London Tea House offers an oasis of Anglophile tweeness among Taipei 101's designer boutiques and high-end restaurants. Located in the middle of the shopping center's fourth-floor City Square, the cafe, with its lovingly lit display of Spode tea sets and liberal use of flowery script, is charmingly quaint (or cloyingly precious, if your decorating tastes are more Philippe Starck than Laura Ashley).
Afternoon tea is served from 2pm to 5pm. The English Afternoon Tea service (NT$340) serves one person and comes with a dainty hazelnut-flavored cream tart, a finger sandwich and a scone, as well as a choice of beverage. Larger parties can order a Queen Anne Afternoon Tea (NT$680) or Victorian Tea Party (NT$1,360), which are versions of the English Afternoon Tea for two or four people, respectively.
The cafe's wide range of teas and coffee fills an expansive menu that looks like a children's picture book with Tiffany blue covers and watercolor illustrations. Presentation is clearly key - tea leaves are stored in indigo blue porcelain caddies that line sliding ebony shelves, and the cafe's herbal teas (NT$240 per pot) have been christened with names like "Spring of Youth," "My Fair Lady" and "Story of Lyric Rose." The whole thing is enough to make even the most recalcitrant tomboy or jet-lagged tourist sit up straight in their leather seats with pinkies raised.
PHOTO: CATHERINE SHU, TAIPEI TIMES
For the ultimate London Tea House experience, skip the iced teas and coffee and order a pot of hot tea. The china teapot (with matching tea cup and saucer) is presented snugly wrapped in a Liberty-print tea cozy and comes with a little hourglass so you can count down the minutes for optimal steeping.
The food, however, might prove somewhat anti-climatic to afternoon tea connoisseurs. The scone (NT$180) is generously described as bite-sized and the texture of the cream it comes with is more whipped than clotted. The finger sandwich (NT$240) is baked ham-and-cheese, and heavier and greasier than the usual cucumber or watercress sandwiches.
Sugarphobes might have better luck with the Elevenses Tea (NT$320), which is served from 11am to 6pm and comes with a choice of vegetable, tomato with herb, or smoked salmon sandwiches. The latter is especially good - thin slices of flavorful fish, crispy lettuce, sliced tomato and Dijon mustard nestled between layers of fresh white bread (crustless, of course). Likewise, those averse to savories can order the Hampton Garden Afternoon Tea (NT$320), which comes with a choice of cake. All items in the tea services are available a la carte.
You should try to come earlier in the afternoon if you want to order anything besides a pot of fresh brewed tea - a Darjeeling iced tea (NT$180) this reviewer had on a separate visit after regular tea service had ended was so oversteeped it would have probably made a satisfactory leather tanner.
Judged on its own merits and presentation, however, London Tea House's afternoon tea service is more than satisfactory if you are a tea lover, have a latent fetish for cabbage-rose motifs or simply want to take a break from shopping and people watch while enjoying a nice cuppa.
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