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Visitors stroll a checkerboard-paved lane at night between neon-lit snack stalls at Hualien's Dongdamen Night Market

Hualien · Nanbin and Dongdamen

Dongdamen Night Market

東大門夜市

Hualien's biggest night market, with an Indigenous food street and a Pacific breeze

Night market
Plan your eveningOpen in maps (opens in a new tab)
Photo: lumoplank · CC0 (opens in a new tab)
Hours
Daily 18:00–00:00
Crowds
Busy
Average spend
NT$250–500per person
Nearest station
Hualien Station

The market

About Dongdamen Night Market

Dongdamen is the biggest night market in Hualien County, with roughly 400 stalls according to Wikipedia, on the south-east edge of Hualien City, in the sixth rezoning area facing the Pacific and right next to Pacific Park. It is split into four sections: Futing Night Market for Taiwanese snacks, the Indigenous Street, Ziqiang Night Market and a Mainland Provinces Street. The central plaza has a visitor center, restrooms and a lookout tower. Walk in at dusk and the air is a mix of charcoal smoke, hot oil and sea breeze.

The food falls roughly into three groups. There are the night-market classics such as scallion pancakes, Taiwanese fried chicken, sweet potato balls and creative egg crepes; the bamboo-tube rice, charcoal-grilled skewers and corn of the Indigenous Street, along with newer snacks that borrow mountain spices; and seafood on the grill, with shellfish, scallops and shrimp cooked over charcoal at stalls scattered through the Indigenous Street and Ziqiang sections.

The Hualien tourism site describes the Indigenous Street as focused on mountain vegetable dishes and stone-slab cooking, and the Ziqiang section as home to several long-queued veterans. Stalls change often, so treat any list as a guide rather than a promise. A night market is a commercial setting; for home-style and festival food of Hualien's Indigenous peoples, community-led tours and booked restaurants are a different way in.

Best foods

What to eat

The signature dishes of Dongdamen Night Market, with typical prices.

  • Typical price: NT$30–80 · per pancake

  • Typical price: NT$60–300 · per bag, depending on what you pick

  • Typical price: NT$30–80 · per bag

  • Typical price: NT$30–65 · per portion

  • Golden fried stinky tofu cubes glazed with sauce, topped with a heap of pickled cabbage and shredded carrot

    Stinky Tofu

    臭豆腐chòu dòufu

    • Fermented
    • Savory
    • Umami
    • +3 more

    Typical price: NT$60–150 · per plate

  • Typical price: NT$50–90 · per bun

Eat your way through

From the Indigenous Street to the sea

A suggested order for an evening here. Share what you order and linger where the queue is longest.

  • About 2 h 15 min
  • 7 stops

  1. Stop 1: The Indigenous Street

    Start here while stalls are just opening and the crowds are thin. The Hualien tourism site describes this section as focused on mountain vegetable dishes and stone-slab cooking; Supertaste (2024) and Marie Claire (2025) both feature Yuanxiang Dulun Bamboo-Tube Rice (Indigenous Street, D21; 'dulun' is the Amis word for mochi), which sells bamboo-tube rice, charcoal-grilled mochi and sausage with Maqaw, and Lin Ji (E1) grills corn. Maqaw Fried-Noodle Gua Bao (D19, 17:00 to 22:00) is a newer take that puts maqaw into a gua bao. Ask about ingredients as you go. A stage stands where the two main streets cross, and the tourism site says local groups often perform there in the evening; confirm schedules on site.

  2. Stop 2: Futing and the Zhongshan Road side: fried crab and chicken cutlet

    The Futing section sells Taiwanese snacks on the Zhongshan Road side of the market. Yilan Xiang Fried Crab (Dongdamen branch) is at 38 Zhongshan Rd. and was one of the Night Market King finalists; the crab is sold by weight and the chicken cutlet is recommended too (reports do not say which section it is in). Buy a small portion and save room for what comes next.

  3. Stop 3: Ziqiang: bomb scallion pancake

    In Hualien the scallion pancake is often fried to order with an egg, and stalls call it 'bomb' (炸彈) scallion pancake. Marie Claire (December 2025) lists Jixiang Bomb Scallion Pancake (17:30 to 22:30, fried to order with a runny yolk inside, in limited daily batches), and a 2019 blog also featured the stall in the Ziqiang section, with a line; stalls change, so follow the queue.

  4. Stop 4: Qiang: double-egg crepes

    Qiang Egg Crepe in the Ziqiang section (E79 in Supertaste's 2024 guide, beside Jiang Family guancai ban) makes double-egg crepes in flavors such as fresh oyster with cheese and basil, or century egg with basil and chicken. It opens at 18:30 and closes Tuesdays. The queue is usually long, so order, browse the market, then come back to collect.

  5. Stop 5: Yuli Qiaotou stinky tofu

    The winner of the show's stinky-tofu round was Dongdamen's 玉里臭豆腐: fried stinky tofu with cabbage pickle, shredded radish and basil. The reports give no stall number, so ask on site; online reviews were mixed after the show, so treat it as one option.

