How to order at a Taiwanese buffet (zizhucan)
4 min read · Updated 2026-10
Not all-you-can-eat: a Taiwanese buffet, or zizhucan (自助餐), is a canteen where you pick dishes and pay for what is on your plate. It is one of the cheapest, fastest and most comfortable solo meals in Taiwan: most people eat alone, nobody expects you to share, and you never need to read a menu.
Step by step
- Take a plate or a takeaway box from the stack near the entrance. A box is fine even if you eat in.
- Pick your dishes. At some shops you use the shared tongs or spoons yourself; at others you point and staff serve you. Take as much or as little as you like; there is no fixed set.
- Go to the cashier. They price your plate by eye or by weight. Most solo plates cost about NT$100–200.
- Ask for rice at the cashier if it is not self-serve. Say 白飯 (bái fàn, white rice).
- Pay, usually in cash, then sit anywhere. Free soup is often in a pot by the wall.
Solo tip: Go around 11:30 for lunch or 5:30 for dinner. The dishes are freshest and seats are easy to find.
Good to know
- Cash is normal. Many buffets do not take cards. Some take EasyCard.
- Staff are quick, not chatty. At lunch the line moves fast and staff may sound abrupt. That is normal, not rude: just point and nod.
- Check the hours. Many buffets close between lunch and dinner (often about 14:00–16:30), and some close on weekends.
- Meat and fish cost more than vegetables, so a plate heavy on meat can push the price up.
- Tell them dine-in or takeaway if asked: they may give you a box either way.
- Vegetarian buffets (素食自助餐) are common and clearly signed — a good pick if you do not eat meat.