30 March 2024
After spending an afternoon at the Lotus Pond where we stayed till sunset, we took a taxi to Ruifeng Night Market (aka Rueifong Night Market). Although there are several night markets in Kaohsiung, this night market is located next to the Kaohsiung Arena MRT station in Zuoying district, very close to the Lotus Pond Scenic Area. It is also currently the largest and most crowded night market in Kaohsiung.
Our taxi ride was less than 10 minutes. After alighting from our taxi, we joined the hordes of people waiting to cross the road at the traffic junction. We could see that the market is very popular with the locals.
Like most typical Taiwanese night markets, we could find every kind of traditional street food such as fried squid, octopus balls, grilled wild boar sausages, noodles, papaya milk, milk tea, and chicken and beef steak, as well as arcade games, clothes, and other shopping.
Entering the market, we were shoulder to shoulder with lots of hungry people enjoying their weekend night out. It was too crowded for my liking. Ruifeng Night Market has many streets with rows of food stalls on both sides. We moved to an area of the market that is less crowded before hunting down some food for dinner.
We could not resist the delicious looking grilled beef cubes and it was our first food item in the night market.
The beef is cooked to order. There are various sauces or seasoning available, including chilli powder, ground black pepper sauce, rose salt, cumin powder, onions, italian seasoning and teriyaki sauce.
Our first food item for the night. Grilled beef cubes. 
Another popular street food to try is the deep fried sweet potato balls. They are best eaten right away while still warm. They are chewy in texture with a sweet sugary crust. Yummy!
Most of the food sold are for takeaway in this part of the night market.
Beside food, the Ruifeng Night Market also have stalls providing arcade and amusement park style games that test your skills or your luck.
We went to a side alley with game stalls to watch local kids and young people try their skills or luck while eating our food. I noticed most of the patrons are locals.
Game of chance and also game of skills
One of the street food I really wanted to try was the Taiwanese oyster omelette. Oysters are abundant on this island. We found a stall that provided tables and chairs for a sit down meal.
The oyster omelette dish originates from Fujian and spread across the rest of Asia with each country crafting up its own version of the dish. I had tried several versions of this dish within South East Asia.
Sarawak’s version of oyster omellete with thin crispy batter.
Singapore’s version has eggs, sweet potato flour mixed with water and green spring onions. It is stir fried on a very hot metal hotplate or wok with lots of oil, broken into bite-sized bits, to create crispy edges on the batter. Salt or fish sauce is added to give the dish a salty, umami loaded taste. The Singapore oyster omelette is eaten with a spicy and sour chilli dipping sauce to balance out the greasiness.
The pale looking and “less fried” Taiwanese version came in a whole price like a pancake, with no crispy bits. It came with sauce on top that is slightly sweet. It is more bland and is not a bad dish if you don’t compare.
But I definitely prefer the Singapore version although it is probably the less healthy version.
Taiwanese oyster omelette came in a whole piece with a sweet sauce on top.
Digging into the dish, I could see chopped onions and tiny oysters.
We also ordered the Xiaolongbao from this stall. This is a type of small Chinese steamed bun (baozi) traditionally prepared in a xiaolong, a small bamboo steaming basket. The buns taste the same as the versions in Singapore. It is best eaten with a black vinegar dipping sauce topped with strips of fresh ginger.
Steamed buns served in the small steaming basket.
We ended our food adventure in the night market with a hot and cold desserts. We order a red bean soup with soya bean curd or douhua. Douhua is made from coagulated soybean milk. It looks, feels and tastes like extremely tender tofu.
Warm red bean soup with douhua (left) and green bean soup with crushed ice (right).
No comments:
Post a Comment