Eating Out in Taipei Photo Gallery - Middle Class Edition

Fatty pork on rice is a local specialty, and the more dingy and old the establishment looks, the better it seems to be, having survived the test of time and competition from prettier, better air-conditioned restaurants.

Taipei has a great assortment of Japanese cuisine for all price ranges. Decent quality comes cheap and well below international prices. This eel rice could be eaten in 4 ways - regular, with seaweed, with egg, and in soup.

Kura is a chain of conveyer belt sushi restaurants that offer a good selection at affordable prices. You get to play games and win prizes for returning used plates into the seat's built-in dirty dish slot.

As a vegetarian alternative, DeliSoys is hidden in a back street offering delicious dumplings and various vegetable dishes with an appetizer buffet.

After a satisfying meal, try a jelly dessert and pick your toppings to go with it. Traditional choices include lemon, red bean, and an assortment of chewy balls/bubbles.

Remember to bring some of Taiwan's great food home. Pineapple cakes are a popular souvenir item. Booming during the Japanese colonial period, the pineapple industry collapsed during World War II. Recovery was short-lived as the economy industrialized and cheaper locations were sought to grow pineapples.

Oolong tea is also a famous export. There is no shortage of bubble tea shops around the city but getting the raw material is slightly more difficult.