Taipei - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
You can get almost any sort of food you like if you are south of the river. Tianmu has more western restaurants. Other neighborhoods have more Japanese and Taiwanese food. For many good local restaurants you need to speak or read Chinese. - Apr 2023
UberEats and FoodPanda are the most popular food delivery services. There are a wide variety of food choices -- Gordon Biersch, American BBQ, Italian food, Asian food, bubble tea and Starbucks. UberEats and FoodPanda take American credit cards. Some expats have found it easier to use apple pay to make online purchases. - Jul 2020
Taipei has a huge array of food options and a lot of expats. Lots of street food stalls in every corner of the city, as well as restaurants packed into every available spot. Daan has a lot of different cuisines, and Tianmu has a lot of international/western food in addition to a lot of local food, but almost everyone I've met says their neighborhood has the best food. Expats live all over the city so it's hard to say that there's one type of takeout or restaurants used by expats. People use Food Panda and Uber Eats to deliver. - Dec 2018
Taipei has so many restaurants that you can find pretty much any kind of cuisine you desire. It seems Japanese restaurants are especially popular (Taipei supposedly has the best Japanese food outside of Japan), so plenty of those around. There are many great restaurants, and you'll never run out of new and interesting restaurants to try. Eating out is cheap (western restaurants will be more expensive), and there are many colleagues that eat out 4-5 nights a week. Lots of vegetarian restaurants as well, and it was voted 'Best city for vegetarians worldwide'.
Almost all restaurants offer take-out, and quite a few restaurants deliver (several apps available for that, including Uber Eats, and Food Panda), and many big chains are present, although why would you go to KFC when there are so many better options not more than a stone's throw away? - Jul 2018
You can find all different types of food here. It may not taste like the food from home, but you will have a wide array of Western and local options available. There are several US fast food options if you like that kind of food as well (Domino's, Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks, etc). There is also a COSTCO. That said, there are hundreds of unique cafes that each sell different variations of western or international food. They are really fun to explore and have way better coffee than any US chain. - Mar 2017
Street stands and quick eateries provide a plethora of local cuisine. Night markets are a great place to eat local food on the weekends. International restaurants are plentiful with prices similar to home. Fine dining is available as well. - Nov 2016
Many decent restaurants are available, people eat out all the time. Everything from McDonald's to Outback to Chili's is here, and many Japanese/Indian/Italian//Vietnamese restaurants are everywhere. One can certainly go to places over a hundred dollars per plate, but also many many places for five dollars. - Sep 2015
many great Japanese restaurants that sell ramen noodles or sushi or Japanese barbecue that are good quality and much cheaper than in the U.S. There are also many Western restaurants that are cheaper than similar places in the U.S. - Aug 2015
McDonald's, Starbucks, TGIF, Chilis etc. Lots of sidewalk noodle shops. Excellent Japanese food. A few options for GOOD western food, though your standards fall quickly. Decent steak houses, some good Italian and Indian. Awesome ramen. Limited Thai. - Apr 2015
American chain restaurants of Chilis, TGI Fridays, Gordon Biersch, Macaroni Grill, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, McDonalds, and a few others are all over the city. They are more expensive than in the USA, but delicious. All local restaurants are safe and delicious. - Sep 2013
In Taipei, people tend to eat out more than they cook at home. Thus, there are thousands of restaurants at every price point. McDonald's, Burger King, Subway etc. Though I'm not sure why anyone would eat there with so many other options. - Jul 2013
McDonald's, Burger King, Subway. Other American restaurants include Chili's, TGI Fridays, and Macaroni Grill, but you pay about twice what you would in the U.S. Local restaurants are cheap. Great dumplings, Indian and Thai food. - May 2013
BK, McD, KFC, dumpling stands, fried rice and all kinds of stalls if you walk through the nightmarkets or tourist towns. Plus lots of sit-down places everywhere. - May 2012
CHEAP! My wife and I rarely spend more than $10 for two eating out in Taipei. More varieties of Chinese food than you'll ever find in any big mainland city. Every block has at least 2 or 3 places to eat. Lots of great cheap international food as well in Taipei. Most of the usual American fast food chains are here of course. - Jun 2009
