Eat at Luodong Night Market at least once, have a scallion pancake made with Sanxing scallions, and take candied kumquats home. That's the short version of what we'd tell a friend. Yilan food is home cooking from a rainy farming plain and a big fishing port, and you'll eat best at the night markets and small family shops, for very little. Yilan isn't in the MICHELIN Guide, and it doesn't need to be.
- FoodWhat to eatScallion pancakes, gao zha, smoked duck, kumquats, and where to try them.
- EveningNight marketsLuodong and Dongmen, both open every day, and the stalls to find.
- TownWhere to eat in LuodongBreakfast, lunch and old shops beyond the night market.
- TownWhere to eat in Yilan CityOld-town breakfast, cat-ear soup, red yeast squid and a banquet restaurant.
- TownWhere to eat in JiaoxiScallion pancakes, duck rice and dinner after a soak.
What Yilan is known for
Ask the locals what to eat and you'll hear the same few things:
- Sanxing scallions, in scallion pancakes.
- Thick soups and fried "soup": xi lu rou (西魯肉) and gao zha (糕渣), the New Year banquet dishes.
- Smoked duck (鴨賞), smoked over sugarcane.
- Rice noodles, in thick soups, with fish balls, or as savory mi tai mu for breakfast.
- Kumquats, candied. Yilan grows nearly all of Taiwan's.
- Seafood and mackerel from Nanfang'ao.
→ The full list, with where to try each
Town by town
Luodong
If you eat in one town, make it Luodong. Luodong Night Market (羅東夜市), around Zhongshan Park, is the best single place to eat in the county, open every day from 15:00 to midnight. Come for gao zha, angelica lamb soup, soup dumplings and scallion pancakes. Back near the same park in the morning, look for savory mi tai mu for breakfast. → Where to eat in Luodong · → Luodong
Yilan City
Dongmen Night Market (東門夜市) is a short walk from Yilan Station, under the Donggang overpass. On the same street, A Mao (阿茂米粉羹) makes the thick rice noodle soup to try. For gifts to take home, Orange Square (橘之鄉蜜餞形象館) sells candied kumquats from its own factory, 08:30 to 17:30. → Where to eat in Yilan City · → Yilan City
Jiaoxi
Between soaks, look for vegetables grown with hot spring water, and kumquats from the Linmei hills. The easiest place to find both is the farmers' association's Tang Lian Products Hall (湯戀物產館) on Zhongshan Road which also sells hot spring rice noodles. → Where to eat in Jiaoxi · → Jiaoxi
Su'ao and Nanfang'ao
Come here for fish, straight from Taiwan's biggest mackerel port. The fishermen's association runs the Nanfang'ao Sanyu Fish Market (南方澳三魚市場), and seafood restaurants line the harbor road. In Su'ao town, pick up some yokan, the sweet the cold spring water made famous. For gifts, the Yilan Cake Invention Museum (宜蘭餅發明館) sells the extra-thin Yilan ox-tongue pastry and runs a make-your-own class you book online. It's open daily 08:30 to 18:00, about a 14-minute walk from Su'ao New Station. → Su'ao
Sanxing and Yuanshan
Sanxing is where the scallions grow, so a scallion pancake here is the real thing. Next door, Yuanshan (員山) has a whole street of fish ball rice noodle shops. → Sanxing and Datong
How to eat well here
- Carry cash. Night market stalls and family shops often don't take cards.
- Check the day off. Many small shops close one day a week and keep their own hours, so look at the Google Maps listing on the day.
- Eat the soups hot. Yilan's thick soups and gao zha are winter food, made for a wet, cold climate. They make the most sense on a rainy evening.
- Day trip from Taipei? Make Luodong Night Market your dinner and check the last bus or train back. → Day trip from Taipei
→ Itineraries with meals built in
Sources: Luodong Township tourism, Luodong Night Market; Lanyang Museum on Yilan's rice and noodle food; Lanyang Museum on kumquats; Yilan County tourism, Orange Square; Jiaoxi Township, Tang Lian Products Hall; Liberty Times on the Sanyu Fish Market; Su'ao Township; UDN on Yilan banquet dishes; MICHELIN Guide Taiwan; Yilan Cake Invention Museum, official site. Checked November 2026.