New Taipei's food lives outside the tourist circuit: 60-year-old soy milk shops in Yonghe, the deep-fried tofu pouches of Tamsui, Sanchong's Vietnamese-Taiwanese street corners and Wanli crab hauled in that morning. Three days, four night markets, one gas-fired wok after another.
The Yonghe district gave Taiwan its breakfast archetype. The original Zhongzheng Road cluster runs 24 hours: hot sweet doujiang NT$35, salty doujiang curdled with vinegar and dried shrimp NT$50, shaobing youtiao NT$45. Order the egg-filled shaobing.
Banqiao's traditional wet market wraps around Fuzhou-style dry noodle stalls. A bowl of ganmian with sesame-peanut paste is NT$40, pork wonton soup NT$50. Stalls open 06:00 and start closing by 14:00 once the morning shoppers thin out.
Sanhe Night Market's daytime section along Zhengyi North Road sells what Taipei visitors never see: hujiao bing pepper buns baked in clay drums NT$55, ba-wan meatballs NT$45, and sugarcane juice pressed to order NT$40. Cash only, no seating.
Behind Lover's Bridge, a row of tanks-out-front seafood houses sells whatever the Danshui boats landed: steamed flower crab by weight (about NT$600/jin), three-cup squid NT$280, clams in basil NT$180. Kitchens run to 21:00.
Pinglin district grows most of Taiwan's Wenshan Baozhong, the lightly oxidised floral oolong. The museum (09:00-17:00, free entry) sits beside the Beishi River; surrounding farmhouses run gongfu tastings for around NT$300 including three infusions.
Shenkeng built its reputation on tofu made with mountain spring water and black beans. The whole 300m stone street is stinky tofu grills, tofu ice cream and mapo-style clay pots. Deep-fried stinky tofu NT$60, tofu hot pot NT$220.
Wulai's Atayal indigenous kitchens serve mountain boar sausage with raw garlic NT$150, bamboo-tube rice steamed in green culm NT$60, and river shrimp fried with mountain pepper (maqaw). Most kitchens close by 18:00 as day-trippers leave.
Wanli is Taiwan's crab capital — the autumn 'wanli xie' season lands three-spot and red-spot crab at the fishing port. Roadside restaurants steam them plain with ginger, around NT$800-1,200 for a table-sized crab plus fried rice.
A working neighbourhood market where Xindian's mountain taro and bamboo shoots arrive by truck at dawn. Stalls sell taro balls boiled to order NT$50, rice-flour guo dumplings NT$40 and cold-pressed peanut oil sold from steel drums.
The lanes around Luzhou's Yonglian Temple form one of New Taipei's densest snack districts: qiezhi rou geng thickened pork soup NT$50, danzai noodles NT$45, and yousan tofu stuffed with pickled radish. Busy from 11:00, quiet by 15:00.
Taiwan's craft scene clusters in Xinzhuang's industrial units. Taproom pours run NT$180-250 for a half-pint; local styles use longan honey, roasted oolong and Taiwanese sweet potato. Most taprooms open Thursday to Sunday from 14:00.
The most local of the big New Taipei night markets — no tour groups, all residents. Signature stalls: Lehua sweet potato balls NT$50, cuttlefish geng NT$60, and a 40-year-old fried chicken cutlet stand that runs a permanent 20-person queue.