When the first Cafe Bastille opened off Shida Road (20, Ln 60, Taishun St, Taipei City,台北市泰順街60巷20號) nearly six years ago, people went there for the Belgium beer and the slightly artistic and alternative vibe. It has since expanded with a second location near National Taiwan University (91 Wenzhou St, Taipei City, 台北市溫州街91號) and last month opened its third, on Wenzhou Street near the corner with Heping East Road (和平東路).
This expansion has seen facilities upgraded, but in other areas Cafe Bastille has dropped the ball.
The space itself at the newest addition is appealing, with big windows and a narrow veranda to make the most of sunny days. Tables are nicely spaced, giving some level of privacy, and the mismatched contemporary furnishings show a good eye for design. The menu is large, but unfortunately variety does not make up for quality.
There is breakfast, there is afternoon tea, there are quick meals ranging from Thai lemon fish to meatballs, there are finger foods, sweets, Belgian beer, cocktails, wine and numerous varieties of coffee and tea — all designed for quick, easy preparation, which is evident in what comes to the table.
While it is certain that the Belgian beers, which constitute one of Cafe Bastille’s principle appeals, are unaffected, the meals (from NT$170) are so obviously out of a packet that I was somewhat aghast. “Brazen” is the word that came to mind.
There is a plenitude of “coffee shops” that sell pre-packaged food around the Shida area, but most make some effort, no matter how pathetic, to disguise or at least decorate the contents of the can (or packet) of food they serve. Bastille III is above, or below, such deception. It didn’t help that the staff didn’t know how to operate a microwave, serving up a plate of barbeque meatballs and penne that was partially cold. This discovery was particularly galling as I only dug into the meatballs after overcoming a very real abhorrence to the sight of the slimy khaki substance that was supposed to be the gravy.
Japanese teppanyaki, Italian lasagna and French seafood paella round out this international tour de farce. The tapas menu, which is how the range of finger foods was described, includes popcorn (NT$150), mozzarella sticks (NT$280), a variety of cocktails and, of course, Belgian beer. Service was minimalist, though a member of staff was kind enough to point out the conveniently situated power sockets so that I could use my laptop. The Wi-Fi connection was excellent, and the coffee adequate.
As a place for drinks with friends, the pleasant, airy space and the huge menu have a certain appeal, but the sophistication of Bastille III extends no further than the decoration and beer.
The restaurant/bar has a basement area that can be used for small performances and exhibitions.
And so, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), all the experts on the Strait of Hormuz suddenly became experts on US-China-Taiwan relations. The Internet has certainly expanded human knowledge. Lots of these sudden experts made noise this week about Trump’s words after the meeting with PRC dictator Xi Jin-ping (習近平). Trump is going to sell out Taiwan! Longtime Taiwan commentator J. Michael Cole summed the situation up neatly in the Guardian: “We need to keep in mind that he has a tendency to say many things — sometimes contradicting himself within
There is considerable frustration and confusion among many, both in Taiwan and abroad — including in Washington — as to why the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) seems so dead set on using their legislative leverage to slash defense spending and disrupt the ability of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to function. Are they pawns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Are they traitors? In reality, there are multiple reasons. In the first column in this series on this subject, “Donovan’s Deep Dives: How and why the TPP and KMT help Beijing” (Sat May 16, page 12), we examined three
It took 12 years and months of standing in the same mountain location for director Liang Chieh-te (梁皆得) to capture a few seconds of footage: Taiwan’s largest resident raptor locking talons with its mate and spinning through the air in a courtship ritual. With only about 1,000 left in the wild and very short flight windows, the mountain hawk-eagle remains among Taiwan’s most elusive birds. The species generally produces only one offspring per year. Using forest cameras, the film crew and research teams document the arduous process the monogamous pairs go through for the chick to hatch and grow up, weathering
May 25 to May 31 Few believed that apples could be cultivated on a commercial scale in Taiwan’s high mountains. When horticulturalist Cheng Chao-hsiung (程兆熊) first proposed the idea in 1955, both American and Taiwanese colleagues dismissed it as implausible, arguing that temperate fruit could not be reliably grown on a subtropical island, especially on rugged terrain. However, it was this terrain in the Central Mountain Range where many Chinese Civil War veterans were resettled in the late 1950s. With limited job prospects and no family in Taiwan, they were placed on cooperative farms aimed toward self-sufficiency. Some say the conditions
RSS