  6. Stop 6: Sweet potato balls and grilled seafood

    Pick up a bag of freshly fried sweet potato balls to eat as you walk, then choose one or two charcoal-grilled shellfish or scallops; a 2019 blog reported waits of 20 to 30 minutes or more at a grilled-scallop stall.

  7. Stop 7: A walk by the sea

    The market borders Pacific Park, so finish with a walk toward the sea and some night air before heading back. There is an ecology pond and lookout tower at the back.

On the lanes

Stalls worth finding

A few stalls we know, with tips for spotting them. Line-ups change, so treat this as a starting point.

4 stalls

  • Qiang Egg Crepe

    強蛋餅

    Qiang Egg Crepe is in the Ziqiang section of Dongdamen Night Market. Supertaste's 2024 guide gives its stall number as E79, next to Jiang Family Hualien Creative Guancai Ban. It makes 蛋餅 with two eggs and generous fillings; the flavors that come up most are fresh oyster with cheese and basil, century egg with basil and chicken, and cheese with mashed potato. Marie Claire's late-2025 guide says the stall usually has a queue and suggests ordering first, browsing the market, then coming back to collect. It was also one of the nine Dongdamen stalls in the January 2025 final of the TV show Night Market King (夜市王).

    Known forEgg Crepe (Danbing)

    How to find it: Stall E79 in the Ziqiang section, next door to Jiang Family Hualien Creative Guancai Ban (E80). The numbers come from a 2024 report and may have changed, so confirm on the spot.

  • Yilan Xiang Fried Crab (Dongdamen branch)

    宜蘭香炸螃蟹（東大門店）

    Yilan Xiang is known for fried crab: a whole crab sold by weight, deep-fried and served with fried basil, garlic and scallion, eaten shell and all while you spit out the bits. Taiwanese fried chicken and thick chicken cutlets are the other usual orders, and when NOWnews rounded up the Night Market King finalists it singled out the cutlet, crisp outside and tender within, with a sour-spicy dipping sauce. The business has more than one branch in Hualien (Marie Claire lists a Dongdamen branch and a Qingfeng branch), and the Dongdamen branch's address is 38 Zhongshan Road, according to Light Travel. It was one of the nine Dongdamen stalls in the January 2025 Night Market King final.

    Known forTaiwanese Fried Chicken

    How to find it: The address is on Zhongshan Road; the reports give no stall number or section, so confirm on site.

  • Yuli Qiaotou Stinky Tofu (Dongdamen stall)

    玉里橋頭臭豆腐（東大門夜市）

    Yuli Qiaotou Stinky Tofu's original shop is in Yuli in the Rift Valley (15 Minquan Street, with its own restaurant record), and it also has a stall at Dongdamen Night Market in Hualien City. It sells deep-fried stinky tofu, fried at three oil temperatures so it is crisp outside and juicy inside, with sweet-sour cabbage pickle, shredded radish and basil. In the stinky-tofu round of the TV show Night Market King, broadcast in late 2024, Dongdamen's entry, listed as 玉里臭豆腐, won, and it was later one of the nine Dongdamen stalls in the January 2025 final. After the show, online reviews of it were mixed, as NOWnews noted, so treat it as one good option for Hualien stinky tofu rather than the last word. Light Travel says the brand has opened branches in Taipei, Yilan and Keelung.

    Known forStinky Tofu

    How to find it: Inside Dongdamen Night Market, but the reports disagree on the address and section (some name only the market, others list a shop address elsewhere in town), so confirm the exact stall on site.

  • Maqaw Fried-Noodle Gua Bao

    馬告炒麵刈包

    This stall in Dongdamen's Indigenous Street turns the gua bao into a fried-noodle version: a soft bun holding a generous portion of stir-fried noodles with cucumber and onion, where you taste noodles and oil first and the lemony fragrance of maqaw comes later. Maqaw (馬告) is mountain pepper, a spice used by several Indigenous peoples. The fillings are shredded chicken, braised pork or grilled pork, with black pepper, mushroom or honey-mustard sauces, in any combination. Supertaste's 2024 guide and Marie Claire's late-2025 guide both feature it and give the same hours. It is not the traditional braised-pork gua bao but a newer night-market take, and the reports do not say which community the owners belong to, so do not assume.

    Known forGua Bao (Pork Belly Bun)

    How to find it: Stall D19 on the Indigenous Street (the number in Supertaste's 2024 guide), the same guide puts Yuanxiang Dulun Bamboo-Tube Rice at D21. Numbers can change, so confirm on the spot.

Plan your visit

Where and when

Find the market on the map and check the weekly hours before you set out.

