Cozy neighborhood pub Bobwundaye is now serving brunch on Sundays from 11am to 6pm. The English breakfast — eggs, baked beans, bacon and sausage — costs NT$330 and includes refillable coffee or tea. Bobwundaye is located near Liuzhangli MRT Station (六張犁捷運站) at 26, Ln 38, Chongde St, Taipei City (台北市崇德街38巷26號). Tel: (02) 2377-1772.
Over in the Shida area, JB’s, will be offering drink specials during the holidays, as well as a set Christmas dinner that includes roast turkey, roast beef and all the trimmings, and traditional British trifle, between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26. Reservations are required for the set menu (NT$799), which will be served after 6pm. JB’s is located at 148, Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路). Tel: (02) 2364-8222.
For those looking for something a bit different for their yuletide repast, La Casita (愛咪媽美食坊), one of Taipei’s oldest and best Mexican restaurants, will be serving tamales (NT$150 each) from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. Reservations are not required but supplies are limited, as it takes three days to prepare a batch. La Casita, also known as Amy’s Kitchen, is located near the intersection of Changan East (長安東) and Songjiang (松江) roads at 7, Ln 64, Songjiang Rd, Taipei City (台北市松江路64巷7號). Tel: (02) 2531-9246.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
Many Taiwanese have a favorable opinion of Japan, in part because Taiwan’s former colonial master is seen as having contributed a great deal to the development of local industries, transportation networks and institutions of education. Of course, the island’s people were never asked if they wanted to be ruled by Tokyo or participate in its modernization plans. From their arrival in 1895 until at least 1902, the Japanese faced widespread and violent antagonism. Things then calmed down, relatively speaking. Even so, between 1907 and 1916 there were eleven anti-Japanese revolts. A map in the National Museum of Taiwan History (國立臺灣歷史博物館)