東門市場

Dongmen Market is a pretty cool "day" market, as opposed to the popular night markets in Taiwan. These day markets sell things like breakfast foods and groceries. They aren't as large as night markets, but walking through and trying small eats here was fun.

Dongmen Market is an excellent traditional wet market. I lived right by it for a couple of years and was consistently impressed with the variety and quality of the fresh produce available.

It is a bustling affair although not so crowded as to make you feel uncomfortable. You can buy your veggies straight from the farmers in some cases, these guys are generally set up on makeshift stalls.

There are rotating stalls that come around very couple weeks selling various delicious mushrooms, if you catch one of these they are normally giving out samples of dishes they have cooked using them. Quite a few vendors sell stuff they have precooked and they usually offer samples too. So you can try before you buy.

There's lots of fruit towards the east end of the market and the veggies tend to be in the middle and down to the west.

There's a covered part of the market too, but I rarely venture over there as it's much nicer to be on the open air side (east of Jinshan Road).

Although the map will show you it is on Xinyi Road, it actually runs in the lane parallel to Xinyi, to the north. To enter the market it's best to come out of the MRT at exit 2 - which is marked with Dongmen Market, and you can go in directly on the right.

My family has lived by the market for over ten years, and we shop there at least a couple times each week.

There's the original market that is housed within a building structure. The vendors occupy permanent stalls, and you can also find a number of nail parlors, skilled seamstresses, and stands selling prepared foods in addition to the meat, fish, veggies and dried goods vendors typical to wet markets. But the original market has lost much of its crowd to the open-air market across the street where new and colorful merchandise is always rolling through. Territory is not as clearly marked out in the open-air market, any bit of ground space clear of foot traffic can be claimed to set up shop. Don't be surprised if you can't find the same sesame candy cart on your next visit.

Prices are not always better out in the wet market though. I'm local, and I've still gotten ripped off a number of times. There are still better deals and greater variety in the supermarket just across the street-- at least for produce. The wet market still makes a fun stroll.

Quite a few different areas, spanning over 2 blocks - make sure you visit both sides as the stalls are a bit different. Good quality foods, mostly raw produce (both locally from Taiwan, and also imported.) There are a few stores that sell ready to eat foods too - some of them are pretty popular and get crowded around lunch time. Though to be groceries, I'd recommend going before 9am (or 10am at the latest) to get the best pick of the bunch. There are also clothes stalls scattered throughout the market which may change depending on what day of the week you go. Lots of the stalls do delivery if you buy enough - so if you are worried about buying too much and not being able to carry it around, just ask - they usually deliver early afternoon once the market closes.