Taipei 2012 - Huaxi Night Market

Not far from Longshan Temple is the famous Huaxi Night Market. This night market is popular with the locals and tourists alike because of one thing - snakes ! Here you can sample snake meat, snake blood and snake bile which are all thought to be strong elixirs for the body. I wouldn't touch these with a 10 foot pole though. 

Since I went in the morning, the place was pretty quiet and most of the shops were closed. I did however managed to sample the famous Taiwanese Lou Rou Fan (Rice with Stewed Fatty Pork), and a soup that was so delicious I would definitely go back for more !

This was the stall where I had the rice and soup.

The Lou Rou Fan was pretty good. You can see the meat stew is maybe 90% fat ?

The soup has just 2 main ingredients - pork strips and a small melon which was new to me. The meat I think has been deepfried in a light batter before stewing in the soup. The melon was crunchy and had a bit of tanginess to it. There was also quite a heavy pepperiness to it. It was really delicious !

The tiny melons come in a can and is a Taiwanese specialty.

If you are planning to visit Huaxi Night Market - be sure to go at night when all the action happens.