Tainan
台南
Tainan
Tainan, also known as the Phoenix City, was the historical Capital of Taiwan. The City was first established by the Dutch East Indian Company and many of the structures that were built by the Dutch Colonists still stand today. The city is most well-known for its traditional cuisine and is widely regarded by the Taiwanese people to be the city with the best food. Tainan also has a wide variety of historical monuments worth visiting, ranging from Buddhist temples to Dutch forts.
Chikan Tower 赤嵌樓 & Anping Fort 安平古堡
Previously known as Fort Provintia, Chikan Tower was built in the mid-17th century by Dutch colonists along with Anping Fort, previously called Fort Zeelandia. They are the two most famous landmarks of Tainan and both have a history of over 300 years. The Dutch eventually surrendered the two forts after being defeated by Zheng Cheng Gong 鄭成功, a royal of the then-fallen Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, and after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng’s rule over Tainan fell to the Qing Dynasty as well. The Anping Tree House is a former warehouse that has over the years, been engulfed by a large Banyan Tree and is a must-see.
Anping Fort
Anping Tree house
Chikan Tower and a statue depicting the surrendering of the tower to ZhengChengGong
Anping Tree House
Ten Drum Culture Village 十鼓仁糖文創園區
Throughout history and even more so during the early modern era, sugar has been an important and highly sought after commodity; the profits and power that came with sugar caused war, colonization, and slavery. Southern Taiwan’s climate was good for growing sugar cane and thus sugar production in Tainan became of great importance to the Dutch and Imperial Japan. Tainan has a vast quantity of cane sugar processing plants, and one of the abandoned plants built and operated during Imperial Japan’s colonization was repurposed by a percussion arts program into Ten Drum Culture Village. For 13USD/400NTD, you can experience the amazing percussion performances, tour the drum facility, and even ride on a 5-story slide.
Indoor slide built in a molasses vat
Molasses vat at Ten Drum Village
Entrance to Ten Drum Village
Coffee shop inside repurposed molasses vat
Ten Drum Percussion performance
CHIMEI Museum 奇美博物館
A 60+ million USD privately owned museum built by the founder of multi-billion dollar CHIMEI Corporation, the CHIMEI Museum houses an extravagant collection and is designed to resemble a Western-Classical palace. The museum has 5 main exhibits (Art, Instruments, Weaponry, Fossils, and Artifacts) and is home to the world’s largest and rarest violin collection. Admission is free for local residents and children but tickets start at 7USD/200NTD for non-residents.
Exterior of CHIMEI Museum
Olympus Bridge at the Museum
Violins from the 16th Century
Fine Arts Exhibits
Eats in Tainan
Tainan is often regarded as the city with the best food in the entire country, and rightfully so. Below are my favorite dishes that I always get whenever I visit Tainan. For me and many others, the food experience in Tainan alone is worth a trip of its own.
Beef Soup & Hotpot 溫體牛肉湯&火鍋 A-Yu’s 阿裕牛肉
Traditional Tainan-ese beef soup is fresh sliced beef served in a clear beef bone broth that requires up to 8 hours to prepare. The dish is savory and umami in taste, and beef is sourced fresh daily and delivered to restaurants mere hours after slaughter, to ensure the freshest of ingredients. A lot of Beef soup restaurants now offer Hot Pot options, and any beef soup spot in Tainan is a worth a stop.
Location: No. 525, Section 1, Zhongzheng Rd, Rende District, Tainan City, Taiwan 717
Milkfish Congee 虱目魚粥 A-Tang’s Congee 阿堂鹹粥
Traditional milkfish congee differs in comparison to normal congee as the rice is not cooked until it reaches a uniform consistency; rather, it is cooked al dente and is more similar to normally cooked rice in soup. The dish consists of milkfish broth that requires hours to make, and is topped off with rice, oysters, milkfish fillets, and scallions. In my opinion, A-Tang’s offers the best milkfish congee in the entire country for just 7USD/210NTD a bowl.
Location: No. 728, Section 1, Ximen Rd, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan 700