Texas Roadhouse, a new addition to Taipei’s restaurant scene, is a US-based chain known for grilled steaks and a hot-and-loud, western-themed, family-friendly ambience.
For now, the vibe of the Taipei outlet seems less country and more glamorous. On my visit, the floors were spotless and the tables stocked with two silver buckets — one filled with complimentary peanuts and the other empty for peanut shells, probably intended to discourage the Texas Roadhouse tradition of tossing shells on the floor. Diners were mainly couples in their 30s, and there were no parents with children in sight.
In other ways, though, the restaurant looks like a Texas Roadhouse from anywhere else. At the entrance there’s an illuminated deli case where steaks sit and age. Walk further in and there’s a long sports bar and a familiar expanse of rich brown booths, surrounded by glass and a view of downtown Taipei.
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Texas Roadhouse focuses on USDA choice steak at a mid-market price point: There are several sirloins under NT$1,000, a 6oz filet at NT$850 and 10oz rib-eye at NT$960. The menu doesn’t have any entree options for vegetarians, though carnivores who don’t like steak can choose from a selection of barbecued ribs, crab cakes, fried fish and thw chicken burger. Servers in large numbers, all strikingly personable, rush about with a controlled ease. One brings complimentary bread to the table — sweet yeasty rolls baked in an oven you can see through a window — accompanied by a tub of slightly greasy but tasty cinnamon butter. Diners are also served unlimited roasted peanuts supplied from Hsinchu. The two can be a meal in themselves.
Orders arrive quickly and my steak, ordered medium, came rested and warm to the touch, with a lovely brown char and a faint pink center that ran with juice under the knife. You wouldn’t confuse it for Ruth’s Chris, but the quality was good for the price and had the characteristic flavorful fat-marbling of US beef.
All steaks come with two sides, and the options include sweet potato, various steamed vegetables, Texas red chili made from scratch, seasoned rice, baked potato and fries. Texas Roadhouse does a great sweet potato that’s packed with marshmallow and baked to a light mahogany crisp. The insides break open in a steamy puff and have an earthy yet creamy sweetness that is perfect with bacon or another salty, savory meat.
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Desserts are similar to those of TGI Fridays (pie, brownies and ice cream), and like TGI Fridays, Texas Roadhouse has an extensive bar menu that ranges from margaritas and Sauvignon Blanc (from Chile, NT$220 a glass) to Taiwan PA (台 PA), a lemony India pale ale brewed locally and served from draft taps.
Currently, the staff is American from the Texas Roadhouse headquarters and there are Taiwanese trainees — all of whom line up together in the aisles and dance to music periodically. It should be fun for children, and maybe there will be some soon. For now, this is a good place for watching a soccer game and exchanging views with the bartender, or enjoying a steak dinner in an uptown musical atmosphere for less than NT$1,000.
This Taipei outlet is Texas Roadhouse’s first foray into East Asia. Founded in 1993, the steakhouse chain has over 430 restaurants in the US and hopes to establish eight to 10 outlets in Taiwan by 2019, before moving into the China market.
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless