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Restaurant: Tin Tom

Chow down on a chili-dog, cheese fries and an Oreo shake at Tin Tom. PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES

The menu says "established in 1995" but you might assume it was 1959. Located in an alley off the Chunghsiao East-Tunhua South shopping district, Tin Tom is an Art Deco oasis in a desert of look-alike lunch spots. The red vinyl booths, chrome stools and pop-kitsch mementos alone set this diner apart, and one look at the cholesterol-clogged menu and you know you've come to the right place. The only thing Tin Tom is missing are a few poodle skirts.

Tin Tom is a scaled-down version of the many back-to-the-50s diners that sprang up in the US in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For a nation beginning to grieve the McDonaldization of its restaurants, these establishments proved popular -- not only for their retro design, but for their simple menus as well. The same is true of Tin Tom.

Burgers start at a modest NT$90 for what must be at least a quarter pound beef patty. Add cheese to that and it comes in at an even NT$100. Want mushrooms? Add NT$10. Bacon? NT$20. Only when you get gluttonous, adding a second beef patty, cheese and bacon, does the burger start to bite into your wallet (NT$170). If burgers aren't your thing, you've come to the wrong place. Nonetheless, there are a small variety of sandwiches available: chicken, pork and a "fried drumstick" sandwich.

Address: 51, Lane 223, Chunghsiao E. Rd., Sec. 4, Taipei (台北市忠孝東路四段223巷51號) Telephone:(02) 2772-3958 Open: Noon to midnight Average meal:NT$250 per person Details: Chinese and English menus. Credit cards accepted

Of course, no respectable grease pit can keep dogs off the menu. Tin Tom serves up a tasty chili-dog (NT$100) or beef-dog (NT$110) that comes happily nestled in a toasted sourdough bun. As the chili and beef are heated in a broiler in tandem with the toasting of the bun, you often either get chilly chili or a burnt bun. Tell whoever is behind the counter to make it right: heat up the chili separate from the dog and bun, then put it on top. Be dour about your dog! While you're at it, ask what's up with the half-booths.

Four set meals are available, though not priced to be particularly economical. A burger, chicken sandwich, double cheeseburger or "drumstick sandwich" with either Coke or iced tea are priced between NT$150 and NT$190 -- not much less than if you bought the two separately. If you want to add fries to the set you have to add NT$40 to it as well. They could easily afford to price these set meals better with the money they saved by giving you only half a booth.

Perhaps the best reason for coming to Tin Tom, though, are the beverages. Carbonated varieties of course start with the obligatory Coke or Sprite (NT$80), but nothing washes down grease quite like A&W Root Beer ... except maybe an A&W Root Beer float! Milk shakes and smoothies look like candy when brought to the table in traditional diner-style stemware, and somehow taste even better when listening to the Mamas and the Papas.
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