A few months ago, Witch Cloud (巫雲), a cultural fixture frequented by artists, writers, vagabonds and wannabe rebels in the Shida (師大) neighborhood, quietly moved to a brighter and more comfortable location in the Taida (台大) area. The Yunnan cuisine, the collection of vinyl records and the long-haired, bearded proprietor nicknamed Lao Wu (老五) - who grew up in Myanmar but has called Taipei home for the past 30 years - remain the same.
An old apartment with a small front yard, the new location seems to be a hangout for the idiosyncratic owner's friends. Inside, a wall of pop, rock, jazz and classical LPs, plus 20,000 records out back await their turn under the needle. Curios and antiques decorate the dining space, and the rustic wooden tables and chairs add a homey feel.
Born and raised in a family that came from Yunnan Province, China, Lao Wu is adept at cooking up the region's strong flavors. The menu offers some 20 dishes with exotic names like tea salad (涼拌苦茶) and Yunnan papaya chicken (雲南木瓜雞).
PHOTO: HO YI, TAIPEI TIMES
For first-time patrons, Lao Wu's younger brother and wait staff are likely to suggest letting the chef decide what goes onto the table depending on the number of diners and the degree of spiciness they favor.
On a recent visit, my dining partner and I had the pickles fried with pork (醃菜炒肉), Yunnan pig skin salad (雲南大薄片) and curried chicken (咖哩雞). Not particularly good with spicy food, I felt an explosion of intense flavors with each mouthful, but quickly adapted and was soon wanting more. The curry chicken was notable for its melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Witch Cloud remains open as long as Lao Wu and his friends are enjoying a good meal, conversation and drink. Beers and spirits flow freely into the early hours, and Lao Wu is always willing to bring more dishes out from the kitchen, even well after midnight.
Music aficionados should not be shy as it's easy to make friends with the regulars via the turntable in the DJ booth.
A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 percent. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age — and what we can do about it. “It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had