Changhua 彰化Chiayi 嘉義Hsinchu 新竹Hualien 花蓮Kaohsiung 高雄Keelung 基隆New Taipei 新北Penghu 澎湖Pingtung 屏東Taichung 台中Tainan 台南Taipei 台北Taitung 台東Taoyuan 桃園Yilan 宜蘭

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Open in the map

No. 50, Zhongshan Rd., Hualien City, Hualien County (the Hualien tourism site lists No. 572, Chongqing Rd. for the Chongqing Road gate)

Opening hours

Weekly opening hours, Taiwan time
DayHours
Monday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Tuesday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Wednesday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Thursday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Friday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Saturday
  • 18:00 to 00:00
Sunday
  • 18:00 to 00:00

Daily 18:00 to 24:00, per the Hualien County Government's tourism site (updated August 2026, the same every day of the week); NOWnews (2025), Marie Claire (December 2025), the body of Chinese Wikipedia's article and Wikivoyage give the same times. Older figures (17:30 to 23:30 in OpenStreetMap and the Chinese Wikipedia infobox, 16:30 to 23:00 in a 2019 blog, 17:30 to 22:30 in Supertaste's 2024 guide) differ from the official listing and are probably out of date or describe individual stalls. Each stall sets its own hours: one egg-crepe stall opens at 18:30 and closes on Tuesdays, and a fried crab stall is reported closed on Sundays. We could not read the market's own website (it refuses automated requests), so go by what you find on site.

Stalls set their own hours and close on their own days. Confirm before you go.

Know before you go

Visitor information

Best time to go
Early evening, as stalls open, is the easiest time: aim to arrive between 17:30 and 18:00 to beat the lines. Weekend and summer-holiday nights are usually busier.
Crowds
Busy
Average spend
NT$250–500 · per person
Payment
  • Cash
  • Mobile pay
Getting around
Walkways are laid with flat granite slabs and are fairly spacious, which helps wheelchairs and strollers, though it still gets crowded on busy nights. Restrooms are at the central plaza.

Good to know

  • The Hualien tourism site reminds visitors that the whole area is pedestrian-only, that it is open-air (bring rain gear), and that some stalls take mobile payment but you should still carry enough cash. Small bills and coins are easiest.
  • A 2019 blog recorded skewers at about NT$12, sweet potato balls at NT$20 to 50 and grilled oysters at NT$100 to 250 each. Prices may have moved, so check the board before ordering.
  • Popular stalls have lines; split up to queue at different stalls and share, which is quicker than waiting at one after another.
  • The night sea breeze can be cool, so bring a light jacket in winter.
  • The Indigenous Street is one section of the market, and its stalls differ in who runs them and where the food comes from. Ask the stallholder about ingredients and methods, and do not assume which community a stall belongs to.

How to arrive

Getting there

  • Train

    Hualien Station

    Down Zhongshan Road toward the sea: a travel guide says 25 to 30 minutes on foot, though the road distance is about 2.8 km by OpenStreetMap routing, so allow 30 minutes or more; a taxi takes about 5 minutes, and a 2019 blog estimated the fare at around NT$150.

    30 min walk

  • Bus

    Dongdamen Night Market bus stop

    Taiwan Tourist Shuttle 310 (Taroko line)

    The county tourism site lists Taiwan Tourist Shuttle 310, which leaves from the Hualien Transfer Station and stops at General's Mansion (將軍府), Dongdamen Night Market and Qixingtan on its way to the Taroko Visitor Center; OpenStreetMap also maps a stop called 東大門夜市 on Zhongshan Road. A 2019 blog lists local routes such as 1123 for the same area. Routes, schedules and service toward Taroko change often, so check current information.

Photographs

Photo gallery

3 photos
Trays of skewered green peppers, mushrooms, fish balls, sausages and tofu, each with a price disc, at a grill stall

Trays of skewered green peppers, mushrooms, fish balls, sausages and tofu, each with a price disc, at a grill stall

Photo 1 of 2Photo: Sinchen.Lin · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab)

History

A little history

Dongdamen was planned by the Hualien County Government and opened in July 2015 in the sixth rezoning area, on the grounds of the old railway station. According to Chinese Wikipedia it brought together earlier night markets, including Futing, Ziqiang, Nanbin and Caihong; English Wikipedia and travel sites instead describe it as four sections, with Ziqiang moved to the western end of the Indigenous Street. ‘Dongdamen’ means ‘big east gate’, after its position on the eastern edge of the city.

In the TV show Night Market King, decided on total sales, Dongdamen beat Taipei's Nanjichang Night Market in the final held in Kaohsiung on 18 January 2025, NT$1,727,780 to NT$1,084,004, and took the title and the NT$1 million prize (NOWnews; a Hualien County Government release also mentions the win).

A fire broke out at about 1 a.m. on 3 June 2019 in the Indigenous Street and Ziqiang sections; media reports put the number of stalls destroyed anywhere from about 32 to 50, and no casualties were reported.

Keep exploring

More night markets to explore

All night markets
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    一中街商圈

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    • Daily 12:00–22:00

    Known forStinky Tofu · Taiwanese Fried Chicken · Mango Shaved Ice

  • A packed Fengjia Night Market street at night under the glowing arch sign, with shoe stalls and neon signs on both sides
    Night market

    Fengjia Night Market

    逢甲夜市

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    Known forTaiwanese Sausage in Glutinous Rice (“Small Sausage in Large Sausage”) · Egg Crepe (Danbing) · Stinky Tofu

Photo credits (12)

Work in progressLast updated Oct 12, 2026What’s new

20 dishes documented · more on the way