A small city in the southeast corner of the beautiful island of Taiwan, Taitung, is a picturesque city in a country with a world-wide (yet still underappreciated) reputation for food. While lacking the big-name spots like Din Tai Fung or the high-end restaurants of Taipei, Taichung or Kaoshiung, this city still has an astoundingly full list of quality restaurants. The amount of legitimate vegetarian spots in a relatively small and secluded area of Taiwan is particularly impressive. Furthermore, there quite a few hip coffee spots and good pizza spots, along with a unexpectedly good international food scene (from Indian to Korean).Along with the more global food, the Taiwanese staples are very good – scallion pancakes, various kinds of dumplings and hand-cut noodles galore! I came into my year of teaching English with low expectations of Taitung as a culinary destination but I’ve been pleasantly surprised/pleased. The aboriginal food is also delicious but it’s often not as vegetarian-friendly. When you come to Taitung, you’ll be able to eat just as well as many of the other cities in Taiwan and save some money while you do it.

When you’re here, make sure to get a scallion pancake, check out the night market near Carrefour, and try hand-cut noodles! Try some aboriginal restaurants as well because Taitung has the strongest aboriginal culture in Taiwan (with seven different tribes featuring prominently) so this is the spot to get it.