The Taiwanese Breakfast Shop

Breakfast in Taiwan is eaten out, cheaply and early, in shops that open around five and are closing by eleven. The traditional version centres on doujiang, soy milk served hot or cold, sweet or salted with vinegar so that it curdles into a loose custard, eaten with youtiao, a long fried dough stick, or with shaobing, a sesame flatbread baked against the wall of a drum oven and split open to take an egg. Alongside it there is danbing, a thin crepe rolled around egg and fillings and cut with scissors, fantuan, a fat roll of sticky rice packed around pickles and pork floss, and turnip cake fried on a griddle.

What you actually see

• Salty soy milk - warm soy milk curdled with vinegar, with dough and pickles in it.
• Shaobing youtiao - a sesame flatbread split around a fried dough stick.
• Danbing - a thin egg crepe rolled, cut with scissors and eaten with soy paste.
• Fantuan - sticky rice wrapped around pickles, pork floss and often a dough stick.

When to go

Early. The traditional shops do most of their trade between six and nine, and the best things sell out before the last hour, so arriving at ten means picking over what is left. Western-style chains keep longer hours and are everywhere, but they are not the same thing at all. Weekend mornings are busier and slower.

Honest expectations

Ordering is the difficulty: menus are often handwritten in Chinese only, you tick a paper slip, and staff work at speed with little patience for hesitation. Portions are large and heavily fried, which does not suit everyone at seven in the morning. Salty soy milk divides people sharply. Seating is plastic stools and shared tables, and turnover is fast.

Nearby

Every residential street has one; the Yonghe district of New Taipei gave its name to the soy milk shops.