Sun Moon Lake Street Food: 8 Must-Try Dishes at Ita Thao Market

Sun Moon Lake, renowned for its breathtaking mountains, serene temples, and crystal-clear waters, is often celebrated as one of Taiwan’s most picturesque destinations.

However, what often flies under the radar is its street food scene, brimming with unique foods that you can’t find anywhere else.

During our visit to Sun Moon Lake, we made our base in Ita Thao, the heart of the area’s street food culture. For three days we explored this lesser-known side of Sun Moon Lake, eating our way up and down its streets.

If you are based in Taichung you can check out the top-rated Sun Moon Lake Day Trip, which includes a lake cruise to Ita Thao so you can try all this delicious street food yourself.

Sun Moon Lake Street Food (Ita Thao) Details

• Hours: 8 AM – 6 PM (some stalls may open later or close earlier)
• Location: Ita Thao Shopping District – Google Maps

2 Tips for Sun Moon Lake Street Food

1. Bring Cash
   • Cash is king at every single stall in the district. Ensure you have enough cash on hand to pay for your food.
   • If you need cash, there is a 7-eleven in Ita Thao that has an ATM.
2. The best time to visit Ita Thao for street food is during the afternoon
   • Unlike other street food markets, the one at Ita Thao in Sun Moon Lake is mainly a day market, and it closes in the evening.

8 Foods to Eat at Sun Moon Lake’s Ita Thao Market

For three days we immersed ourselves in Sun Moon Lake’s Ita Thao Market to find the best food stalls and dive into a wide range of Taiwanese street foods.

We stopped at 8 distinct stalls, each offering its own unique twist on local flavors. From savory snacks to sweet treats, Sun Moon Lake has a huge variety of food to offer!

Below, we’ve put together a detailed rundown of each stall we visited. You’ll find not only our reviews but also Google Maps links to each spot. We’ve included the prices we paid for each dish, so you can plan your food adventure to Sun Moon Lake.

Fried Cabbage Buns

• 📍 Nian Ji Cabbage Bun – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $50

Chinese Egg Burger

• 📍 Mrs. Hong Chinese Egg Burger – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $85

Oh mahh gawww – this was one of our absolute favorites at Ita Thao Market.

When we first arrived, we were a bit confused about how to order these Chinese Egg Burgers, as there was a huge crowd of people standing around. But it didn’t seem like anyone was waiting in line, instead, they were just the owner and her husband fry up these delicious eggy pork burgers. But we quickly learned that everyone already ordered so we just went to the front and told the owner what kind of burgers we wanted.

While we waited, our mouths were salivating just watching the owner fry up the pork burgers in her cooking cast. It’s so cool to watch—she cooks all the burgers in a large metal pan with holes in it that are perfectly sized for each burger. Makes me wonder if she had the pan custom-made.

Watching the burgers cook is a show in itself. She adds the dough for the bread waits for it to puff up, adds the pork, then the egg, then the top bread. It’s truly a mouthwatering sight.

The taste is rich, heavy, and delicious! The outside is crisp, the pork is flavorful and the egg is the perfect touch. It’s like an entire feast packed in a burger.

Trey and I devoured one each and immediately needed a nap – talk about a happy food comatose! Worth every single bite!

President Fish Roll

• 📍 President Fish Roll – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $60

The presidential fish roll doesn’t look like much at first glance, but it’s actually quite a complicated thing to make!

It starts with a simple fishcake, then they wrap it up in a cozy bean curd blanket and toss it into the fryer. While frying, the cook pokes dozens of holes into the roll to get it to cook perfectly all throughout.

And when the roll is done frying, they don’t just add one sauce! They go all out with three: garlic sauce, sweet sauce, and a bit of chili sauce for that extra zing. It’s an amazing combo!

And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, they top it off with some chopped coriander. It’s a nice little touch that really brings out the flavors.

Biting into the roll, the first thing I noticed is how crispy it is on the outside. It’s kind of surprising, actually, because it looks like it might be soggy, but it’s actually not.

I wasn’t too sure about it at first, but after that first bite, I was sold. The chili sauce adds just the right amount of kick – it’s not overpowering at all.

But the fishcake inside the roll is where the magic is. Trey described it as a ‘fluffy sausage,’ which is pretty spot on.

All in all, the Presidential Fish Roll was one of the biggest surprises for us at Sun Moon Lake. It’s like a fishcake, but way better.

Wild Boar Sausage

• 📍 Wild boar sausage – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $35 (sausage only), NT $60 (sausage with rice)

Boar sausage is a big deal in Taiwan’s mountains, and at Ita Thao, you’ll find plenty of spots serving it up. We hit up this one stall where they serve it alongside rice with a hint of sweet sauce and some veggie garnish.

