Down Island: Dining and Drinking in the City of Tradition
Tainan offers plenty of pleasant places to relax over a good meal after a long day of sightseeing at forts and temples.
Tainan offers plenty of pleasant places to relax over a good meal after a long day of sightseeing at forts and temples. By Steven Crook After decades catering to an established upperclass and a gradually emerging local middleclass, Tainan's restaurateurs have in the last few years faced fresh challenges and found new opportunities, despite the economic slowdown. The growth of the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (TSBIP) and the construction of Taiwan's high-speed railway have brought in large numbers of Western expatriates, plus many well-heeled Taiwanese whose tastes and expectations have been shaped by years of living overseas.
Two Tainan establishments were included in a recent book of 22 exceptional restaurants compiled by the China Daily News, a Taipei-based Chinese-language newspaper. Both Somewhere In Time {27-11 Yunong Road. Tel: 06-2082936) and the Corner Caffe (12 Dasyue Road. Tel: 06-2754321) offer steaks, seafood, and other Western dishes in plush surroundings. Neither is cheap -- meals can cost several thousand NT dollars per person -- but both have strong followings.
More reasonably priced, and perhaps more distinctive, is Andi's Party Corner (223 Chongsyue Road, Tel.06-2893609). This four-year-old restaurant, run by Vienna native Andi Kux, is a carnivore's delight. Kux, a trained baker and butcher, makes a range of sausages and breads. Meals average NT$400 to NT$500 per person.
Kux, who worked in Taipei for several years before moving south, thinks Tainan is "one of the most difficult places in Taiwan [to run a restaurant], because the people here are much more conservative than in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, and spending habits are different." According to Kux, Tainan restaurants too often compete on price, rather than quality. But when asked to name his favorite local eateries, he immediately singles out the 30-year-old Wenzhou Da Wundun (238 Linsen Road, Section 2. Tel: 06-2006982) where, he says, the xiao-long-bao are every bit as good as any served in Taipei.
In Tainan, French cuisine has been more successful than Italian fare. In addition to Somewhere in Time and the Corner Caffe, one can try Nephi (111 Dongfeng Road, Tel. 06-2365880), near National Chengkung University Hospital.
Prices are significantly lower at France Verte, which recently moved to No. 7, Lane 86, Yidong Road, in the city's Eastern District (Tel. 06-2364655). A smallish place run by a Frenchman and his Taiwanese wife, France Verte's minute steaks have won quite a following among college students and some members of the foreign community.
Mention should be made of the Tayih Landis Hotel (660 Shimen Road, Section 1, Tel. 06-213555), Tainan's first -- and so far only -- five-star hotel. One of its more notable restaurants is The Market Place, which features a central open kitchen where chefs prepare Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, and Italian dishes. Also in the hotel, the New Asia Shabu Shabu Restaurant specializes in Japanese-style hotpots, while Takegawa offers more traditional Japanese cuisine. The Chinese Restaurant focuses on Cantonese seafood specialties. Reservations are recommended for all of these establishments.
Ethnic Options
Tainan hasn't seen a proliferation of inexpensive Thai and Vietnamese eateries like that enjoyed by the residents of Kaohsiung (perhaps because the rate of Taiwanese-Southeast Asian intermarriage in Tainan City is among the lowest in the country), but in terms of choices beyond the usual Chinese, Japanese, and Western fare, the city has come a long way in the past five years.
The number of businesses serving Turkish food in Taiwan can be counted on one hand. Tainan has an authentic example -- Turk Evi (229 Dongfeng Road; Tel. 06-2003617), which has been open for about a year and is managed by Kuo Yi-yi, a Taiwanese woman who grew up in Turkey. Kuo repeats the "ingredients-are-imported-to-ensure-authenticity" mantra delivered by many restaurant owners, but makes an interesting point -- if the citizens of Tainan, who are renowned for their devotion to traditional snacks, can be won over by something as unfamiliar as Turkish cuisine, the restaurant will indeed be able to regard itself as successful.
The interior of Turk Evi has been decorated with typical Turkish ornaments, but visually the most interesting thing here is the oven area where, behind glass, Turkish chefs knead and bake pitas and lahmacuns (thin, pizza-like creations). Other items are charcoal-grilled on the sidewalk outside. Set menus, which average NT$400 to NT$500, follow the usual soup-salad-entrŽe-dessert format, but the soup is lentil, the salads are Turkish, and the dessert is sutlac, a kind of cold rice pudding. Main courses consist of doners, thick pitas, and lahmacuns. The unsweetened Turkish yogurt -- a drink, not a dessert -- is refreshing. Alcohol is served; pork is not.
Perhaps the best Korean restaurant in town can be found just down the road from Turk Evi. Gau Lee Guan (285-287 Dongfeng Road, Tel. 06-2099496) is run by ethnic Chinese from Korea. The food and service here are utterly unpretentious but wholly satisfying. There's also a well-regarded Greek-style establishment (Greek, at 80 Gongyuan Road, within walking distance of several business hotels; Tel. 06-2265710), but no place in Tainan serves decent Indian cuisine.
