Taipei Brunch: 12 Spots That Aren't Just Eggs Benedict

There is nothing wrong with this. But it's also not the only version of brunch in Taipei, and honestly, it's not even the most interesting one.

Taipei's weekend morning eating ranges from a NT$55 charcoal-grilled toast with egg and pork floss at a counter with plastic stools, to a NT$480 shakshuka at a Mediterranean cafe where they hand you a menu printed on card stock. Both are good. The question is what kind of morning you're having, and what your wallet feels like doing.

I spent most of the last year eating Saturday and Sunday mornings around the city. Not systematically, just following recommendations, wandering into places that looked busy, going back to the ones I kept thinking about on Tuesday. What follows are 12 spots across four neighborhoods, sorted roughly by price, from cheap Taiwanese breakfast to the kind of place where you'll want to sit for two hours.

The Taiwanese morning

If you grew up here, "brunch" already existed. It just wasn't called that. It was called breakfast, eaten at a pace that suggested nobody had anywhere urgent to be.

1. 阜杭豆漿 (Fuhang Soy Milk) 2F, No. 108, Section 1, Zhongxiao East Road, Zhongzheng District. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 5:30am to 12:30pm. Closed Mondays. Cash only.

The line starts before dawn. By 7:30am, it wraps down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk near Shandao Temple MRT. This is not hype. Fuhang has been doing the same thing since 1958: thick shaobing, perfectly layered, crisp outside with sesame seeds still warm, the egg cracked fresh onto the griddle. The 厚燒餅夾蛋 (thick shaobing with egg) is NT$55. The salty soy milk, with vinegar and dried shrimp curds forming at the edges, is NT$35. You'll eat it all standing at a shared counter or balanced on a plastic stool, and it will be one of the best breakfasts of your life. Go on a weekday before 7am if you don't want to wait. On weekends, bring a book.

2. 真芳碳烤吐司 (Zhenfang Charcoal Grilled Toast) Multiple locations. Xinyi: No. 17, Lane 16, Alley 559, Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4. Minsheng Community: No. 105, Minsheng East Road, Section 4. Open daily, 6:30am to 1:30pm.

Zhenfang does one thing: charcoal-grilled toast with fillings. The bread goes on an actual charcoal grill, not a panini press, and you can smell it from half a block away. The signature toast with egg, pork, and cheese runs about NT$70. Their 粉漿蛋餅 (rice batter egg crepe) is thicker and chewier than the standard version, almost like a savory pancake. The red tea milk (NT$55) is the real thing, brewed strong with black tea and mixed with whole milk, not the watered-down version you get at chain breakfast shops. Lines move fast. Most people are in and out in fifteen minutes.

3. 永和豆漿大王 (Yonghe Soy Milk King) No. 102, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da'an District. Open 24 hours. Cash only.

This is Taipei's 24-hour breakfast institution, operating since 1955. At 3am, it's night shift workers and taxi drivers. At 8am on a Sunday, it's families with kids and slightly hungover twenty-somethings. The radish egg crepe (蘿蔔絲蛋餅) is the order here, along with the salty soy milk. Cold soy rice milk is NT$25. The whole meal rarely breaks NT$80. It's not polished. The lighting is harsh, the tables are metal, someone is always yelling an order. But the food is honest and the portions are generous, and it has been this way for seventy years.

The new wave Western spots

This is where Taipei's brunch culture has expanded most visibly in the past decade. Melbourne-influenced, Tokyo-adjacent, Instagram-ready but, in the best cases, actually good underneath the presentation.

4. Woolloomooloo Xinyi: No. 379, Xinyi Road, Section 4. Fujin Street: No. 95, Fujin Street, Songshan. Open daily from 7:30am.

The name is Australian (it's a neighborhood in Sydney), and the sensibility is too. Woolloomooloo was one of the first to bring all-day brunch culture to Taipei, and they've been doing it long enough that the hype has settled into something more like reliability. The space on Fujin Street is the better one for weekend mornings. Quieter, with high ceilings and natural light. Pancakes are NT$380. The big breakfast plate with eggs, bacon, sourdough, and greens runs about NT$420. Coffee is good, sourced locally. It's not cheap, but you can sit for two hours without anyone rushing you, and the Fujin Street location puts you on one of the nicest walking streets in Taipei afterwards.

5. The Diner (樂子) Original location: No. 145, Ruian Street, Da'an District. Also in Xinyi (ATT 4 FUN) and Nangang. Open daily from 9am.

The Diner has been here since 2006, which makes it ancient by Taipei brunch standards. American diner style, big portions, and a menu that covers everything from omelettes to burgers to milkshakes. The mushroom omelette is NT$340, the brioche French toast breakfast is NT$360, and a chocolate milkshake is NT$190. The Ruian Street location is the one with character. Small, a little cramped, with a front patio that fills up fast on weekends. You come here when you want the kind of brunch where nobody is trying to impress anyone. Just good eggs, decent coffee, and a stack of pancakes that actually tastes like pancakes.

6. Sarabeth's (紐約早餐女王) Dunhua SOGO, B2, No. 246, Dunhua South Road, Section 1, Da'an District.

Sarabeth's is a New York import that has genuinely translated well. The French toast (NT$480) is thick-cut brioche, custard-soaked, with a caramelized surface that cracks when you press your fork into it. Classic eggs Benedict is NT$360, the smoked salmon version NT$380. It's inside a department store basement, which sounds terrible, but the space is surprisingly warm and the food is consistently good. The wait on weekends can stretch past an hour. Go at 10am on a Saturday or try a weekday. The lemon ricotta pancakes are the thing most people don't order but should.

