Taipei's Shi Lin night market is well-known to many visitors to Taiwan, but in fact, I believe the Garden night market in Tainan is even more interesting. It is completely outdoor, and HUGE! We walked from one end to another when we first arrived, checking out all the food stalls and noting all the yummies we wanted to try. There were 4 of us, and our strategy was to buy one order of each thing to share, so that we could try as many items as possible. We ended up trying 16 different "dishes". All were simply scrumptious!! But we had a few favorites. The oysters grilled on a rack was absolutely heavenly!! While the line wasn't particularly long, we had to wait about 10 minutes because of the slow process. That was one item we kind of felt like we should have ordered double-portion and we would have ordered another if not for the wait and the fact that we still had many other items to sample. Another stall we'd recommend was one grilling what was advertized as steaks from Australian. It was done just as we had ordered, while not thick (about 3/4 inch), it was full of flavor and juicy, really delicious!! There was also one selling salted fried mushrooms that was amongst the top for us. There were different types of mushrooms one could choose; we chose a mix and they were all fabulous. At the end, my son decided that, even though he was already full, he had to try the one stall where everyone sitting on the long benches seemed to be enjoying the huge pile of food. His order came with a piece of steak on the side of a plate of udon noodles topped with a fried egg, all for the equivalent of US$5! The entire dinner for 4, plus desserts, drinks, and fruits to go, came to US$30! A word of warning: it was pretty crowded, which added to the festive mood we were in, but we were there during "cooler" season (temp around 75F/24C). I imagine it would probably be unbearably hot with the big crowd and all the cooking going on during summer months. So, if you can make it there during cooler time, I'd highly recommend giving it a try. Garden night market only opens on certain nights so check with your hotel when making booking. We changed our plan to go on a Wed to Thurs. There are other night markets open on other nights, but Garden is the largest one.
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