Located on the 38th floor of the Far Eastern Plaza hotel, this sky
lounge guarantees a panoramic view of Taipei to enjoy while sipping
luxurious champagne and taking in the smell of Cuban cigars to the sound
of mellow jazz.
Entering the arc-shaped lounge, one first notices the two-story
ceilings, the bay windows and the long, hanging beige curtains. The
setting simply begs one to settle into the low, comfy chairs and stare
out the windows. On clear days, one can see as far as the Grand Hotel to
the north and even the red Kuantu Bridge crossing the Tamsui River.
The view is not the only attraction of this five-star hotel bar. The
decor is in the European royal chamber style, as is the food and
beverage service. Bartender Salim Khory, from the classy Savoy Hotel in
London, has designed a special drink menu for the lounge, which makes
the Far Eastern Plaza the only place in Taiwan to have Savoy-class
drinks.
According to service manager Alan Yau (邱傳濤), the dry Martini remains
the house favorite. Other popular drinks also include the Tender Love, a
Malibu- and pineapple-flavored cocktail, the Blushing Monarch, a fruity
drink originally designed for Princess Diana, and the Savoy.com. Among
the champagne cocktails, the Peach Royal has a nice balance of sweet and
sour flavors, with champagne, peach juice and liqueur.
The bar is open from 11am until 1am and serves lunch, English afternoon
tea and dinner. The busiest time at the bar is after 8pm. There is a
minimum charge of NT$580. The chocolate buffet (NT$450) is this month's
special promotion, featuring dozens of original chocolate desserts. The
special for next month will be an oyster and caviar buffet.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located