Kaohsiung is the southern food capital of Taiwan. The climate is hot, the cooking is sweeter and lighter than in Taipei, and the city is famous for seafood, milkfish soup, and the southern variants of beef noodles and rice plates. Night markets do most of the heavy lifting (see Liuhe and Ruifeng under Things to Do).
Yancheng District is the best area for sit-down eating. The lanes around the Yancheng First Public Market are packed with breakfast stalls — milkfish congee, rice rolls, fried bread — that open before 6am and close by 1pm. Around dinner time the same streets fill up with seafood places where you pick from a tank.
Wan Hsiao Shan, a 30-year-old shop near the Wuf street market, is famous for gua bao — Taiwanese steamed buns filled with stewed pork belly, peanut powder, pickled mustard and coriander.
Yajia Milkfish Restaurant in Yancheng serves Kaohsiung's signature breakfast soup — slices of milkfish belly in a clear broth, with a side of stewed rice. Open 5am to noon.
Han-Lai Hotel breakfast buffet is a local indulgence; the breakfast is so renowned that locals book just to eat it, with Cantonese dim sum, southern Taiwanese soups, and Western dishes alongside.
Cijin Island is the place for seafood. Pick a restaurant along the main street, choose a fish from the ice display and a price by weight, and watch it grilled in front of you.
For coffee and brunch, the converted shophouses of Yancheng and the warehouses around Pier-2 have more independent cafes than you can count.