烤山猪肉 (NT$100) — Taipei grilled wild boar!
Taipei night market 烤山猪肉 (grilled wild boar) at NT$100. Smoky charcoal-grilled wild boar meat with five-spice salt — the Alishan / aboriginal Taiwanese specialty.
Taipei night market eat with BB — 烤山猪肉 (grilled wild boar meat) at NT$100. The Alishan / aboriginal Taiwanese specialty that’s spread to the Taipei night markets.
We ordered:
- 烤山猪肉 (grilled wild boar) — NT$100
Wild boar (山猪) is the Taiwanese aboriginal meat that’s been farmed for the night-market scene at scale. Different from domestic pork — leaner, slightly gamey, with a more concentrated meat flavour that comes from the slower-growing, more active animal. The Alishan region is the traditional source, but stalls across Taipei night markets serve the dish via supply chains from various wild-boar-farming regions.
The cut was usually pork belly or pork shoulder from the wild boar — sliced into bite-sized pieces and grilled over charcoal until the surface developed proper char marks while the interior stayed juicy. The five-spice salt and pepper marinade soaked in for a few hours before the grill, giving the meat the deep flavour underneath the charcoal char.
The char-and-spice combination is the headline. Charcoal grilling provides the smoky-burnt edge that the meat needs for the proper night-market char-grill flavour. Five-spice salt provides the Taiwanese aromatic profile that distinguishes the dish from a basic barbecue.
This stall served the meat on a skewer with a small portion of pickled vegetables on the side. The skewer makes it easy to eat as walking-around night-market food, with the pickled vegetables providing the cooling-crunchy palate cleanser between meat bites.
The wild boar flavour is the differentiator from regular pork. Slightly gamey, more concentrated, with the leaner texture that doesn’t fall apart the way regular pork belly does. The proper wild boar has the distinct flavour that you can identify even with the five-spice and charcoal masking.
NT$100 (~SGD $4.50) for the portion is fair night-market pricing — slightly elevated over the standard pork skewers because of the wild boar premium.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid grilled wild boar — would re-order at the night markets.