Going Native
If classy Chinese food is desired, there are few better options than the justly famous and popular Tycoon Restaurant (258 Shimen Road, Section 4, Tel. 06-2512706), which has excellent Cantonese, Hunanese, and Shanghai cuisine. Prices here are surprisingly reasonable; for many Tainan residents, eating here is a once-a-month treat rather than an annual blowout. Musicians in traditional attire perform Chinese classical music every evening. If the first floor seems to be occupied by a wedding banquet, don't despair -- there's plenty more space on the second floor.
Shanghai Huadu Delicacies (28 Mincyuan Road, Section 2) is a much smaller place, but it has a fine reputation. Here, the food is everything. The service is utterly without affectation, and the interior is clean and simple. The menu also lists Taiwanese and Cantonese dishes.
At the other end of the spectrum are the city's night markets, where Tainan residents and visitors indulge their passion for cheap but tasty snacks. One of the oldest and most popular night markets, Siao-Bei (literally "Little North"), is within walking distance of Tycoon on Shimen Road Section 4. This night market is covered -- a boon on rainy summer evenings. Within can be found oyster omelets, "coffins" (fried bread filled with meat), and items best interpreted with the assistance of a Tainan native.
A noodle dish, "danzi mien," is one of Tainan's signature snacks, and Slack Season Danzi Noodles (16 Jhongjheng Road, Tel. 06-2231744), is one of the city's most famous purveyors of this dish. Danzi mien differs from other noodle dishes in that the meat sauce poured over the noodles (which are made from rice or wheat) includes garlic, a kind of soybean vinegar, bean sprouts, fresh coriander leaves, and in the case of this eatery, a single shrimp. Portions are small, but side dishes can be ordered.
Run by a third-generation descendant of founder -- and putative "danzi mien" inventor -- Hung Yu-tou, Slack Season is a quaint and photogenic little place. Customers, like the chef, sit on very low stools; the food is cooked on a traditional stove in the front of the store. The Hung family also operates a Taipei branch (No. 26, Alley 5, Lane 170, Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4).
Watering Holes
Most of Tainan's happening bars are in one of two neighborhoods, although the Armory (82 Gongyuan South Road, Tel. 06-2265800) -- perhaps the most consistently popular drinking establishment over the past few years -- is located in neither. Since opening almost six years ago, Armory owner Du Mei has achieved something remarkable. Her bar, which hosts live bands, DJs, and painting and photography exhibitions, has evolved from a place frequented mainly by young foreigners to one equally crowded with young Taiwanese.
Many thirsty Tainan visitors tend to gravitate to 128 Gongyuan Road, a courtyard lined with bars and karaoke joints within walking (or staggering) distance of half-a-dozen business hotels. This is, perhaps, the nearest Tainan has to Taipei's "Combat Zone." Of the several bars in this pedestrians-only area, two are especially welcoming: The Cosby Saloon, open since the late 1980s and serving good basic Western food, and The Hang Out, which is very new.
Jed Calleton, The Hang Out's boss, says: "We play a wide range of music to attract people, to make people want to come here and, of course, hang out." Calleton reckons that 30 to 40% of his customers are staying at nearby hotels.
The other bar district is Jiankang Road, just south of Tainan's downtown. Two sports bars, both owned and managed by North Americans, stand out. At the eastern end stands Western II (365 Jiankang Road, Section 1), which often has unbeatable beer promotions. Inside there's a Thai restaurant.
Near the western end is Willy's Second Base (321 Jiankang Road, Section 2; Tel. 06-291-1050). Owner Steve Wilson, who used to play for the LA Dodgers and first came to Taiwan as a baseball pro, has gained a reputation for cooking up some of the best pub grub in Tainan.
After Hours
La Sight (260 Jiankang Road, Section 1, Tel. 06-2149818) is currently one of the most popular dance joints. The loud beats and theme nights at AD (a few doors down from Warner Village, 52 Gongyuan Road; Tel. 06-220-9997) attract a young crowd.
Those who prefer a slower pace will be pleased to know that the density of lounge bars in Tainan is approaching that in Taipei. Bohemia Music Lounge Bar, which claims to have been the first lounge bar in Tainan, is at 271 Jiankang Road, Section 2, but E-space (676 Jianping Road) is more attractive overall.
Because of its location in a still-developing neighborhood some distance from the downtown, E-space is one of the few bars where parking a car nearby is no problem. In fact, whether you're heading to a high-class restaurant, a bar, or a night market in Tainan, use taxis rather than a car to get around. Taiwan's city of tradition may have up-to-date places to eat and drink, but the roads are still narrow, and the street names confusing for out-of-towners.
