of these quite scary due to the fact that I'm sure they'd be delicious and because I'm sure they'd eventually give me a heart attack.

I haven't tried either yet and I probably won't as I try to stay away from oily foods as much as I can. Since these things have come out though, people have been lining up at night markets around the country to try them. If you've tried them, let me know how you feel about them in the comments section below!  

4. German Pork Knuckle (德國豬腳)

One thing I noticed while browsing Hsing-Ren night market was the amount of voluptuous young ladies manning the stalls. This is a clever way of doing business as that kind of thing attracts quite a bit of business in Taiwan!

This vendor is selling German-style pork knuckle which I like, but find a bit overrated when compared to its Taiwanese counterpart. The knuckles are about 8 dollars each, or three dollars for a sample.

It isn't really common to find food that is this expensive in night markets around the country, but Hsing-Ren isn't your typical night market.

As for the young girl manning the stall, she seemed to attract quite a lot of attention from young boys who seemed suddenly very interested in Bavarian cuisine. 

5. Salty braised Chicken (鹽水雞)

The name of this stall (胡老二) is somewhat of an interesting double-entendre. The first meaning is that the Hu (胡) family is running the business and it is run by the second oldest child in the family (老二.)

The second meaning however is the more interesting one in that the word 「老二」also refers to a certain male body part. The picture of the chicken beside it makes it a little more dubious.

Whatever meaning you get from this interesting stall isn't really as important as their salty chicken which is really tasty. I described salty chicken in a previous post, but to quickly describe it, the chicken is braised in salt water and then when you buy it they will dice it up for you and add some sauce to it. Salty chicken can be expensive, but if you like salty food like I do, you'll enjoy it! 

6. Vegetarian Snacks (全素料理) 

When you're a vegan or even a vegetarian your options at the night market can be slim. Luckily his lady is there with some tasty fried veggie foods to make everyone happy. She has french fries, sweet potato balls and various kinds of fried mushrooms.

The sweet potato balls (地瓜球) are quite delicious and I'm a big fan of fried mushrooms, so even though I'm not a vegetarian these days - I still will stop and partake of some of this deliciousness.

It would be nicer for vegetarians I'm sure though to have some non-deep fried options at the night market. So my foreign friends however, if you are a vegetarian and you're looking for something to eat, make sure to look for the word 「素」or an inverted swastica 「卍」which indicates a restaurant that is suitable for Buddhists. 

7. Stinky Tofu (碳烤臭豆腐) 

In my previous post I had a shot of the same stall with this woman's son hard at work. This time I won't talk about the stinky tofu, but the sign in front. When you go to night markets and see signs in front of stalls that say things like "TVBS" they are referring to the fact that they were featured on a news-travel-food show on one of Taiwan's television networks.

It is always an honour for these vendors when television hosts come and introduce their food and it is even better for their business as they will have lines of people the next night waiting for a sample! Seeing these signs in front of the stall however doesn't always necessarily mean that the food is great - its up to you to make that decision! 

8. Ramen Bar (日式麵攤) 

Another way you can tell that Hsing-Ren is a "different" kind of night market is because it has three Ramen bars inside. I'm not going to say that there aren't any other night markets in Taiwan that have a ramen bar, but they're extremely rare - especially to have them mingling together with the other vendors.

This vendor sells six different types of Japanese Ramen and you can sit down at the stall and eat them while the boss is busy at work. The price of the ramen is really great as you can get a Tonkatsu (Tempura pork chop) ramen for 150NT and a Char Siu (叉燒) Ramen for 120NT. All of these would likely be double the price at a restaurant elsewhere - I'm a big fan of ramen, but I don't really like to eat it when its too hot outside, so I haven't tried this one yet!