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Feature: Taking a trip down memory lane

A Taipei shop that claims to be the "paradise of shaved ice" is, additionally, a place to search for times gone by.

If you walk along Chengde Road (承德路) at night it's easy to be attracted by the eye-catching neon sign outside a place called Taiwan's Paradise of Shaved Ice (台灣冰樂園). The sign may be an evocative reminder for some of Taipei's middle-aged residents of their childhoods.

The place occupies two storefronts; one decorated as a street scene from 1960s Taiwan, and the other as the interior of an ordinary living room from the same era.

Growing up in Ruifang (瑞芳), a small seaside town not far from Taipei, owner Chien Yi-ming (簡意明) often missed his childhood life and the traditional desserts he enjoyed in his hometown.

"I like to eat, and I like old stuff that's why I decided to open this place," said Chien, who is in his 40s.

Having run a couple of other successful restaurants, the owner decided to open his latest venture in a quest to recreate his childhood memories in May last year.

Items on the simple menu include bean curd pudding, red bean soup, muachi, and, of course, shaved ice, although this is only served in the summer.

Having learned the recipes for his mouth-watering delights from his parents, hometown neighbors and friends, Chien makes most of the items on the menu himself.

"I grind the glutinous rice myself and knead the dough to make it into muachi (sweet glutinous rice balls)" Chien said.

It takes about a day to make 12kg of muachi, he added.

"I could have bought ready-prepared peanuts and red beans in cans," he said, "but that wouldn't taste as good."

Instead, he cooks the beans for one to two hours himself.

Chien insists on making desserts according to traditional methods, because to him, it's the only way to recreate the "taste of the past."

This nostalgia is not only found in the food.

Golden oldies blared from a 1940s radio, next to which is a phonograph, sitting on an old television set.

"All the furniture is from my personal collection," said Chien, who is also an enthusiastic antique collector.

To make the retrospective experience perfect, Chien chose to open his Paradise at a spot with only a limited flow of potential customers.

"I could have opened this place in a night market, but it's too fast-paced there," he said.

The pace of life during his childhood was slow.

"The desserts here are delicious, and the decoration, the atmosphere of the past, is really special," said Cherry Tao (陶慧倩), a first-time customer, "I'll definitely come again."

"When you walk into this place, you feel like you've travelled through a time tunnel," Chen Chien-hau (陳建豪), another customer said. "I really like it."

"I was first attracted by the decoration," another customer who wished to remain anonymous said. "But then I was amazed by the delicious food."

A neighbor came down from upstairs to order items to carry out. His little daughter ran around the place and played with a cat in the store.

"The taste of the past isn't just about the food or the decoration," Chien said, "most importantly, it's about people."

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