If you have a burning desire to pull on a poodle skirt and slip on some saddle shoes for Halloween, you will find the ideal mid-1950s Americana backdrop for your costume at Tom’s Diner in Taipei’s East District (東區). But if you are looking for a tasty sandwich, you might want to head to Toasteria next door.
It’s not that the food at Tom’s Diner is bad — it’s OK if you want a quick fix of American-style grub. But prices are slightly high for the ordinary diner fare (the menu includes the usual assortment of omelets, hamburgers and milk shakes) and the main point of the restaurant seems to be its decor, which includes banquettes upholstered in candy red and white stripes, vintage ads, rows of toys and Major League Baseball games projected onto a wall.
We started our lunch with nachos and salsa, envisioning a plate of crunchy toasted tortilla chips with a giant heap of chunky, spicy salsa. What came was mild, watery salsa, served in a tiny cup, and stale chips. Our sad appetizer, which I could very well have dug out of the back of my kitchen cupboards, was ridiculously overpriced at NT$130. My Tom Hamburger, topped with lettuce, pickles, onion and tomato, was cheaper at NT$100. Though toasted just right, the thick bun was a little too sweet. The beef patty had very little seasoning in it, but was reasonably thick and juicy.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
My companion’s reaction to his hot dog with beef sauce (NT$130) was slight confusion. The hot dog and bun were both ordinary, but the beef topping tasted oddly like spaghetti sauce. It wasn’t a bad combo, but spaghetti isn’t what comes to mind when you think of hot dogs.
On a separate visit, I tried the restaurant’s tuna salad (NT$200), which turned out to be a scoop of mayo-heavy canned tuna on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce, with a little cup of yet more mayonnaise on the side. There was so much mayo mixed into the tuna, in fact, that it became less of a tuna salad and more of a salad dressing with bits of tuna. This may be a boon for mayo lovers (at least the mayo wasn’t the sickeningly sweet variety), but it’s frustrating for people who just want to pretend that a tuna salad is healthful food.
Despite its lackluster menu, Tom’s Diner gets points for having Dr Pepper on its menu (NT$90), its cheerfully kitschy interior, playing sports broadcasts, its friendly staff (whose uniforms match the decor) and being named after a Suzanne Vega song.
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
There is perhaps no better way to soak up the last of Taipei’s balmy evenings than dining al fresco at La Piada with a sundowner Aperol Spritz and a luxuriant plate of charcuterie. La Piada (義式薄餅) is the brainchild of Milano native William Di Nardo. Tucked into an unassuming apartment complex, fairy lights and wining diners lead the way to this charming slice of laid-back Mediterranean deli culture. Taipei is entirely saturated with Italian cuisine, but La Piada offers something otherwise unseen on the island. Piadina Romagnola: a northern Italian street food classic. These handheld flatbreads are stuffed with cold
Oct. 14 to Oct. 20 After working above ground for two years, Chang Kui (張桂) entered the Yamamoto coal mine for the first time, age 16. It was 1943, and because many men had joined the war effort, an increasing number of women went underground to take over the physically grueling and dangerous work. “As soon as the carts arrived, I climbed on for the sake of earning money; I didn’t even feel scared,” Chang tells her granddaughter Tai Po-fen (戴伯芬) in The last female miner: The story of Chang Kui (末代女礦工: 張桂故事), which can be found on the Frontline
In the tourism desert that is most of Changhua County, at least one place stands out as a remarkable exception: one of Taiwan’s earliest Han Chinese settlements, Lukang. Packed with temples and restored buildings showcasing different eras in Taiwan’s settlement history, the downtown area is best explored on foot. As you make your way through winding narrow alleys where even Taiwanese scooters seldom pass, you are sure to come across surprise after surprise. The old Taisugar railway station is a good jumping-off point for a walking tour of downtown Lukang. Though the interior is not open to the public, the exterior
RSS