Celine ChiamI bet many of you have heard of the shopping paradise at Wu Fen Pu 五分埔.
It’s actually a Taiwanese version of Chatuchak (in Bangkok), if not, it’s basically a place for getting wholesale clothes, shoes and bags. In other words, a shopping heaven!
Directions to Wu Fen Pu are relatively easy too! Take the MRT to 台北後山埤 Hou Shan Pi MRT station and you’ll see this sign:
Take the exit using this direction board and you should leave by this exit (photo below)
After which, there may be no more direction signs. But you can always ask passers-by because Wu Fen Pu 五分埔 is only a 5-minute walk away!
And there we have, Wu Fen Pu
There are indeed quite a number of people. I was told that Monday is usually the day for retailers to stock up their apparel from these wholesales, so do try to avoid Mondays because the shop owners can’t be bothered to sell you a piece or two. In fact, some wholesaler shops have their apparel laid out in large white bags, so don’t bother asking for the price because they aren’t really interested in doing your sale.
You may be getting excited when I say Wu Fen Pu seems like Bangkok’s Chatuchak where all items sold are pretty cheap. Well, that was what I’ve been thinking too. I read reviews, and blogger’s experience and I was really expecting prices to be something like those at Bangkok’s Chatuchak.
But boy was I disappointed.
Being a person who can really dig treasures from sales racks, I myself find it difficult to do so here at Wu Fen Pu. That’s really surprising because most of the items cost above SGD15. These prices are definitely cheaper than those in Singapore, but I wasn’t at all expecting this because many people told me the things here are cheap. Not exactly.
TIP: To buy really cheap items, go to all the sale racks! They do have some treasures hidden within but be prepared to be disappointed because some items are really horrendous.
When you get enough of Wu Fen Pu 五分埔, a street selling all the local food is just another 10min walk away!
And it’s none other than the Raohe St. Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市.
Follow the chinese lanterns and you’ll see this large sign board!
Raohe Night Market is another night market selling many different types of Taiwanese street food at quite an affordable price and in small bite sizes. But as it’s very popular as well, it gets really really crowded and cramped. Queues for famous delicacies are undoubtedly long, but I assure you they are worth the wait!
For example, this 胡椒饼 Black Pepper Pastry is one that receives huge patronage. My brother actually queued for 20 minutes for this. Look at the crowd on the left side of the photo, that is the queue.
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| Smelly Tofu which wasn’t really smelly at all. |
Another popular takeaway is this 起士马铃薯 Cheese Baked Potato. Even locals are patronizing this stall. Well of course I gave them a try!
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| All prices in NT. |
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| They have a lot of toppings for you to choose to top your potato. You can choose everything too. |
Well, I must say it looks decent, but the taste was another story. I’ll probably say the cheese doesn’t really taste like cheese. In fact, it has a hint of sourness in it. The only good part about it is the baked potato! It’s soft yet not too soggy, and it tastes sweet by itself too. Perhaps too much of a topping isn’t really a good idea.
I love street food! Practically ALL the food here in Taiwan. *Smiles widely*
Oh yes, the weather was pretty alright (chilly) when I was there (June), so it explains why I am still wearing my cardigan in such a crowded night market.
BBQ OYSTERS are also sold at insanely cheap prices. But the place was really crowded so I didn’t get to try it. If not because of the crowd and my family with me, I would have snatched and grabbed a chair and sat down, gobbling down all the oysters. A plate of oysters only cost NT100! That. is. cheap. They smell superbly fragrant too.
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| BBQ Corn on a cob |
Another street food restaurant that receives either lots of love or lots of hate is the BBQ corn on a cob. As a corn lover, I personally didn’t like the hardness of the corn. How should I phrase this? It’s not really that tough, but it definitely contains less moisture because the corn probably has lost all the water content in it, leaving the flesh of the corn.
They coated a special sauce over the corn while BBQ-ing, which is the main reason why it is still nice even though it’s not as soft as normal corn.
So yes that’s mostly about it for Wu Fen Pu and Raohe Night Market
Love,
Celine Chiam
Contributed by Celine Chiam.