7. BRUN (不然早午餐) Anhe: No. 7, Section 1, Anhe Road, Da'an District. Also in Xinyi and Nanxi. Open daily from 8:30am.

BRUN runs a tight menu. Six or seven items for breakfast, another handful for lunch. French-style scrambled eggs, a good pancake stack, and brunch plates that lean more European than American. The space on Anhe Road has a large outdoor patio that catches the morning sun, which is the main draw. It's popular on Instagram for the aesthetics, but the food backs it up. Expect to spend NT$350 to NT$450 per person. Reserve on weekends. This is one of the places where the line gets unreasonable by 11am.

8. Toasteria Cafe No. 200, Xinyi Road, Section 2, Da'an District (Yongkang area). Open daily from 9am.

Mediterranean brunch in the Yongkang Street neighborhood, which is one of the best areas in Taipei for a slow weekend walk after eating. Toasteria does shakshuka (NT$345, comes with hummus and pita), falafel wraps, and the most creative panini menu in the city. They also do a pitcher of sangria for NT$880, which tells you something about the pace they encourage. The space is warm, slightly cluttered with Mediterranean decor, and feels nothing like a typical Taipei cafe. It's on the pricier side, but the portions are generous and the flavors are honest.

Neighborhood picks

These are the spots that work best when you're already in a specific part of the city, or when you want the brunch to be part of a morning, not the entire morning.

9. Fujin Tree 353 Cafe (富錦樹咖啡) No. 353, Fujin Street, Songshan District.

Fujin Street is lined with trees, independent shops, and the quiet energy of a neighborhood that figured out what it wanted to be. The cafe at 353 is small, serves good coffee (by Simple Kaffa, a World Barista Championship winner), and has a short brunch menu of pastries and light plates. Coffee runs about NT$180. You come here for the neighborhood as much as the food. Walk south toward Minsheng Community afterwards, or browse the Fujin Tree lifestyle store next door. It's not a big brunch destination. It's a good place to start a Saturday.

10. 好初早餐 (Hao Chu Breakfast) Zhongshan: No. 124, Chang'an West Road, Datong District. Also in Banqiao (the original) and Dunnan. Weekdays 7:30am to 3:30pm, weekends 8am to 4pm.

Good, cheap, cheerful. The original is in Banqiao, but the Zhongshan/Datong location across from the Museum of Contemporary Art is the easiest to reach. The signature is the 一拳排骨三明治 (one-punch pork rib sandwich) at NT$90. Thick, crispy, and ridiculous in the best way. Add a combo for NT$65 and you get fries, fried glutinous rice balls, and their house black tea. The vibe is young, loud, and unpretentious. Magazines and comics on the shelf. No reservations, no table service. You order at the counter and find a seat.

11. Smith and Hsu Main location: No. 33, Section 5, Zhongxiao East Road. Also on Minsheng East Road and Zhongshan North Road. Open daily 10am to 10:30pm.

This is the wildcard on the list because Smith and Hsu is technically a tea house, not a brunch place. But their morning tea sets, with scones, sandwiches, and a pot of something interesting, are one of the most underrated ways to spend a weekend morning in Taipei. Tea ranges from NT$180 to NT$690. Afternoon tea sets start at NT$235. The scones are legitimately good, baked fresh, served with clotted cream and jam. It's quiet, they have maybe fifty different teas, and if you pick a corner table, you can sit for an hour and a half reading without anyone looking at you sideways.

12. ACME 7F, No. 1, Jiantan Road, Shilin District (inside Taipei Performing Arts Center). Open daily.

ACME started in a walk-up in Ximending and moved to the seventh floor of the Taipei Performing Arts Center, which is one of the more striking buildings in the city. The brunch menu is compact: French toast with caramelized bananas, a solid eggs Benedict, fried chicken plate at NT$250. Most items stay under NT$340. The real draw is the space. High ceilings, art on the walls, and a cocktail list that starts at noon if your Saturday is heading in that direction. Go here when you want brunch to feel like a minor event rather than just a meal.

The honest take

I have a rotation. Most weekends I'm at one of the Taiwanese spots, because the food is better per dollar and I don't have to wait. When I want to sit longer, catch up with someone, and spend a bit more, it's Woolloomooloo on Fujin Street or Toasteria near Yongkang. When I'm feeling lazy and want to order at a counter and not think about it, it's 好初.

The thing nobody tells you about Taipei brunch is that the best strategy isn't picking one spot and going every week. It's picking a neighborhood, walking until something looks right, and sitting down. The density of good food here means you're never more than two blocks from something worth eating. That's the real luxury. Not the shakshuka. The options.

FAQ

What's the average brunch budget in Taipei? For Taiwanese-style breakfast, NT$50 to NT$100 covers a full meal with a drink. For Western-style brunch, expect NT$300 to NT$500 per person including coffee. The sweet spot for most people is somewhere around NT$250 to NT$350 at a place like The Diner or 好初.

Do I need reservations? For BRUN, Sarabeth's, and Woolloomooloo on weekends, yes. For everything else on this list, walk-in is fine, though you might wait 15 to 30 minutes at popular spots between 10am and noon on Saturdays.

What time should I go? Before 10am at the Taiwanese spots (Fuhang, Zhenfang, Yonghe). Between 10am and 11am at the Western spots to beat the rush. After noon, most places are calmer but some limited items sell out.

Are these places vegetarian-friendly? Toasteria has the most vegetarian options (shakshuka, falafel, hummus plates). BRUN and Woolloomooloo each have a couple of meatless plates. The traditional Taiwanese spots are harder, since most include pork or dried shrimp, though Yonghe's plain soy milk and shaobing can work.

Can I bring kids? The Diner and 好初 are both kid-friendly, with casual atmospheres and food that children will actually eat. Fuhang is doable but chaotic. Smith and Hsu is surprisingly good for older kids who can sit still for tea and scones.