International cities have great cafes. They are places to hang out, enjoy a sandwich, some coffee or even a glass of wine -- and watch the busy world of matchstick office men and women outside.
Taipei does not have a cafe culture -- or if it does it's recent and predicated on Starbucks -- and about the only place you can enjoy fresh juice and a decent sandwich is one of the upscale hotels. CitySky is a small chain of cafes, with outlets in Minsheng East Road and Dunhua South Road, that aims to fill the cafe culture gap.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
Started five years ago by Vickie Wu (
"I sense that with the big cities there are a lot of similarities and Taipei is getting there [in respect of a cafe culture]. A lot of Taiwanese have studied abroad and they often acquire a love of the culture," Wu says, adding she also adapts to local tastes.
"We didn't want to make just any kind of sandwiches. That's why they are pannini style. Locals like the bread softer so we don't squash it in the toaster [as is done elsewhere], unless of course you want it done that way."
You can choose one of three breads for your sandwich, including nutty, brown Italian focaccia, french bread and shaobing (
The spicy Caribbean chicken (NT$100) was not too much for this delicate palate. On the contrary, it was a little bland and could have done with something a little more ... Caribbean. Western-style, it came with focaccia bread, iceberg lettuce and tomato. There was an option to take the "set" -- for an extra NT$20 -- and this means either soup or salad. Wu says she is on a mission to get more Taiwanese men to eat salads, but the soup of the day was homemade carrot and obviously the best choice on a damp and chilly day.
In addition, there are homemade desserts, which tend toward the pretty Japanese pastry type rather than the heavy New York cheesecake or quadruple-chocolate variety. Coffees range from a reasonable NT$60 and there is a also good selection of wines from Australia, France and California, by the bottle or glass, all at reasonable prices.
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Perched on Thailand’s border with Myanmar, Arunothai is a dusty crossroads town, a nowheresville that could be the setting of some Southeast Asian spaghetti Western. Its main street is the final, dead-end section of the two-lane highway from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city 120kms south, and the heart of the kingdom’s mountainous north. At the town boundary, a Chinese-style arch capped with dragons also bears Thai script declaring fealty to Bangkok’s royal family: “Long live the King!” Further on, Chinese lanterns line the main street, and on the hillsides, courtyard homes sit among warrens of narrow, winding alleyways and
RSS