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Restaurant: Bobwundaye

By David Momphard
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jan 16, 2004, Page 19

Aussie meat pie with a side of spicy sausage paves the way for another beer. PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES

It's maybe a little unusual to include a bar in a restaurant column, but occasionally someone will hang a shingle outside a new establishment that warrants a mention. Bobwundaye is such an establishment and the someone hanging the shingle is none other than Cathy Chiou, whom barflies may know better by her past incarnation, "Cathy at DV8."

For the unfamiliar, DV8 is one of the city's longest-running pubs (not to be confused with those establishments that serve beer with ice). For years it served as the penultimate square in a hopscotch of drinking holes that included 45, Spin, Roxy Plus (now Roxy 99), DV8 and Roxy Vibe in its previous location. Every Friday and Saturday night, the sidewalks connecting these locations became strewn with empty bottles and cans, cigarette butts and a few fallen comrades.

Not long ago, DV8 held a special, smoke-filled place in the hearts of barflies and was abuzz throughout the week. Cathy earned a special place, too, dispensing tequila like medicine to legions of battle-worn English teachers. Her departure has robbed the old barhopping circuit of the last of its charms and left behind only the bottles, cans and fallen comrades, who are wondering where Cathy went.

Answer: Bobwundaye, where she's transcended the role of barmaid and become the boss (She wears the role well, too; standing several centimeters taller behind her new bar.)

Less than a month old, Bobwundaye offers all the trappings of a pub without the smoke-stained walls. At 14 ping, it's intimate to say the least, but a nice design and even nicer company make it more cozy than cramped. The menu, scratched on a board above the bar, consists of several sausages, excellent fries and some very tasty meat pies -- all served with the same friendliness and honesty that those who know Cathy take for granted. "Don't eat the chicken," she says. "It's not so good." All the pub grub runs around NT$100 to NT$150.

But of course the grub exists mostly to allow you to drink more and it's here that Bobwundaye wins the audience. From 9pm to 11pm, Heineken is 50 percent off at NT$60 per bottle, with other drinks specials later.
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