Taiwan’s convenience stores and supermarkets are so fun to explore too!

Text and photos by /Miss kitb

Are there people like me who enjoy browsing supermarkets and convenience stores while traveling? There's nothing more satisfying than bringing home a bunch of drinks, snacks, and desserts. Taiwan’s supermarkets and convenience stores are also great to explore—I often end up buying all sorts of random stuff. This time, I specially gathered a bunch of adorable Taiwan-made goods, in the spirit of buying local specialties. Don't they just make you want to buy them all?!

1/ Kanahei's small animals

First up, I have to introduce the George Clooney of the cartoon character world—those universally adored bunny and P助 characters. They're not just popular these days, they're practically famous enough to hold concerts at Taipei Arena. You see them everywhere. In addition to the few products shown above, I also spotted hand creams, lip balms (← available at convenience stores), body wash, and disinfectant sprays (← available at supermarkets). Konshi Mai is also offering them as exchange items—you just can’t miss seeing them.

Recently, juice drinks have been quite trendy. I picked two in pink—one contains grape juice, and it tastes pretty authentic, not overly artificial. It's said to be exclusive to RT-Mart, but I found it at Tomod's. Bunny-themed candies are also available at convenience stores and Poya, but the cutest surprise is how adorable the individual packaging is, moms and dads will love it. Even stationery stores haven’t escaped the bunny and P助 invasion—I bought some wall stickers this time, featuring a bunny lying on an electrical switch, super cute and healing. Also, I highly recommend the bunny masks, available at drugstores or Guangnan Wholesale, among others. The black version is a Poya exclusive. When traveling during flu season or in crowded places, wearing a mask is a smart move, and it even looks pretty cool on the plane.

Kanahera Blueberry Juice (NT$32 / Tomod's)
Kanahera Animal Masks (NT$59 / Poya)
Kanahera Colorful Sticker Set - Lying Down (NT$48 / Mihua Tai)
Kanahera Grape Yogurt Gummies (NT$39 / FamilyMart)

2/ Shi’an Ranch Hot Spring Eggs

Eating eggs whenever is always a good idea. These hot spring eggs are actually a little-known treasure that many Hong Kong people bring home. They’re delicious and convenient—just crack one open and eat it directly, or boil them in noodles. Perfect for busy folks or those who don’t like cooking, and they’re also great as a snack. Aside from Shi’an Ranch, other brands also sell hot spring eggs, but I think these are the best. They taste even better than the ones I used to get at Japanese supermarkets (and I used to accidentally buy fully cooked eggs instead of the runny kind, which was so sad, sniff sniff).

Shi’an Ranch Hot Spring Eggs (NT$46)

3/ Proudly Made-in-Taiwan Snacks

This time, I specifically picked out some shaped cookies and classic chocolates to try, and well... they weren’t all that tasty, hahahaha. Is this what Taiwanese kids grew up eating? The 77 Dairy Crackers turned out to be something like hard nougat with almonds inside, which is fine I guess, but the matcha flavor was honestly a bit gross. I thought the Open 小将 Milk Biscuits were pretty decent, but neither the chocolate nor the milk candy really won me over. By the way, the milk biscuits also come in a Gamzaro (Egg Brother) design, in both milk and chocolate flavors—but I picked the Taiwan-themed one for the photo. As for the shaped snacks, I actually thought the Doraemon mini cakes were pretty good.

Liang OPEN Milk Flavor Biscuit (NT$45 / 7-11)
Mickey Mouse Cookies (NT$18 / FamilyMart)
77 Dairy Crackers (NT$12)
77 Matcha Almond Dairy Crackers (NT$20)
Zilu Cream Chocolate / Zilu Strawberry Chocolate (NT$12)
Hi-Life Original Lollipop Boost Series (NT$49 / Hi-Life)

4/ Fools’ Cat

I have no idea who this cat is, but I’ve been seeing it on lots of snack packages lately. I previously saw it on seaweed snacks, and this time I found popcorn at a convenience store. It’s seriously the kind of character you’d want to take home (not really), though the popcorn itself is just average.

Crispy Popcorn (NT$49)

5/ Gamzaro (Egg Brother)

The god of laziness, Gamzaro, is another idol and super popular character that’s everywhere. Did I tell you I bought my mouse at FamilyMart? Why would anyone buy electronics at a convenience store? XD Lately, I've noticed convenience stores selling more and more Gamzaro (and Rilakkuma) branded electronics—headphones, chargers, plugs, you name it. It's a good option if you need to replace something that broke. Also, that egg-shaped jar of chocolate—not only is the shape bizarre, but it's actually filled with little chocolate beans that you can use as eyes for fun food decoration. Haha.

6/ Train-Shaped Water Bottles

I think this design is brilliant—buying a train-shaped water bottle to drink on the train is kinda fun. Lately, I've noticed more and more designs in this series, and collecting the whole set is pretty adorable.

Taiwan Railways Train-Shaped Water Bottle – Puyuma Express (NT$39 / Taipei Main Station)

miss kitB
A core member of the “Unprofessional Association,” or call me a “multi-functional cross-media freelance creator.” I worship boredom as the mother of creativity, and happiness as life’s greatest asset. Eat breakfast every day, and travel the Earth daily.
Blog:http://misskitb.blogspot.tw/