The Kaohsiung Dry Foods Market三鳳中街 is a local market and very popular during the Lunar New Year.
If you are looking for a local market with a distinct Asian flavor, check out the Kaohsiung Dry Foods Market Street (“San Feng Zhong”) 三鳳中街.
San Feng Zhong is a small narrow alley loaded with shop stalls on either side. It winds its way for about 1km end to end.
Getting to San Feng Zhong Market
Unfortunately the market is a bit of a walk from the Kaohsiung Main Station MRT stop. The market starts on the corner of the busy Zhong Hua 3rd Road & Jian Guo 3rd Road intersection next to the bridge. 中華三路/建國三路
Most days and evenings the market is not super busy. But as the annual Chinese New Year break approaches, the alleys are mobbed with locals and visitors buying up food to prepare for the holidays.
The San Feng Zhong Market is unique because of its items. Here, you can buy dry foods in bulk. As you enter the street, you’ll see bins of nuts, candies, dried seafood, teas, and Taiwanese snacks for sale. The prices here are the best in the city.
The main weights are a kilogram “gong jin” or half kilogram “ban gong jin”.
Above, candy by the bags.
Dried mushrooms from around Taiwan. You can buy these items according to weight.
Some stands have pre-packaged half/kilo or full kilo bags for customers to easily buy.
Kaohsiung Dry Foods Market at Chinese New Years
2 weeks leading up to Chinese New Years, the market is packed. It has a real flavor of a traditional Chinese market. It is loud and busy with a lot of specialty items for sale for the holiday. The market is covered by a roof so rainy days are not a problem.
Peanuts for sale. Plain, garlic flavored, big, small…..alll kinds.
Pumpkin seeds are popular for the Chinese New Year holiday.
Sunflower seeds and watermelon seeds for sale.
Above, an assortment of loose leaf teas for sale by weight.
Westerners will notice a lot of unique foods for sale. Above is an assortment of dried tofu.
More interesting dried items.
Everyone knows jellybeans….
These candy stalls sell in bulk. Just grab a plastic bag and fill up. Then, bring it to the counter to weigh. Be careful, each bin section is a different price.
“Ma lao” is a puffed rice treat covered in sesames seeds, peanuts, seaweed…etc. Very good.
More “ma lao”. The black ones are black sesame.
As mentioned above, Chinese New Years is a special time to visit the San Feng Zhong Market. Above, a calligraphist makes signs for doors with auspicious meanings for the new year.
