Where to buy the next best thing to homemade zongzi in Taipei
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/30
By: Hungryintaipei, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer
Every year when Dragon Boat Festival rolls around, I have zongzi, or Chinese rice
Zongzi from vendor at Yongchun Market (photo by @hungryintaipei)
tamales as some people dub it, on the brain. Ask most people where their favorite zongzi is and the answer will be “homemade” or “my mom’s” which makes sense, but doesn’t help those who don’t have any skilled relatives to rely on during Dragon Boat Festival.
Luckily, for those of us living in Taipei, we have the next best thing to homemade, which is zongzi made by clans of nimble fingered aunties as fast as they can. I usually also eat homemade zongzi, but this year I did my own zongzi food crawl to find a few options that ended up surprising me. Here are a few places you can hunt down zongzi today, but don’t forget to pick up some sweet chili sauce to complete the experience.
Nanment Market (南門市場)
Nanmen Market is a mecca for zongzi lovers, with 5-6 different shops specializing in zongzi at this traditional market. NanYuan, a 56-year-old shop inside the market, is so popular that they set up an additional pop up area in the courtyard where people wind up and down the stairs waiting to buy zongzi from the grandma who started the business.
While waiting in line, customers can watch them wrap and steam the huge batches of zongzi. Customers who don’t have time to wait can buy from the competitor next door, or from the busy shops inside.
