Once Taipei's most famous and most notorious night market — historically the city's red-light district — Huaxi Street is now a covered, sanitised but still atmospheric snack market in Wanhua, a few minutes' walk west of Longshan Temple. The "Snake Alley" nickname comes from a still-surviving cluster of snake-meat and snake-blood restaurants at the southern end, which serve fried snake, snake soup, and shots of fresh blood as part of a Chinese folk-medicine tradition.
Beyond the snake stalls, the market offers a more conventional spread of grilled squid, oyster omelettes, sticky-rice cakes, herbal soups, and turtle-meat dishes that may not be quite to every palate. The market is at its busiest 8-11 pm. Combine with Longshan Temple and the Bopiliao historic block.