Taipei Restaurants

  1. Celestial Restaurant

    Lovers of Beijing-style cooking have been coming to this restaurant for generations. In addition to Peking duck (expensive but meant for sharing), try the elegant, comforting 'green beans (actually peas) with shredded chicken'.

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  2. Dintaifung

    With Taipei's most celebrated dumplings, Dintaifung is deservedly popular for Shanghai-style treats made fresh to order. Try the classic xiǎolóng bāo (steamed pork dumplings). Very popular with locals and visitors alike, so either phone in reservations (they speak enough English) or prepare to queue up.

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  3. Fang's Restaurant

    You can find excellent plates of Jiangzi-style (Shanghai regional) cooking at this local favourite that is well regarded by both long-term expats and locals alike. Just about every table also seems to order a tray of 'mini-mall steamed buns', tiny soup dumplings.

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  4. Golden Dragon

    Popular with politicos and visitors alike, the Golden Dragon is the gorgeous Hong Kong-style restaurant inside the Grand Hotel (which is possibly one of Taipei's best known landmarks). Excellent dim sum and other Cantonese favourites are served in style. Diners have a panoramic view of the Keelung River.

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  5. Lavender Garden

    At the bottom of a long, steep stairway that (eventually) leads up into Yangming Mountain lies this excellent restaurant set inside a two-storey home that's surrounded by an aquatic garden. Amazing health-oriented Chinese dishes such as 'health tonic hotpot with ten Chinese herbs' will give you strength for the climb ahead. Then again, as Lavender Garden's deserts are delicious as well, you might want to save the meal as a reward for the climb down.

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  7. Yang's Bakery

    This 40-plus-year-old, northern-Chinese style place is unpretentious to the max and has no English menu, but that doesn't matter. Order yourself some dàguōtiē (long-rolled dumplings, steamed then fried) or yángjiāshuǐjiǎo (pork dumplings) and you'll see what we mean. Yang's is also a good place to get yourself a bowl of niúroù miàn (beef noodle soup), one of Taiwan's most famous dishes.

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