Eating out in Taiwan doesn’t have to be costly or a chore – if you’re on a budget, have a big family or just want a cheap and cheerful meal, there is a Taiwan chain restaurant for you.
From delicious dumplings at Din Tai Fung to flavoursome food at TKK Chicken or Formosa Chang, there is a Taiwan chain restaurant or cafe to suit your tastes (and budget).
This post may contain affiliate links to tours and hotels. These help us earn a small commission at no additional charge to you.
Taiwan night markets will always be one of the best places for late night bites or cheap eats but eating in chain restaurants in Taiwan can also keep your costs down.
As well as chains unique to Taiwan, we’ll also highlight some of the international chain restaurants in Taiwan (many of which are Japanese).
Here is our guide to the biggest and best Taiwan chain restaurants and cafes + photos.
You might like – The Taiwanderers food and drink hub including lots of night market guides >
Taiwan checklist
We love using agoda.com and booking.com for researching and booking all our hotels, and Hostelworld for booking hostels.
For booking tours, transfers and SIM cards/eSIMs we recommend Get Your Guide, Viator, KK Day or Klook. You can also purchase eSIMs from Airalo.
For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars.
Taiwan’s top chain restaurants
Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐
We start our Taiwan chain restaurant list with perhaps the one that is best known overseas (and certainly the one discussed the most) in our Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) Facebook group – Din Tai Fung.
Trying Din Tai Fung’s 鼎泰豐 delicious soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) is a tasty Taiwan traveller rite of passage – with new Din Tai Fung restaurants popping up all over the world, there is no better place than to try them at the ‘source’ in Taiwan.
Given its popularity, don’t be surprised if you have to queue although they have a simple-to-use ticket waiting system and app; they’ve thought of everything! And you can even watch the dumpling masters at work in the kitchen, creating xiao long bao before your very eyes.
If you visit Taipei, head to the original Din Tai Fung where it all began in 1958 on Yongkang Street, or discover over a dozen different outlets across the city, including several in Xinyi.
There are currently 10 Din Tai Fung restaurants in Taiwan and many more around the world.
From prices to the menu (plus lots of dumpling merchandise), check out our Din Tai Fung guide >
Join our Facebook Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) Group!
Need help with your Taiwan itinerary or have any questions? Head on over to the most fun and fastest growing Taiwan Facebook group with 80k+ members and ask the experts!
Click here to join our group >
TKK Fried Chicken 頂呱呱
Taiwan’s local version of KFC, TKK Chicken 頂呱呱 in Taiwan has been serving up fine fried fare since the 1970s – you’ll see it everywhere from huge restaurants to tiny little kiosks in stations.
We’ve dined at TKK Chicken a couple of times, once in Taoyuan Airport on our way out of Taiwan (what a send-off!) plus at Zuoying Station before getting on the Sanrio themed train.
TKK Chicken have a handful of set chicken combos (chicken wings, chicken burgers, roasted chicken etc) plus are served up with sweet potato fries.
At the time of writing, there are around 50 TKK Fried Chicken chain restaurants in Taiwan – all of which are ‘clucking’ tasty!
You might like – Our guide to Taiwan’s best night markets and Taipei’s best night markets
Bah Fang Yun Ji 八方雲集
Bah Fang Yun Ji 八方雲集 is likely Taiwan’s biggest dumpling chain restaurant (pot stickers) with around 1,000 dumpling joints all over Taiwan.
We have a love / hate relationship with Bah Fang Yun Ji dumpling restaurants – when we first started visiting Taiwan many years ago, we visited a LOT of Bah Fang dumpling stores as it was easy to order, they are VERY cheap and you’ll always find one close to your Taiwan hotel.
However, we now realise these might not be the best dumplings but they are fine if you are hungry after a day of sightseeing and just want quick food.
Pot stickers are the main dish (you can choose from several flavours plus fried or steamed – usually NT$6 to NT$10 a dumpling) plus oodles of noodle dishes. You pay per pot sticker / dumpling and Bah Fang Yun Ji restaurants are usually very busy.
You might like – Our guide to Taiwan’s best themed cafes and restaurants >
Dain Dain Burgers 丹丹漢堡七賢店 (Southern Taiwan)
A local southern Taiwan burger and fast food chain, we had our first bite of Dain Dain 丹丹漢堡七賢店 burgers in Kaohsiung. Kind of like a Taiwan McDonalds, you order at the serving hatch and then are served up your meals a few minutes later.
Popular with local families (expect big queues at the weekend), the branch we visited near Sanfeng temple in Kaohsiung was so busy so we reckoned it must be good.
From hamburgers and fried chicken to congee and corn soup, this is fast-food Taiwan style. Most combos cost between NT$100 to NT$120 including a main, side (like fries) and a drink.
You might like – Our first timers guide to Taiwan and Taipei >
Formosa Chang 鬍鬚張
One of the best known traditional Taiwanese restaurant chains, Formosa Chang 鬍鬚張 started life as a braised pork rice stall at Shuanglian Market in Taipei in 1960.
