With several restaurant ventures already under his belt, including the successful Alleycat’s pizza chain in Taipei, Alan Pontes is at it again. “I wanted to do something completely different,” says the Capetown native. He will certainly please Taipei diners in search of a fresh twist on Western fare with his latest establishment, Yuma Southwestern Grill.
Customers are greeted with a spacious dining room that holds 120 people and is painted in earthy yellows and reds. The Southwestern theme had long been in the back of Pontes’ mind, as he often traveled through the region by train from Los Angeles to Chicago during his college years in the US. When the chance to start a new restaurant in Taipei came up, three words popped up in his mind: “clean, fresh and dry.”
Add festive to that list. Barbecued chicken, ribs, and prawns are the main offerings at Yuma, served in large portions for people to share — a nod to local dining sensibilities and an idea he thinks will resonate with Western clientele. “That’s what I found at Alleycat’s. People had a lot more fun when they shared their food,” he says.
But lone diners need not fear. I found a hearty meal in the half portion of baby back ribs (NT$370), which comes with a side of coleslaw and long-grained rice. Basted in a cranberry and honey sauce, the meat was succulent and tangy and slid off the bone easily. The ribs are also available with two other sauces: a “dry rub,” made of herb seasoning, or “peri-peri,” made with chili peppers.
These choices, along with a rosemary and lime sauce, are also available with the grilled chicken at NT$220 for a half portion or NT$390 for a whole. The chicken and ribs are marinated for 24 hours in a citrus and herb seasoning, roasted slowly in an oven, then cooked on a flame grill upon order, Pontes says.
Such homemade goodness appears across the menu, even down to the coleslaw (NT$90 a la carte). Yuma’s unique recipe has a zesty lemon-based dressing and cranberries.
Porky’s pulled pork nachos (NT$240) could also be a meal by itself. The nachos arrive as a bed of freshly made tortilla chips, pulled pork, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, onions and jalapenos, topped with melted Monterey jack cheese, corn salsa and sour cream. The dish can also be ordered with shredded chicken (NT$220) or without meat (NT$200).
It’s worth looking at the extensive menu on Yuma’s Web site before visiting so as not to get overwhelmed. Although it lists combination ideas for parties of two to eight people, couples seem at a disadvantage with only three suggestions provided. Pontes says he’s already working on a new menu layout and is planning to add burritos to the lunch menu, which includes tortilla wraps ranging from NT$150 to NT$195. More vegetarian options are also in the works.
All in all, Yuma offers value for your money, especially for large parties, and then some. There’s no service charge and the drinks are inexpensive: Corona is NT$100 per bottle; Hoegaarden on tap is NT$130 for a 250ml serving; and margaritas are NT$390 per pitcher.
Make sure to save room for the Tijuana vanilla and lime flan (NT$120), a specialty of Yuma’s chef, Ronald Chan (陳福新). The tanginess of the lime adds a refreshing touch to this creamy custard dessert.
Yuma Southwestern Grill is located near Toasteria and Alleycat’s on Zhongxiao East Road. To get there by the MRT, go to the Zhongxiao-Dunhua station (on the blue line), leave the station at Exit No. 3, and walk straight ahead along Zhongxiao East Road. Turn right at Lane 248, just before Yanji Street (延吉街). Make a right on the alley just past Mary’s Hamburgers.
May 26 to June 1 When the Qing Dynasty first took control over many parts of Taiwan in 1684, it roughly continued the Kingdom of Tungning’s administrative borders (see below), setting up one prefecture and three counties. The actual area of control covered today’s Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The administrative center was in Taiwan Prefecture, in today’s Tainan. But as Han settlement expanded and due to rebellions and other international incidents, the administrative units became more complex. By the time Taiwan became a province of the Qing in 1887, there were three prefectures, eleven counties, three subprefectures and one directly-administered prefecture, with
It’s an enormous dome of colorful glass, something between the Sistine Chapel and a Marc Chagall fresco. And yet, it’s just a subway station. Formosa Boulevard is the heart of Kaohsiung’s mass transit system. In metro terms, it’s modest: the only transfer station in a network with just two lines. But it’s a landmark nonetheless: a civic space that serves as much more than a point of transit. On a hot Sunday, the corridors and vast halls are filled with a market selling everything from second-hand clothes to toys and house decorations. It’s just one of the many events the station hosts,
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world
RSS