For those still looking for good fish and chips since the demise of Mr. Fish, look no further. The fish and chips, with tartar sauce and vinegar if you like and side of genuine poutine, is incredibly good. Also, their burgers are delicious, with fresh-cut fries and falafel, pasta, etc. The owner, a big Canadian guy named Andrew, is very cool, and the decor quite nice too. We went there after the radio show at Peshawar on Halloween and had a great time.
Located halfway between TaiPower Bldg and Gongguan MRTs.
I’ll second P’s recommendation. The fish is a good deal better than Mr. Fish ever served, IMO, and the chips, poutine and salad are in a different league altogether. I also had a beef n’ bean burrito (actually a chimighanga, but it’s called a burrito at Bongo) that was tasty if a little more beany than beefy. He uses an extremely nice hot sauce, too – could have been serranos or maybe a touch of chipotle, I was pretty wasted, so I can’t remember for sure.
The price I’m also hazy about, but I don’t believe it was more than $200. Bloody good value.
My only two caveats would be to try to go on a warm day. While his outside seating is really nice – covered, with lots of big green plants on wooden decking and with high wooden slat walls – the inside area is somewhat spartan. We also had to wait (and wait) for our orders to arrive, but to be fair, there were at least 10 of us in the party and there were also other diners.
I’ll definitely be going back.
I went to Bongos a couple of weeks ago. We sat outside on the patio, which was very nice - the atmosphere is very soothing.
V and I both ordered the fish and chips (only $180NT!) We were a tiny bit disappointed, but not overly so. There was no tartar sauce, but a mixture of (sweet) mayonnaise and relish. It wasn’t awful, but I’d have preferred tartar sauce. The waitress looked confused when I asked for vinegar - she came back with a small bowl of cooking vinegar. Blecch! The portions were very generous. The fish tasted good, but the texture was a little soft - almost mushy. We also had the poutine and it was ok. The fries were pretty ordinary but the gravy was a little on the thin side. The cheese seemed a bit “not quite right”, I suspect it was processed cheese, but I could be wrong. The boss, a Canadian guy by the name of Andrew, was very friendly.
All in all, good atmosphere, good service, great prices, ok food. If they could get the condiments for the fish and chips right (very important), and maybe tinker with the cooking time of the fish, they would definitely get my repeat business. Hell, they’ll get it anyway. They’ve only just opened, and it sometimes takes a month or two to get the kinks out…
We went to Bongos a couple of weeks ago too and had a similiar experience to Maoman’s. The fish was definitely undercooked and a little pink inside. I pointed it out to Andrew and he made me another piece which was more well done and it was better but he needs to lower the temp of the oil a bit so the fish can cook longer and more evenly. The quality and taste of the fish is better than Mr. Fish was. I thought the poutine was excellent using homecut pototoes which is pretty rare in restuarants.
We also tried the pasta which was decent. Looking forward to trying his burgers soon.
Just got back from Bongos after returning the undercooked, flacid fish. The owner came out and asked me what was wrong with it. I replied that the texture was bad, the fish tastless, and can I have something else please?
I offered to pay for the fish out of politeness…His reply was “I’d like you to, there’s nothing wrong with it” in a less than friendly tone. Oh well. Just frustrating that someone would be shortsighted enough to keep an extra 5 bucks against the potential loss of customers. I’m self-employed as well, and even though I’m not in the food industry, “the customer is always right” plays a major part in dealing with dissatisfied people. His waitress, showing a bit more diplomacy, offered to knock off the price of the fish. I refused, wondering what would happen to her the second I walked out the door.
So I paid for two meals, ended up with a bacon burger that was marginally acceptable.
Yeah, that was weird. MJB had taken all of two bites when he sent it back. The boss (who I had previously mentioned as being friendly) was this time not friendly at all. Good grief, man, if someone feels so strongly about the food that they’re sending it back, at least have the courtesy to acknowledge their unhappiness. Also, we asked if the fish and chips would come with malt vinegar, were assured that it would, but of course, it never came. :s We were a table of six, and I have to say the boss’s attitude tarnished what would otherwise have been a nice evening. I had a cheeseburger, BTW, with salad. It was alright, but nothing I’m going to miss having in the future when I give Bongo’s a pass in favour of restaurants with more responsive management.
Bongos mexican style dishes are pretty good. I always give the fish n chips a miss these days out of fear of getting sick as he doesn’t seem to get the message from all of us that his fish is undercooked. If only he would cut those thick pieces in half and just give the customer 2 smaller pieces of
rightly cooked fish. His burgers are average at best but I still think his poutine is kind of special. Regarding his surly attitude, well maybe he had a bad day or his neighbors were giving him trouble again. Does Andrew even read Forumosa? Giving Moaman crappy service? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
No excuse. As a restaurant owner, he needs to be especially sensitive to customers attitudes and complaints. The fact that you had a bad day shouldn’t factor in here. Considering I was only a few blocks from both Alleycats and Taipei sports made this especially painful. I don’t get to Taipei that often, and was looking forward to a pleasant meal with good company. As Maoman stated, more than food was ruined that night.
Another reason to bite your tongue when in the restaurant business. You never know who’s toes you might be stepping on. I could have just as easily been a food critic, a Forumosan admin/mod or a relative of a health inspector. You just never know. I don’t have anything against the guy, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending his place to anyone. Again, his waitress offered nicely to knock the fish from the bill. I told her flat out the owner insisted I pay for it. Not a big deal, but I’m never going back.
The crappy service was directed at me. It did cast a pall over the entire meal though, and everyone else was finished before I finally got my replacement burger. My daughter (11) said it best…“Dad, don’t eat that, it looks disgusting”…Indeed.
[quote=“Bongos”]The free meal you were offered when you paid your bill will be happily redeemed at any time you like.
Andrew[/quote]
Thank you for your offer…I didn’t hear it last night, but it is certainly nice to hear it now. I’m not one to hold a grudge, so I’ll take you up on it sometime when I’m in Taipei.
I ate there last week. Was not impressed with the taste of the fish. Very rubbery taste. My advice would be to also get some high-quality tartar sauce. Even with substandard fish, good sauce will keep people coming back. Good tartar sauce makes my tongue quiver.
Several good fish & chip places I used to frequent, across the water to the east , made their own tartar sauce almost daily. And they were always excellent!
The reasons were two fold:
It allowed them to control quality and maintain a high standard.
It was cheaper. Hands down all 3 places did the numbers and it was always cheaper in the long run.
:bouncy:
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