All activities / Culinary / Cooking / Taipei
Culinary / Cooking in Taipei
Taipei, Taiwan's capital in a basin at the island's north end, is a dense, walkable city of night markets, temples, tea houses and the Taipei 101 tower. It is also home to the National Palace Museum, holder of the world's greatest collection of Chinese imperial art, carried from Beijing's Forbidden City in the twentieth century.
Why here
Taipei is one of Asia's great eating cities, and the best way in is to cook and to graze your way through its markets. Taiwanese food is its own cuisine, a layering of Hokkien, Hakka, indigenous, Japanese and mainland-Chinese influences, and its icons are addictive: soup-filled xiao long bao dumplings, beef noodle soup, gua bao pork buns, scallion pancakes, oyster omelettes and bubble tea, which was invented here. Hands-on cooking classes take you into a traditional morning market to shop, then to a studio to fold your own dumplings and simmer a bowl of beef noodles, while food-tour guides walk you through the night markets, Shilin, Raohe, Ningxia, where much of the city eats. Doing both, a class and a market walk, turns a stop in Taipei into a proper education in Taiwanese flavour, and gives you dishes you can cook again at home. Classes run in English in small groups, so it suits solo travellers and couples as much as families.
Best months
This is a year-round, all-weather activity, ideal when Taipei's heat, humidity or winter drizzle makes outdoor plans hard. Cooking studios and night markets run through the seasons; the markets are liveliest in the evening and busiest at weekends and around festivals. Summer is hot and sticky, so a market walk is more comfortable after dark, while winter is mild and pleasant. Classes are hands-on and small, usually six to a dozen people, and cater to vegetarians and dietary needs with notice. Book a day or two ahead in peak travel periods.
Getting there & around
Cooking studios and food-tour meeting points are in central Taipei, most within a short walk of a metro station, so no car is needed. A class runs about three to four hours, often starting with a market visit; a food tour runs two to four hours, usually in the evening around a night market. Bring an appetite and comfortable shoes, as tours cover a lot of ground on foot. Operators provide ingredients, aprons and recipes, and can accommodate dietary requirements if told in advance. Booking online ahead of time is wise in busy seasons.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
CookInn Taiwan
SchoolCookInn Taiwan is an award-winning cooking school founded in Taipei in 2018, with studios near Zhongshan and Ximen metro stations. Its signature class builds a full spread of Taiwanese home cooking, from hand-folded xiao long bao to beef noodle soup, gua bao and scallion pancakes, each guest at their own station. Most classes open with a guided walk through a nearby traditional market. It won a Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice award in 2020 and has hosted travellers from over sixty countries.
Taipei Eats
GuideTaipei Eats has run English-language food tours since early 2015, founded by Mike Lee and Tina Fong, who spent months eating across the city to build the routes. Its walks range from a two-and-a-half-hour night market tour to four-hour tours with more than ten tastings, threading quiet backstreets and market stalls, not tourist restaurants. The company has held a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence for ten straight years, and its tours cover well over ten thousand steps on foot.