The sausage was pretty good, though it’s got a bit of a rubbery texture. The real surprise was the rice – it’s wrapped in pork intestines, kind of like a sausage. It’s like a rice sausage.

Trey tried one and he thought that the parts didn’t quite come together as a whole. It was more like tasting the sausage, rice, and garnishes each doing their own thing, rather coming together as a whole dish. He said that he would probably just stick to the sausage by itself.

However, we also heard about a ‘sausage in a sausage,’ where they stuff a boar sausage inside a rice sausage. But we couldn’t spot any stalls serving it at Sun Moon Lake. Maybe next time!

Millet Donut

• 📍 Binghong millet donuts – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $40

If you need a break from all the savory foods at Sun Moon Lake, then you’ve gotta try the millet donut! This little snack is a fantastic twist on a regular donut. They make it with millet flour, so it’s like a lighter, healthier version of a donut. Plus, they come in a few different flavors!

We were totally into the millet donut. It’s got this amazing crispy outer layer with a chewy inside, kind of like a mochi donut. Seriously, if we could, we’d have these every single day!

Green Onion Scallion Pancake

• 📍 Catch wild boar with green onions – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $40

This unsuspecting stand is not flashy at all, no bright lights, nothing bright to make it stand out from the other stands but wow – is it delicious! It’s one of those dishes that you could eat every day and never get sick of.

The pancake is simple – just green onions and a dab of sweet sauce, all wrapped up in a pancake. The flavors are perfectly balanced, not too strong, making it the ideal companion to anything else you eat at the market.

If you’re a fan of green onions, this is an awesome dish. They also have a pork version, but we stuck to the green onion version since there’s a ton of meaty foods at the other stalls.

The uncle who runs this stand is very sweet and takes his diligent time cooking up the green onion scallion pancake.

Dou Gan Tofu

• 📍 Dou Gan Tofu – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $100

We almost passed on this tofu because it looked pretty ordinary. But on our last day at Sun Moon Lake, just as we were about to head out, we decided to give it a shot, and we’re glad we did!

This tofu is like a flavor sponge – it soaks up the sauce right to the center of the cubes. I’ve had tofu before where the sauce just kind of sits on top, but every single bite of this tofu was packed with flavor.

And the flavor itself – it was super savory with a nice hint of herbs. Just the right balance. We got the original flavor, but we kind of wish that we’d gotten the spicy version instead since it would complement the savory flavor of the tofu perfectly.

Black Tea Soft Serve

• 📍 Black Tea Ice Cream – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $60

I’m not big on ice cream but I found myself going back to this soft serve stand every single night at Sun Moon Lake! The first time we dropped by, we played it safe with a half chocolate/half black tea combo. But that black tea flavor was so good that we ate it every night!

Something to know about black tea, is it is a staple in Sun Moon Lake. Stores will take black ruby tea and incorporate it into just about anything.

And the soft serve itself is like a cloud – so light and airy, not heavy at all. The black tea taste is subtle, kind of like a fragrant vanilla. It is sweet and ever so slightly bitter.

Ruby 18 Milk Tea

• 📍 朝霧茶莊 Tea18 – Google Maps
• 💸 Price: NT $80

If there is one thing to know about Taiwan, is that they are famous for their milk teas. When we found out the Ruby 18 tea is grown locally around Sun Moon Lake we knew we had to try it.

When we walked up to Tea 18, we saw a line formed outside the door so we figured it must be good!

There are many ways to order the Ruby 18 tea: hot or cold, with milk or without. We decided to order the Ruby 18 milk tea with regular sugar, less ice, and brown sugar tapioca balls.

The taste of the tea was smooth and light in flavor. It also wasn’t super sweet which I enjoyed because it allows you to appreciate the flavor of the tea.

Our Sun Moon Lake Street Food YouTube Video

Are You Following Our Taiwan Blog Series?

We spent 16 days in Taiwan and found so many things to do there—from epic hiking, outdoor adventures, and night markets. To help fellow adventurers, we’ve put together guides to the best places we found. You can check them out by clicking the links below.

• Our favorite night market in Taiwan: Raohe Night Market
• We documented all our Things to do at Sun Moon Lake
• Ita Thao Night Market has some of the most unique food we’ve tried
• Cycling around Sun Moon Lake is one of the most scenic bike rides we’ve ever taken
• Guide to our most epic outdoor adventures in Taiwan: 8 Best Things to Do in Taroko Gorge
• Our most insane hike in Taiwan: Zhuilu Old Road: The Complete Trail Guide

Heading to Sun Moon Lake? Pin Our Guide on Pinterest

I hope our Ita Thao Market Street Food guide helps you out on your adventure to Sun Moon Lake! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions 🐸