You gotta visit this place | 台中第二市场

The second market also known as 第二市场 is a place patronise by locals. It open as early as 5-6am and it is a breakfast/lunch spot. When I visited taichung in April, my bf and I specifically book a hotel near the market. Just so we can eat our breakfast here every morning.

So here's a list of my must try and places that are soso.

1. Arashi Braised Minced Pork Shop (嵐肉燥專賣店)

We visited this store on our first visit and this particular shop is full of tourist. I rarely see locals here (i can see why later). We were hangry by the time we reached and we wanted to fill our stomach first. So we randomly went into this place and order three bowls of rice. We were disappointed. The minced meat is kinda sweet and it doesnt taste savoury enough as a braised meat rice.

We both didnt like it. We concluded that this is one of the stores patronise mostly by tourist and is overhype. It has a different style as compared to lu rou fan which is more savoury.

2. Lai’s Tea Shop (老賴茶棧)

Something i drank every morning whenever we had our breakfast here during our stay. I love their red tea as it isnt too sweet but someone recommended me to try their milk tea too. After trying that, i love their milk tea more. Tea flavours were strong. Highly recommended, this is worth the hype.

3. Noodle store

Idk if there's a name to this store but this store is located behind san he lu rou fan and if there's something i truely miss everyday, it is this noodle. It is simple yet flavourful. The assorted dishes u can add on tasted incrediblely homely. The noodles is cooked with a meaty sauce and just like how locals will eat, i mix it up with sweet chilli sauce for that kick. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND

4. San he lu rou fan

One of the more popular store here. Selling braised pork rice. My bf loves this and he told me he wants to fly back just to specially eat it again. It is good as the meat is not tough and melts in ur mouth. But their sauce lacks the lor zhup taste that shld have. But still highly recommend to have this. This is love by many locals.

4. 王家菜頭粿糯米腸

I wanted to try this on the first day we reached but it was soooooo packed. It was impossible to dine in. One fateful day, there's no queue as we were early so we decided to try it although my bf was SO SURE it is gonna be overhype as it is mostly patronise by tourist. AND he was right.... i expected it to be crispy like our radish cake but it was soggy and tasted gelat cos of the sauce. We didnt like it and didnt finished it.

5. Fruits

I also bought a whole bag of grapes from the fruit stall and it is so juicy and fresh ! I tried to buy grapes again at other places and it is not as big as the ones i bought here ! So if u chance upon it, u can check it out. 100% worth it and the seller is soo kind to let us buy a smaller pack as she overheard us saying we might not be able to finish. It is located behind this famous sushi store.

Visit this market the next time u visit taichung for a good local experience. This is also kinda like their wet market so i even got to see them chopping a whole pig for selling. It was an eyeopening experience.

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