Shilin Night Market -The Best Night Market in Taiwan

Whenever we are in another country, our family usually go to tourist attractions in the daytime and able to go back to the hotel around 8:00-10:00 in the evening. And I know most people or rather families (meaning: children travelling with parents) do as well. ;-p It is quite a nuisance when I still want to go out at night to shop or just get dreamy, but all are closed or are closing already. Hence, it is always pure joy to know that there are night markets specifically located near the hotel we are booked at (read about our hotel in Shilin HERE) that is open until at least midnight. I thank God that our hotel is just a 10 minute walk to Shilin Night Market and that it closes PAST MIDNIGHT. *wink wink*

Shilin Night Market is the night market you dare not miss when in Taiwan. It is the BIGGEST, most popular, most talked about (naks), and considered as the BEST night market in Taiwan. It is a massive shopping and food haven. #icanteven There are also cinemas, video arcades, karaoke bars, and massage shops offering weird massage methods (uses knives or bamboo sticks). It is, undeniably, a fascinating adventure for the senses.

Shilin Night Market is located adjacent to MRT Jiantan Station. Yes, Jiantan Station. Do not exit at Shilin Station because there is basically nothing there and that is the end of the market already.    

I wouldn't chatter anymore. Let me just give you a virtual tour of Shilin Night Market and tell you about the plethora of delectable food at Shilin Night Market. It is simply the best!

Few meters away from the sprawling Shilin Night Market. Got overly giddy standing in this point seeing that view.

Here we go! SHILIN NIGHT MARKET!

About to explore Shilin Night Market while finishing my blended fruit juice.

Candied strawberries always look inviting to both the wallet (lulz) and the camera. ;-p
Taste-wise, though, I don't think I liked it.

The many shops at Shilin Night Market selling trendy clothes, accessories, and other goods that you can bargain. 

Yes, you can haggle, but not too much. Haggling in Taiwan is not the same with Thailand and Vietnam where you can haggle up to half the initial asking price. I think this is good. For me it means that they sell fairly and they are not opportunistic. #touristfriendly

As I mentioned in my Ximending post, I was not able to buy anything there. It was a totally different story in Shilin Night Market. 

I spent all my (meager amount of) money here. *Woot*

I bought an outfit or two here. I scored three to four pairs of shoes too and bought necklaces for my friends here.

The many super cute hawker-style Taiwanese food.
Just to share...

Shopping is not exactly our #1 priority whenever we are on a sojourn even though I rave about shops, good finds, and markets so much. 
If only time permits and if fate brings us to shopping places, then we do a bit of it really, REALLY fast since dad don't usually like... waiting (LOL)... 

but he loves to eat and he spends for us, so yea, I almost always rave about night markets mostly because of the local cuisine / favorites you get to try and enjoy. 

Food at night markets are the best. 

In Taiwan, Shilin Night Market is definitely THE place to go for that. It is one of the best night markets I've visited.

In one end of the Shilin Night Market maze, we were able to reach this area where we actually tried MANY food and various fruit juice.

Since I was with my family, we just get one order and share among ourselves so we can taste as many as possible.
I suggest that you don't eat too much at one place or of one kind too. Sample a lot, because there's really A LOT to feast on. 

Well, except for the fried mushrooms. It was our comfort food in Shilin. We ate A LOT of salty fried legit mushrooms (enoki mushrooms and shitake mushrooms) during our entire stay! It's that good!♥♥♥
Just my two cents, forget about the corn cubs in Taiwan. They are not good. :p

I was not able to take photos of  all the food and drinks that we tried. I also was not able to take photos of random finds and other shops inside. We were too engulfed by the hustle and bustle of Shilin Night Market. All our senses were too busy enjoying.♥

WHAT WE WEREN'T ABLE TO DO AND TRY:

We weren't able to taste the stinky tofu, the oyster omelette, fried milk, fried buns or fried baozi, sausage wrapped in big sausage (a Taiwanese pork sausage wrapped in a slightly larger sticky rice sausage. Similar to a hot dog, but replacing the bun with sticky rice and the hotdog with Taiwanese sausage), lemon aiyu jelly (when you see the signage in the stall which says "WOW Frog Eggs", that's it. I know!! What in the world! ;p), oyster vermicelli / oamisior, oh misua, Xin Fa Ting's shaved ice (they say this is divine!), and Hot Star large fried chicken.
We were looking for the stinky tofu and oyster omelette, but to no avail. :'(
Dad found out months ago that we weren't able to go to the Shilin's food court at the basement area. We did not know. He said there are more food stalls there. :'( Oh, well. Next time. 
Below are photos of the food and part of Shilin Night Market that we missed which I enumerated.

Yummyyyyy! 
Making a collage of these photos that I nicked from google images made me hungry!! Huuuuu!

Any more recommendations that we missed? :-)

Location	Just off MRT Jiantan Station
Operating Hours	Open Daily 6:00 PM - past midnight (around 1AM - 2AM)

Partial list of the MANY Night Markets in Taiwan: Visit link HERE.

Related Posts:

✿ Fun Taiwan: My Introduction to Taiwan and about our 1st day in Ximending ✿

- about Ximending, Ximending Night Market, Beauty Hotels Taipei's Hotel B6, Red House Theater, Mala Yuanyang Hotpot, pineapple cake for pasalubong, Shinjuku Plaza, and Taipei 101.

✿ Fun Taiwan: IKEA ✿

✿ Din Tai Fung's Xiao Long Bao ✿

✿ Hotel in Shilin: Starbeauty Resort Hotel ✿
✿ Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall ✿
✿ Modern Toilet Restaurant ✿

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