The Shilin Night Market is truly a feast for the senses. There are countless stalls which serve an equally countless types of food. I noticed that seafood seems to be quite common. The squid in particular intrigued me. There is also a palpable Japanese influence in the food which is served here. I guess it is not that surprising given the proximity and popularity of Japanese food here. I eventually had to given in to temptation and I went to the takoyaki, which is Japanese squid balls. These squid balls were very different from the squid balls which I have had before. For one thing, there is actual squid in them. I have watched takoyaki stands before elsewhere but I have never seen them put actual squid in them, sufficed to say that this was the best one I had so far.
What I didn’t know was that there is an underground component to the Shilin Night Market. There is a vast food court with a multitude of food stalls. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about this and I just basically stayed above ground. I had several snacks here and basically had my dinner here just walking up and down the street. There were rubbish bins placed at strategic points of the night market and they would be cleared every now and then. That explains why the night market is surprisingly clean considering it is a food street. The street also gets a scrub down everyday to make sure it is clean.
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