Near the intersection of Taipei's Yenping North Road and Minsheng West Road, Bolero restaurant is a reflection of the once-vibrant Tataocheng (
Bolero enjoys a huge reputation; when Taipei residents are asked about the restaurant, most have heard of it and some remember it as a matchmaking hub.
But like the character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Bolero and Tataocheng's heydays have passed.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The Bolero restaurant opened in 1934, and it was the top western-style diner in the 1950s and 1960s. But no one would recommend it as a top-class place to go anymore, although the restaurant still does good business.
"Twenty-five years ago, Bolero was still the leading restaurant in Taipei, doing even better than five-star hotels. There was no competition," restaurant manager Liao Tsung-chi (廖聰麒), who has worked there since 1967, said proudly.
"Bolero was not a restaurant for ordinary folks because of the prices, and people who came were always well-dressed and talked in low voices. Restaurants in major hotels would also send their people to us to learn about the business," he said.
Liao said that the restaurant used to host top businessmen, such as Formosa Plastics Group chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶).
"He doesn't come here anymore since it's difficult for a famous person to show up in a public place and not be recognized and bothered by others. But his third wife still dines here every now and then," Liao said.
Shipping tycoon Chang Yung-fa (
Even the so-called tang wai ("outside the party,"
Liao said that Huang Hsin-chieh (
"But of course these days young people have other choices, and the restaurant has become more a place for reminiscing," Liao said.
Indeed, with its slightly weathered exterior, plain white-and-blue billboard and unstylish blue sofa, Bolero has no visible glam to attract the young anymore.
Liao said that the restaurant now mostly hosts regular customers, and these customers often bring their relations.
"Now whenever I go to the restaurant, it's more for a taste of the past," said Yiu Chi-cheng (
Originally there was only one Bolero, but founder Liao Shui-lai (
"But both Boleros are well-known restaurants and popular matchmaking places," Yiu said.
And it is not just the restaurant that has a long history, its employees do too. Liao has worked there for more than 30 years, and 25-year-old waiter Lin Po-chi (
"Business is not as good as before with the economy slowing in recent years," Lin said.
Liao said that his experience in the restaurant proved to him the validity of the Taiwanese proverb, "Wealth can last no more than three generations."
"Sometimes I would see that certain customers or their descendents stop coming because they cannot afford to dine here any-more," Liao said.
Buildings similar to the one Bolero occupies are everywhere in the area of Tihua Street, made famous for its candies, snacks and food for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Most buildings are only three or four floors high, and the color of red bricks has faded, the white walls grayed.
Yet many buildings are also adorned with delicate engravings that cannot be seen on more modern constructions.
Tihua Street and Yenping North Road are a part of Tataocheng, a huge area along Tamshui River to the northwest of Taipei Main Station.
Tataocheng used to be Taipei's economic center before Japan's defeat in World War II, but now it is considered part of old Taipei.
Many famous local entrepre-neurs based their businesses in that area. Both Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Koo Chen-fu's (辜振甫) father, Koo Hsien-jung (辜顯榮), and Shinkong (新光) Group founder Wu Ho-shih (吳火獅) were respected tea merchants, while China Development chairwoman Diana Chen's (陳敏薰) family was in the textile business in the area.
"Tataocheng is a noble part of the past," said Tu Nien-ru (杜念魯), a 30-year-old Taipei resident. "But then again, Tihua Street is probably the only place in Taipei that can allow people to celebrate the Lunar New Year properly with its New Year goodies.
"The glory may be gone, but the area is a cultural treasure," Tu said.
"When you walk around that area, you do get the feeling of a rich tradition," he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching