Grandma Nitti's Kitchen (CLOSED)

I remember going to Gandma Nitti’s when it first opened in a small alley off of Xinhai Road. It was the go-to place for Western breakfast for years, but the fact is that it’s been in a state of decline for even longer. As the prices kept going up, the quality just kept getting worse. Eventually, the clientele was almost 100% local, and the food catered to their tastes.

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Yes, if only Rainbow had listened to the experts and paid her staff 40% more while charging her customers 30% less for a Real American brunch experience – served by staff who would only speak English to white people that did not find it offensive/racist – then she’d still be making millions upon millions in the goldmine that is Taipei’s restaurant business. When will these foolish fools ever learn!!!

The above was intended as sarcasm, but what follows is not: Rainbow is a genuinely good person. She is kind to neighbors and animals alike, and she deserves a break. Running a restaurant is a tough life. I hope she finally gets to see the aurora borealis.

Adios Grandma Nitti’s, you will be sorely missed by your many friends.

Yes sad to see a local institution go. I went just very occasionally over the years but she remembered me which was quite impressive.

In its heyday Grandma’s Titties had a great Sunday brunch vibe going on

Edited my comment. Don’t want to get in any debates on the weekend :slight_smile:

Personally speaking, I was never impressed with Grandma Nitti’s food. I thought of it more in the line of a place like Jake’s Country Kitchen in Tienmu–an institution, a marker of history of “western” food in Taipei, but not some place I would actually want to go to eat food to put into my body.

At the same time, I get the squeeze that places like Grandma Nitti’s were and are facing: increasing rents; jackass “community” groups trying to force established businesses out of the Shida area (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out some of the old threads on this topic); rising food costs; and wage stagnation making it harder for everyday people in Taiwan to pay (or want to pay) higher prices. In the final analysis, Grandma Nitti’s was neither cheap nor high enough quality to attract well-to-do customers. It fell into the disappearing middle ground. RIP.

Guy

I think it had enough customers from when I visited but it’s tiring running a restaurant. As she said in her facebook post…I’m tired…and that is as good a reason as any to be honest after 30 years !
Often the next generation would have taken over for the family businesses at this stage.

I thought the breakfast wasn’t too bad and I like the building, service was spotty and it could get a little noisy (nothing unusual in Taipei).
Prices were too high for me to make it a regular visit though. These days there are breakfast shops on every corner and lots of coffee shops too.
I think the Diner breakfast was superior also.
The wife for some omelettes and Mexican food there last time and they were using substandard ingredients compared to years past.
But overall I had a soft spot for the Grandma Nittis as it had a more personal touch and they used to sell second hand books and had a message board. It was a hangout at one stage although later became much more Taiwanese clientele.

A lot of restaurants have better food but are not hangouts just purely commercial.

Agree with Afters that there’s not much space in the middle .
…sometimes. The problem being that spending 10 bucks for breakfast is a big spend in Taiwan and not middle but luxurious for many!

I forgot, what was the price of the average eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast breakfast at Nitti’s round 10 years ago? Wasn’t it around 180-250 NT? I wasn’t rich at the time by any means but spending that kind of money was never an issue for weekly Sunday brunch.

I seem to recall The Diner being 120 NT for an excellent breakfast. Today it’s what 250 NT for the same?

I didn’t realized so many expats were hurting for money. Many I hung around with had loads of cash falling out of their pockets…but yes sure there were others who struggled to find enough teaching hours or didn’t teach or whatever

Not talking about expats specifically but general population in Taiwan.

There’s tonnes of family money in Taipei though there’s also tonnes of restaurants and choices ! So probably just more about having choices.

Talking about expats in Taiwan…since most are English teachers on the same wage as 15 years ago yes that’s a problem for many. Going by the comments on here you could see people resented paying so much back then too.

While I was probably poorer than the average English teacher my wages went up multiples in the interim.
But so did my dependents lol!

Never been there, but if its as bad as what the comments i’ve read here are, why did it even exist for so long? Pure stupidity of the patrons?

Don’t know better?

It’s odd, isn’t it. Almost all of the comments are along the lines of: “Gave it another go. Still crap, over-priced, and rude.” It seems strange that the place lasted almost 30 years and judging by Facebook posts is going to be genuinely missed. Rosy retrospection, I guess.

I’m disappointed that I missed the eggs benedict, though. A good eggs benedict is something to be treasured.

i dunno about that… to throw in my own experience i went there maybe ten times, and it was never rude. The owner came across as a genuinely decent person. and the staff were also polite. eggs benedict was good. atmosphere was good. pity it is gone, no more roxy jr, no more nittis, pretty much no more shida

Ha! The truth is out (there)! :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I don’t feel like I’ve misread the comments - at least from May 2002 onwards. I’ve never been to the place, so this is in no way my opinion - simply my understanding of what people have said in this thread.

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no problem, i was just saying that i liked the place even if i was just an occasional customer.

Believe it or not, forumosa in many ways used to be more negative than it is now.

Grandma Nitti’s was the kind of place that used to be a godsend in Taipei, and probably still is in many of the smaller Taiwanese towns: a menu with plenty of international dishes, a bulletin board with job offers, and often enough foreigners whiling away the day that, if you were new in town, you could meet someone and get your bearings. Most of the dishes weren’t that good, but if you hadn’t had a burrito or an omelet or a non-MacDonald’s burger in months, they were great. Remember, these were the days when TGIF was considered a welcome arrival that revolutionized dining options, and there still was no forumosa, or even common internet use. If you wanted Western food, you either went to the Shida area, or to Tianmu.

But in Taipei, those days were gone long ago.

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Are high rents from rich landlords who dont care if the property is empty and community groups trying to fry up the value of their apartments going to kill Taipei? Baby boomers are selfish everywhere, but they really take the biscuit here.

There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, including both foreigners and locals, who looked to Grandma Nitti’s as a go-to place in the old days and have very very (and yes a third) very fond memories of the place.

Most of them have moved on.

Grandma Nitti’s should be remembered for that, not for a few people that have nothing better to do than complain about pricing that is NT$50 above what they are willing to pay or for a one time experience of food coming 8 minutes behind expectations.

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I remember when she first started up. It was over a decade before I could afford to eat there, but when I did I enjoyed it. I went there the morning after the 9/21 quake. I auditioned for plays and did readings there. Found a few books now and then. Enjoyed the cats lazing around. It was a special treat for myself for many years, and it will always have a special place in my heart for that.

On a side note: G-day cafe is no longer. Its been a slow demise but the builders are converting the space as we speak. Barbara like Rainbow provided a great service to the foreign community back in the days when western fare was thin on the ground.