Ruifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市) - Largest and Most Popular @ Kaohsiung City in Taiwan

While Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市) at Kaohsiung City is most popular with foreigners, locals would cringe and recommend a visit to Ruifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市), which is also conveniently located near an MRT station, the Kaohsiung Arena MRT Station! 

The straight walk from Exit 1 of Kaohsiung Arena MRT Station was just about 260 meters away, and under the cool winter temperature; it didn't take us any sweat to arrive at the cross junction, with the night market right opposite us.

Closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, Ruifeng Night Market is known as Kaohsiung City's largest night market; occupying "an area of nearly 3,000 m2" with over 1,000 stalls, and served an international mix of street food, in addition to popular local favorites.

Imagine our surprise to see a signboard for Singapore Laksa Noodle stall, which offered other options for meats, noodles, and soup base. Beef in laksa broth with udon noodles?! Well, so long there is a market, no one is going to judge, and I am not so much into authenticity anyway.

This night market had a pretty large game area, providing entertainment for both adults and children with the likes of mahjong bingo, basketball hoop toss, dart shooting, ring toss, Taiwanese pinball etc.

It was an eye opener with the ring toss as there were so many items that you can win with a ring around the item; from king chains, to plushies and even for beer and expensive liquor! 

To up the ante, the more you buy, the more rings you can get for free! Buy NT$1000 (about S$42), you get NT$300 more! I was tempted but I never quite care for winning items, preferring cash instead. Casinos for the win. 

Experience had also taught me that even if I did score this gigantic Snorlax soft toy, it would be a chore to bring it home, through an airplane, with a fate that it's likely going to collect dust. 

You know this market would be for the local Taiwanese when you see the above fish scooping activity! There's no way I would partake in this activity since it would have been so troublesome to export live fish back to our home country! It's cheap though; NT$100 for 10 minutes and the operator would still give you a free toy! 

I know we have the above activity in Singapore. Anyone knows how much it cost? Right here at Ruifeng Night Market, it would cost NT$150 (about S$6.30).

A super mini carnival ride! 

OMG, this was literally a blown up version of the electronic fishing game we used to have as a kid! That's like so memorable. Another one that was deeply etched in my memory would be the penguins climbing up the stairs and then sliding down, on a vicious, never ending loop. 

At my age, I guess the scratch cards would be more appropriate. And from this trip to Taiwan made in January 2025, I feel that the scratch cards were huge business! 

I am not superstitious and don't enjoy getting my fortune read. However, there were a few stalls offering fortune telling in the night market, be it the Western tarot card reading or Chinese cosmology, and the price can be as low as below S$10! 

Retail scene at Ruifeng Night Market; as it served mainly the locals, you don't really find souvenirs, or touristy trinkets. It also catered more for the female clientele.

The normal pyjamas and the highly kinky undergarments. 

Same category yet rarely seen being sold together in one stall.

Of course, there would always be something for pets! As a former pet owner myself, I can tell you we are crazy when it comes to pampering our pets! If I ever get a feline, I would gladly fork out overseas shipping charges just to bring back some of their unique cat scratching posts! 

Street massage services were available! Shoulder and neck massage for NT$200 for 15 minutes, body / foot massage for NT$350 for 30 minutes. Not exactly cheap compared to Bangkok!

But it didn't stop Alex from going for a shoulder and neck massage.

Which he claimed was super worth the NT$200.

Maybe because we went on a Tuesday, some of the stalls were not open. As with most night markets, the hype was really more for the weekends when people don't have to work. 

In a way, I was happy that it wasn't as crowded, especially when the lanes can be narrow! Furthermore, I also didn't have to endure too long a queue to get my food, or find a table to have my food. 

With further a do, let's proceed to the most important section of any night market in Taiwan; the alluring street food that's basically the icon of Taiwan tourism! 

The above, are the stalls, I didn't try. 

p.s. only one stomach, I can only do so much.

Let's find a place for dinner first! And lazy me didn't really bother researching beforehand on what to eat. Hence, we just went with "feel" and settled for 莊記海產粥, selling seafood porridge! 

Since I am not so huge on heavy starch at night, it was Alex who opted for the seafood beehoon instead. Priced at NT$150, taste was bland and fish was like cooked for too long. 

I went for the salt and pepper prawns. At NT$200, I had slightly higher hopes. How bad can prawns taste, so long they are fresh!? 

Problem was; they weren't that fresh, with meat that wasn't firm to the bite. Disappointing and hope we would have better food moving on, given that the night was still young and my tummy can fill in more. 

Orange Green Tea from Guo Cui - said to be freshly brewed, this was surprisingly nice with tea featuring a nice, zesty flavour that was thankfully not overly sweet. Cost - NT$65. 

Tako Balls from 日船章魚燒 - this should be the famous one from Fengchia Night Market at Taichung! NT$50 for six balls, each was hot with a thin, crisp shell and delicious mushy insides that hid a large piece of octopus! Smeared with sweet soy sauce marinade and mayonnaise, they were so yummy! 

Stall with the longest queue had to be 大摳呆地瓜球, selling sweet potato balls! Our virgin experience with sweet potato balls; they were so unforgettable amazing that even Alex, the person who claimed to hate sweet potatoes, fell in love with them. Click here for my review! 

Alex was addicted to the tako balls in the cold and when he realized there was the prawn option available at 章魚爆爆起司章魚燒; he insisted at getting a box! 

I only relented to having a mix box that cost NT$120 for two prawns, two tako, and two scallops! While it was much more expensive than 日船章魚燒, the balls were bigger; hence increasing satisfaction! 

One full scallop in one ball, one full prawn in one ball; they were crispy, without the mushy insides that some would actually prefer. Personally, between the two tako ball stalls, I would vote for this one, despite it being more pricey. 

Dodomi Scholar / Champion Cake (多多米狀元糕)! The one street snack from Taiwan that I missed a lot when I was back in Singapore! The boss claimed that his was better than those found in the north (where I first had them); and he wasn't exaggerating! Visit here for my review! 

Delicious looking yakitori that cost NT$40 for such a generous portion! While meaty like eating cut pieces of chicken chop, this was sadly not impressionable enough, and very oily! 

There's also ramly burger at Ruifeng Night Market! Proudly displaying the Malaysian flag, it came in a selection you could never find in Malaysia. There's pork which cost NT$80 for a single patty! Unfortunately, I was too full to fit in a full burger. :(

I made do with a pack of guava instead for digestion. p.s. Generally, there were just subtle differences between guava stalls in Taiwan; ripe, overripe, underripe since I don't really ask for the powder for enhanced tastiness, plus a heightened risk for cancer. 

Ending the night with a cute corgi and a street performer dressed up as Goofy! 

=====

Address

Intersection of Nanping and Yucheng Roads,

Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 

(Exit 1 of Kaohsiung Arena MRT Station)

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

5pm till 1am

(Closed on Mondays and Wednesdays)

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)