Visitors to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market will be able to enjoy its popular street food banquet-style starting tomorrow, as the Taipei City Government seeks to promote the night market ahead of scores of food vendors relocating to a new building in November.
The “Hundred-Dish Banquet,” priced at NT$3,000 for a 10-person table, features 15 dishes from market vendors, including oyster omelet, stir-fried squid, braised pork on rice and stinky tofu.
Taipei City’s Market Administration Office said serving night market food banquet-style proved a hit with visitors to the Ningxia Night Market, another historic market in Taipei.
Promoting the Shilin market banquet plan, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said the banquet offered an alternative way for visitors to enjoy street food indoors.
He invited both local and foreign visitors to sample well-known snacks at the market.
“We are also hoping that through the banquet, we can bring about a wonderful end to the temporary market building and mark a great beginning as vendors move to the new location,” he said.
More than 500 food stalls will be relocated to their new home in November.
The renovated building has one ground-floor level and three underground floors. About 100 of the food stalls will be moved into the first level basement, a plan that has been opposed by many of the vendors.
Despite the calls for the city government to stop the relocation, Hau reiterated that the relocation would proceed in accordance with its original schedule. He promised to offer any necessary assistance to the vendors to make their move a happy one.
Kuo Feng-shih (郭逢時), the director of Shilin Night Market’s Vendor Association, said reservations for the tasting banquet would be taken starting tomorrow.
More information is available by calling the reservation hotline at (02) 2881-5557.
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