According to author Shu Kuo-chih, the best braised pork rice in all of Taiwan is sold at stall No. 19 at Keelung's Miaokou Night Market. The stall has been in business for 65 years, ever since the end of Japanese rule, and is now in its second generation of proprietorship. It opens for business at 7 p.m. nightly.

"The meat for braised pork rice has to be sliced into small strips complete with fat, meat and skin. The resulting stew is then dribbled onto a bed of white rice. Ground pork can't be used; with ground pork, the fat no longer retains its form and the firmness of the lean meat can't be discerned," writes Shu.

Over six decades old, Miaokou Night Market offers old-time cuisine,such as richly seasoned dingbiansuo (below) and value-for-money bite-sized sausages (facing page, bottom). The stall owners wear uniforms, and the signs are clearly marked in Chinese, Japanese and English.

With the name Miao-kou ("temple gate"), there must be a temple nearby. But visitors, having eaten and gone home, might wonder, "Where's the temple?" "What god is worshipped there?" This time-honored food street is now more famous than the temple it's associated with.

Keelung antiquarian Tsao Ming-chung writes in his book The Culture of Kee-lung's Miao-kou that immigrants from Zhang-zhou in Fu-jian Province settled here long ago and built a temple dedicated to their tutelary god Kai Zhang Sheng Wang (the Tang-Dynasty general Chen Yuan-guang, who pacified the borderlands between Fu-jian and Guang-dong). Over a century ago, local gentry in Kee-lung built a crude wooden structure to serve as a temple; later on the wealthy Lin family of Ban-qiao donated land, and a temple was built at the current location. Dianji Temple was consecrated in 1875, and soon thereafter small eateries began operating by the temple gate.

The people of Kee-lung made their livings mainly from fishing, coal mining and dock labor. "With coal being carried in by rail from the mines and fishermen bringing their catches to market each morning, laborers of all kinds packed the market streets surrounding Dianji Temple," notes Tsao.

According to the childhood memories of the second-generation stall operators, food stalls lined both sides of the temple square in the latter years of Japanese rule, selling congee, side dishes, adzuki bean soup, shaved ice desserts, fried noodles and meat-filled rice dumplings. Outside the temple square were numerous stalls featuring two long wooden benches fixed to the ground with four bamboo poles attached, from which hung a canvas tarp to keep off the rain. Vendors with pushcarts and mobile stalls plied their trades here.

After the Japanese left, the population increased as the economy grew, and with it the number of mobile carts on Ren 3rd Road. In Kee--lung's rainy climate, moving the stalls around was incommodious, so vendors made deals with shop owners, who agreed to let them move their stalls into the arcade space outside their shops. As time passed they became fixed stalls, 64 altogether.

Over six decades old, Miaokou Night Market offers old-time cuisine,such as richly seasoned dingbiansuo (below) and value-for-money bite-sized sausages (facing page, bottom). The stall owners wear uniforms, and the signs are clearly marked in Chinese, Japanese and English.

Unlike other Taiwan night markets, Miao-kou Night Market operates 24 hours a day. You can come and sate your cravings any time of day or night.

In his younger days, Xie Wen-xian, currently chief representative of the food and beverage vendors at Miaokou Night Market, worked as a ship hand for 10 years before returning in 1985 to take over the stall his father left to him. This stall, selling braised pork rice, rib soup and side dishes, was run by his older brother by day. Later, when the older brother fell ill, Xie's younger brother took over. Now Xie himself and his wife handle the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift.

Xie's father came from Shilin in Taipei. During the Japanese era, he moved to Kee-lung to work at a relative's suit store, and after the war he started street vending as a means to provide for his 10 children. Today this stall remains the source of livelihood for the two brothers.

"Miao-kou eateries are the kitchen of the people of Kee-lung," says Tsao. In Tsao's view, Miao-kou is home to many old stalls that have stood the test of time, such as those selling tempura, sparerib thick soup and braised eel, "nutritious sandwiches," one-bite sausages, and pao-pao ice.

Time has marched on, and now though Kee-lung Harbor is no longer as prosperous as it was long ago, the "rainy city" is still known far and wide for its pulsing, thrilling Miao-kou Night Market.

Over six decades old, Miaokou Night Market offers old-time cuisine,such as richly seasoned dingbiansuo (below) and value-for-money bite-sized sausages (facing page, bottom). The stall owners wear uniforms, and the signs are clearly marked in Chinese, Japanese and English.