Taichung Second Market

The Second Market was built in 1917 as a planned public market, laid out on a six-sided plan with a hexagonal pavilion at the crossing and aisles radiating out from it, which is why the interior is confusing in a way that ordinary market halls are not. It has never stopped working. Vegetable, meat and dry goods stalls occupy the outer aisles, and the cooked food clusters near the centre: braised pork rice, thick noodle soup, deep-fried meat over rice, and the flaky pastries that Taichung is known for. Several of the stalls have been run by the same families for three generations. This is a place where people eat standing up on the way somewhere else.

What you actually see

• The hexagonal pavilion - the 1917 centre of the market where the aisles meet.
• Braised pork rice - fatty pork simmered in soy and poured over rice, the staple order.
• The pastry counters - Taichung's flaky sun cakes and similar baked goods.
• The wet market aisles - meat, vegetables and dry goods on the outer ring.

When to go

Mornings, when the wet market is trading and the food stalls are at their best; many close in the early afternoon and the hall is quiet by evening. Markets like this usually take a day off during the week and shut for several days around lunar new year. Go hungry and order small so you can eat at more than one counter.

Honest expectations

It is a working market, so the floors are wet, the aisles are tight and the meat and fish sections smell like meat and fish. Almost nothing is labelled in English and the stallholders are busy. Seating is a few plastic stools jammed against the counters. The building has been patched rather than restored, and the historic structure is easy to walk straight past.

Nearby

The Miyahara building and Taichung Park are both a short walk away.