Known for its iconic bearded man logo, Formosa Chang’s identity was inspired by the stall owner’s penchant for growing a beard as he had so little sleep and time to himself, as his pork rice stall became so busy – Beard Chang became Formosa Chang.
Braised pork rice is one of Taiwan’s staple dishes and whilst a chain restaurant might not be the best place to try it, this is affordable food with lots of traditional Taiwanese lunchbox style set menus and a dozen side dish choices.
Serving up soups, chicken and hot pots (not forgetting braised pork), Formosa Chang is a formidable choice when dining out on the cheap.
You might like – Our 1 day Taipei itinerary or 3 day Taipei itinerary
Laya Burger 拉亞漢堡
Taiwan’s chain burger restaurant, Laya Burger 拉亞漢堡 has been around for over 20 years and has over 470 restaurants as of March 2025 – it is one of the biggest chain restaurants in Taiwan.
Laya Burger is obviously famous for its burgers but it also does some very interesting breakfast foods like matcha cream bagels. As well as American style food, it serves up Italian fare like pasta and risotto.
It is also famous for its brunch menu especially their ‘thousand layers’ egg roll pancakes including a sweet Kit Kat Banana pancake roll!
You might like – the cult of Taiwanese egg caramel pudding >
MWD / My Warm Day Taiwan 麥味登
One of Taiwan’s biggest breakfast restaurant chains, MWD (which stands for My Warm Day) 麥味登 has 13 locations across Taiwan including Taipei, Keelung, Taichung and Taoyuan.
MWD’s first cafe opened in 1987 in Dadaocheng District in Taipei and is famous for its set meals and combo deals – particularly popular for brunch, MWD has a wide range of sandwiches, salads and burgers on its menu plus hot drinks galore.
A bit like a Starbucks or Komeda Coffee in Japan, this is a cheap and cheerful way to start your day in Taiwan.
You might like – Our guide to Taipei’s best scallion pancakes on Yongkang Street >
Mei & Mei (美而美)
Taiwan traditional breakfasts served up chain restaurant style – that will do for me (Mei).
Mei & Mei (美而美) is a Taiwanese cafe chain that serves up all day dishes like burgers, pastas, salads and of course brunch style combo deals.
There are around 300 Mei & Mei (美而美) restaurants in Taiwan, complete with a weird doll logo!
You might like – Our guide to Kuai Kuai corn puffs, Taiwan’s ‘good luck’ snacks >
Smokey Joes
A little bit of Mexico in Taiwan, Smokey Joe’s is a banging burrito and top Taiwan taco joint with locations in southern cities like Kaohsiung, Kenting and Taichung.
Western food served up on big plates, Smokey Joe’s Taiwan menu is over 50 pages long so you might want to ‘taco’ your time when browsing it – this tasty Tex Mex joint has been around for over 12 years – there is even a Smokey Joe’s Hotel in Kaohsiung!
Monga
An honorary mention to Monga fried chicken which we think is much better than TKK Chicken or the more famous Hotstar chicken. They have branches all over Taipei including Ximending and Linjiang Night Market but it is takeout only so not really a restaurant.
You might like – Our guide to the best themed 7-Elevens in Taipei and themed 7-Elevens in Kaohsiung
International Chain Restaurants in Taiwan
Obviously you’ll likely want to be trying local Taiwanese food most of the time but sometimes, you just want a break or a culinary change. Some of the biggest international restaurant chains in Taiwan include:
Chain Sushi Restaurants in Taiwan – Kura Sushi, Sushiro and Sushi Express
These are the big three conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Taiwan – prices are similar in all of them.
Sushiro sometimes does local Taiwan tie-ins like the recent Bugcat Capoo store takeover (Bugcat Capoo is a Taiwanese cartoon alien cat with several themed Foam Cat cafes and even a themed 7-Eleven).
Marugame
A Japanese udon noodle chain, Marugame has lots of Taiwan shopping mall restaurant branches.
We love Marugame Seimen because it serves up super inexpensive bowls of udon noodles (with veggie options available), katsu curry and top tempura too.
Saizeriya
A little bit of Italy via Japan, Saizeriya is a cheap and cheerful Italian chain restaurant which is popular with younger diners, families and tourists (possibly not Italians though).
Amazingly, there are over 1,100 Saizeriya Italian restaurants in Japan and Taiwan has a few too including a popular one next to UNIQLO in Ximending, Taipei.
Food quality is OK and the pizzas, pasta and wine are ridiculously cheap.
Sukiya
Welcome to Japan’s biggest gyudon / beef bowl restaurant chain, now in Taiwan . Big beef bowls are their signature dish plus you can eat cheap curry rice and inexpensive set meals.
International burger restaurant chains
We won’t dwell on this too much but just to say Taiwan has lots of international burger chains including McDonalds, MOS Burger from Japan plus Burger King.
Found this Taiwan chain restaurant article helpful?
You can follow Taiwanderers on:
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
Join our Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) Facebook group >
