Taipei breakfast stop with BB — 萝卜糕 + 煎蛋 (radish cake + fried egg) at NT$65. The Taiwanese breakfast format that you eat at the streetside breakfast stalls before the day starts.

We ordered:

萝卜糕 + 煎蛋 — NT$65

Taiwanese radish cake (萝卜糕) is the close cousin of the Singapore version but eaten as a breakfast item. Pan-fried slices of steamed radish-and-rice-flour cake, with the surface gone golden-brown crispy while the inside stays soft and slippery. Topped with a fried egg with the proper crispy white edges and a still-glossy yolk.

The Taipei breakfast stall format is the assembly line. Iron griddle running at all times, cakes sliced fresh from the steamed block, cooked in stages so the breakfast rush gets fed within minutes. The egg goes on the griddle right next to the cake, both finishing at the same time.

Sweet-soy sauce drizzled over the top of the cake. Chilli oil or sweet chilli sauce on the side. The eating ritual is to break the yolk with the chopsticks, let it run over the cake, then eat one bite at a time alternating between the egg-soaked and the dry-crispy sections.

The cake had the proper texture — crispy edges from the pan-fry, soft chewy interior with the visible radish shreds (the giveaway of real radish cake rather than the wheat-flour shortcut). The chew on each piece was light, not gummy.

NT$65 (~SGD $3) for the breakfast is honest Taipei street pricing. The Singapore equivalent dish at hawker would run $3.50-4.

Taipei street breakfast culture is one of the small joys of the city. Stalls open at 6am, breakfast eaters cycle through with their coffee and dou jiang (soya bean milk), the whole atmosphere is the proper way to start a holiday morning.

Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid Taipei breakfast — would re-order daily.

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