Top 10 Night Market Food Showdown: Oyster Omelet Takes the #1 Spot

▲ Champion of the “Top 10 Night Market Snacks PK”: oyster omelet. (Photo / Courtesy of the Tourism Bureau website)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

What’s your favorite night market food? The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications held an online “Top 10 Night Market Foods PK,” and the results are in. Oyster omelet has claimed the championship, with fried chicken cutlet and stinky tofu taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Recently popular in emerging night markets, scallop skewers and crispy fried squid also followed closely, securing 4th and 5th places. Among them, scallop skewers even topped the list as the most recommended item in the “Innovative Snacks” category among 20 nominated items.

Following the “Top 10 Night Markets Poll,” the Tourism Bureau once again held a PK competition for the top 10 night market foods, inviting the public to vote online for their favorite and most representative Taiwanese night market snacks. After a month-long contest, oyster omelet claimed the top spot, having previously ranked #1 on the 2007 CommonWealth Magazine poll of “Taiwan’s Top 10 Snacks.” Fried chicken cutlet, known as the people’s snack, came in second place with just a 176-vote difference, while stinky tofu in third place was only one vote behind the chicken cutlet—making the competition extremely intense.

▲ 2nd and 3rd places in the “Top 10 Night Market Snacks PK” went to fried chicken cutlet (left) and stinky tofu (right) respectively. (Photo / Courtesy of the Tourism Bureau website)

This night market snack poll was divided into classic dishes and innovative snacks. The top three winners were all classic night market foods, while the 4th to 6th spots were taken by innovative snacks. Scallops skewers, which won the highest number of votes in the innovative category, managed to clinch the top spot just one day before the voting deadline, knocking crispy fried squid, which had led for nearly a month, out of first place.

%即?承〕陨?灏?ㄗ螅?⒅硌?猓ㄓ遥┮踩胛?毖∏氨0名。(Photo / Courtesy of the Tourism Bureau website)

Gua bao, a popular snack stall item in Taipei recently highlighted by international food blog Bunkycooks, only received 883 votes in this poll. Among the 50 competing foods, it ranked 44th, only ahead of onion pancake, salted chicken, coffin bread, big wrap with small wrap, dumpling crepes, and tempura.

“Top 10 Night Market Foods PK Favorite” Voting Rankings:
1 Oyster Omelet
2 Fried Chicken Cutlet
3 Stinky Tofu
4 Scallop Skewers
5 Crispy Fried Squid
6 Moonlight Shrimp Patties
7 Salt and Pepper Chicken
8 Pan-Fried Pork Buns
9 Pig’s Blood Cake
10 King of Bananas
Source: Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications