A Taiwanese breakfast is warm soy milk, an egg crepe (danbing), a sticky rice roll (fan tuan) or a sesame flatbread wrapped around a fried dough stick. It is cheap, fast and eaten early, and it is one of the best things about a morning in Taipei. The famous shop is Fuhang Soy Milk at Huashan Market; for a shorter queue, try Soft Power, a Bib Gourmand pick near Xingtian Temple.
What to order
- Soy milk (豆漿, doujiang): hot or cold, sweet or unsweetened. Soy milk breakfasts came to Taiwan with the families who arrived from northern China after the war.
- Salty soy milk (鹹豆漿, xian doujiang): hot soy milk with vinegar and soy sauce, which makes it curdle into a soft, savory soup, usually with scallions, dried shrimp and pieces of fried dough. Order it once even if it sounds strange.
- Egg crepe (蛋餅, danbing): a thin pancake rolled around egg, with fillings like ham, cheese, corn or tuna. In the south of Taiwan it is often a thicker, crispier fritter.
- Rice roll (飯糰, fan tuan): sticky rice wrapped around a fried dough stick, pork floss and pickled vegetables, squeezed into a tight roll to eat on the go.
- Sesame flatbread and fried dough stick (燒餅油條, shaobing youtiao): flaky, sesame-crusted bread with a crisp fried dough stick inside. Dip the dough stick in soy milk.
You will also see Western-style breakfast shops (早餐店) on almost every block, selling sandwiches, burgers, egg crepes and milk tea. Mei Er Mei (美而美) is one of the best-known chains. They open early and most close around midday.
Where to go
Fuhang Soy Milk
- Known for Soy milk and thick, chewy danbing with egg
- Address 2F, Huashan Market, 108, Section 1, Zhongxiao East Road, Zhongzheng District
- MRT Shandao Temple Station (Blue Line, BL13)
- Hours Mornings; check hours on Google Maps
Fuhang Soy Milk (阜杭豆漿) is Taipei's most famous breakfast, upstairs in Huashan Market, and the queue often stretches down the stairs and along the arcade outside. Michelin calls the waits hour-long. The thick flatbread with egg (厚餅夾蛋) is made in the shop, and the soy milk comes sweet, plain or salty. It was a Bib Gourmand pick in earlier editions of the guide and is not on the 2026 list, but the line has not got any shorter. Go early, and on a weekday if you can.
Soft Power
- Known for Southern-style egg fritters with more than 10 fillings
- Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026
- Address 21, Alley 30, Lane 135, Section 2, Minquan East Road, Zhongshan District
- MRT Xingtian Temple Station (Orange Line, O09)
- Hours Check hours on Google Maps
Soft Power (軟食力) opened in 2017 and has since moved to a quiet alley near Xingtian Temple. Its egg fritters are the crisp southern Taiwan style, made to order, and some fillings also come in a rice ball or a steamed brown sugar bun. The soy milk comes in versions like brown sugar, black tea, and mian cha, a nutty mix of toasted flour and sesame. Michelin notes it is cash only.
Mai Mien Yen Tsai
- Known for Breakfast noodles in pork bone broth, crispy-skin pork
- Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026
- Address 106 Anxi Street, Datong District (Dadaocheng)
- MRT Daqiaotou Station (Orange Line, O12)
- Hours Check hours on Google Maps
For something other than soy milk, Mai Mien Yen Tsai (賣麵炎仔) is a family noodle shop in Dadaocheng run by the third generation, serving a traditional Taiwanese breakfast of egg or rice noodles in a pork, offal and chicken broth, or tossed in a sweet sauce. Add a plate of pork offal or boiled chicken. The crispy-skin braised pork arrives later in the morning. Afterwards, walk it off along Dihua Street.
Good to know: Taiwanese breakfast runs early. Many traditional shops start before 6am and are closed by early afternoon, and the best items can sell out. Bring cash and coins.
One name you will see all over Taiwan: Yonghe Soy Milk (永和豆漿). The name comes from Yonghe, just across the river in New Taipei City, where this kind of soy milk shop first set up before spreading across Taiwan.
→ More dishes to eat in Taipei → Tea and coffee
Heading south? In Tainan, breakfast can be a bowl of beef soup at dawn. → Why Tainan eats beef soup for breakfast
Sources
Breakfast history and shops: MICHELIN Guide, Breakfast in Taiwan: A Fresh Morning Feast of Flavours (February 2025) and the restaurant pages for Soft Power and Mai Mien Yen Tsai. 2026 Bib Gourmand list: NOWnews and Focus Taiwan. Fuhang's earlier Bib Gourmand: its listing in the MICHELIN Guide Taipei & Taichung 2022.
Checked October 2026.