CiSheng Temple
CiSheng Temple, in the DaDaoCheng area in Datong District, is a special place where you can eat amongst the trees and birds with the temple lurking in the background. In the center of the concrete jungle, streets are lined with delicious eateries open throughout the morning and early afternoon. You can find anything here from Taiwanese classics such as fried rice, fried noodles, squid soup, and pork soup.
If breakfast is your thing, then consider checking out my other article about breakfast, focusing on some of Taipei’s greatest breakfast spots you should not miss out on.
Where Can You Find the Best Taiwanese Breakfast? here are my 2023 top picks!
If you are looking for other places in Taipei, check out the following post:
7 unforgettable Taipei Places to visit in 2023 if you only have 48 hours!
Table of Contents
Come to CiSheng Temple for breakfast, and you'll thank me for the amazing mix of Taiwanese breakfast options available to you. The street food here is really impressive for its variety and old-school quality.
This is one of those moments where the less I say about this food, the better. When you try it, you will just know. Is it what you would call Michelin-style food? No. It's not going to win any awards for cleanliness or innovation. But, it's going to put a smile on your face, whilst simultaneously filling both your mouth and belly with fragrant Taiwanese breakfast and street food staples.
Basically what you do is you order your dish from the stall and find a seat at the back (there are different vendors' names on the table, so make sure you order at least one dish from the vendor to be able to sit at the table, the easier way is to sit at the tables right behind the vendor).
There are several vendors in front of CiSheng Temple, so if you wave to them when they are walking around with a plate for you, they'll know where to drop off the food. We ordered the 魩仔魚炒飯 mò zǐ yú chǎo fàn whitebait fried rice, from this vendor. Whitebait is a term given to immature fish. There's a whole host of different kinds of whitebait, but this one is popular in Taiwan to have with fried rice.
We didn't order anything from here, but I will be back to try their 魯肉飯 lǔ ròu fàn which is the stewed pork gravy ladled over rice, and 原汁排骨湯 yuán zhī pái gǔ tāng which is their signature pork rib soup. The amazing thing about these kinds of pork rib soups is that in all reality they probably only have pork, maybe some daikon, and then just a few ladles of soup over the top. But the flavours that will oftentimes emanate from the bowl are incredible in their fragrance.
Half a squid here is going to cost you $200, whilst a full one will cost you $400.
Yeh, I wasn't convinced... I mean, I haven't tried it, but it just doesn't draw me in. It looks leathery, to be honest. But it's probably really good. Let me know if you check it out, and leave a comment below shaming me for not trying it.
This 雞捲 jī juǎn place sells deep-fried tofu-skin-wrapped pork rolls. The Chinese name of this vendor is chicken rolls, but in fact, the meat used in these rolls is pork. One serving is $70. Inside the rolls, you would find some diced onions and celery mixed with pork and fish paste, the tofu skin is crunchy with all of the flavourful fillings inside.
This vendor was where we got most of our food from, though. And wow, was it good. We got the fried oysters 蚵仔炸 pronounced "or ah za" ($60), red braised belly pork 紅燒肉 hóng shāo ròu ($60), and also a bowl of the congee 肉粥 ròu zhōu at $30.
Whitebait fried rice
魩仔魚炒飯 mò zǐ yú chǎo fàn
$70
Oh. My. Shit.
I hate these little fish, normally, but here I scoffed the plate in seconds. It was one of the best-fried rice dishes I have ever had the pleasure of stuffing my face into. Each grain of rice was perfectly separated from the other, with no oil in sight, a pop of fresh fish with each mouthful accompanied by the egg. The flavour was light, yet fresh, carrying bags of energy.
Since my initial visit here many years ago, I continue to return, and can never leave without ordering a plate of this fried rice.
This is for the win.
Congee
肉粥 ròu zhōu
$30
Taiwanese love their congee, that much is evident if you ever go to a hotel breakfast buffet anywhere on the island. But, this isn't like the gloop you often see get slopped around at those.
This was delicately flavoured broth accompanying perfectly cooked rice, with tonnes of strong meat flavour. Another triumph. One to definitely break any congee hater out there.
Shrimp and egg soup
蝦仁蛋包湯 xiā rén dàn bāo tāng $60
These deep-fried shrimp are added to this pork soup, accompanied by generous chunks of Daikon radish, and a soft poached egg. The shrimp are delicate and juicy as they pop with flavour in your mouth as you chew down on them. The radish is perfectly soft, yet retains its chunkiness within the soup. The pork broth has a great depth of flavour without being too heavy. And, when you break that soft poached egg into the soup, the yolk mixes with the soup and adds an extra level of decadent richness.
Fried oysters & Red braised belly pork
(oysters) 蚵仔炸 pronounced "or ah za"
$70
(pork) 紅燒肉 hóng shāo ròu
$70
Let's start with this pork. Fat, meat, fat, meat, fat, meat. Those are the layers within each slice. Damn. Crunchy on the outside, perfectly cooked on the inside, salty, sweet, fatty, deep flavoured. Yep, all of that and more. There are not many other places that can rival this incredible offering from Cisheng Temple, in all honesty.
Those fried crispy skinned oysters popped with oyster flavour when you bit into them. The freshness of the ocean coats the inside of your mouth, and when paired with some of that chilli sauce, they hit the spot.
A table spread in front of CiSheng Temple can't look much better than this, aside from perhaps a beer nestled in that space between the rice and the congee. But, even though I have my limits, it was 08:00.
Taiwanese breakfast with a view of CiSheng Temple is what you have never known to be missing from your life. Go get some street food this weekend, and you'll be sure to leave with a smile spread right across your face.
The bottom line
Is it really that good though? Look, it's not winning any awards for innovation or cleanliness. But, if you want an honest representation of no-frills Taiwanese breakfast, then you really cannot look much further than Taipei's Cisheng Temple in the morning for that.