Taipei's Best Night Market Has a Hidden Dining Room That Serves a Tasting Menu From '1,000 Years of Street Food'

"Smack in the middle of the market, up a narrow staircase above the stalls, sits a dining room called the Thousand-Year Banquet. Here, the choreography is reversed: instead of weaving through crowds with plates balanced in hand, I sat in an air-conditioned room while the market's best dishes came to me. The reservation-only project was launched by the Ningxia Night Market Development Association in 2010 as a way to spotlight its veteran vendors."

"The name comes from arithmetic: add up the years these families have been in business, and you arrive at close to a millennium of street food cooking knowledge and know-how. Each course is dispatched from a different stall downstairs. Highlights include a fried chicken cutlet the size of a paperback novel, an oyster omelet molten at its center, deep-fried spring rolls wrapped in caul fat-carried up and plated with surprising formality. It's a tasting menu without a chef, stitched together from the market's greatest hits."

"Taiwanese night markets have a long history. They began as evening bazaars next to temples, where hawkers sold cloth, tools, and secondhand goods. Food was incidental at first, but by the mid-20th century, eating had become the main attraction. In the last two decades, though, the atmosphere has shifted. Rising rents, gentrification, and the pressure of tourism have hollowed many of them out. Chain operators dominate stalls once run by families, and many dishes are perfected for efficiency rather than charm or character."

Night markets originated as evening bazaars beside temples where hawkers sold cloth, tools, and secondhand goods, with food becoming the main attraction by the mid-20th century. Ningxia Night Market operates a reservation-only upstairs dining room called the Thousand-Year Banquet that showcases veteran vendors by sending each course from different stalls. The meal highlights include a paperback-sized fried chicken cutlet, an oyster omelet molten at its center, and deep-fried spring rolls wrapped in caul fat, plated with formal presentation. The project began in 2010 to spotlight longstanding families whose combined years approach a millennium. Rising rents, gentrification, tourism pressure, and chain operators have hollowed many markets, prioritizing efficiency over charm.

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