I’m happy to report that Alleycat’s has opened its biggest (and most beautiful) branch yet! Situated on the grounds of the Huashan Cultural Park, at the intersection of Bade, Zhongxiao and Jinshan, very close to the Zhongxiao/Xinsheng MRT station, this place is going to be a hit! There’s ample parking, the environs is very chic, and the restaurant itself is roomy, with high ceilings and a colour scheme that is a departure from the traditional Alleycat’s red and black. Vanessa, Trudi and I ate there last night, and we’ll be back soon!
Possible, I suppose. VERY strict conditions, though. Loads and loads and loads of petty arsehole jobsworths at Huashan. Its a nice place, though, once you get through the red tape. We had our CD launch party there.
The outside areas are lovely, and I look forward to attending a HH there, if only to see the jobsworths scurrying around trying to shepherd the drinkers back into the premises.
I can’t quite work out where that is, those 3 roads don’t intersect. I’ve never quite trusted your Alleycats locations since you said the Songren one was a “stone’s throw” from the 101.
I did, last night. The space is exciting: spacious, bright, modern. Big bar with all the usual tap beers. It seems like it will be a good hang out place. They have picnic tables just outside the door (I assume belong to Alleycats) which will be good when the weather cools down. Service was fast and friendly and in fluent English by my waiter. The place was sparcely populated though so the staff didn’t have that much to do.
House red was happily very nice though the pour is not as generous as it was at the original Alleycat’s. I had a bruschetta appetizer that I think the staff hasn’t quite mastered as the bread wasn’t really toasted and the tomatoes were cold. Still very tasty though.
The one negative I could not ignore though was the music. Guns ‘n Roses and Nirvana really don’t lend themselves to relaxed dining. I miss the days when you could descend the stairs of the first Alleycats to the strains of Dave Brubeck and such. It was sufficiently annoying to ask for my pizza to go. It was still hot and tasty when I got it home. Their sauce is a bit sweet for me though. It’s been a long time since I had an Alleycats pizza and I seem to remember the sauce being more garlicy.
All in all it’s a really nice addition to an area where there is rather a dearth of good restaurants. Maybe more will open up right inside that little compound. I’ll definitely be back, I just hope they have better music next time.
Possible, I suppose. VERY strict conditions, though. Loads and loads and loads of petty arsehole jobsworths at Huashan. Its a nice place, though, once you get through the red tape. We had our CD launch party there.
The outside areas are lovely, and I look forward to attending a HH there, if only to see the jobsworths scurrying around trying to shepherd the drinkers back into the premises. [/quote]
There seems to be no problem with how loud the music is - there was a huge rave party in the hanger next to Alleycats a couple of Saturdays ago with loads of models in various stages of undress wandering about. Marvellous.
I think the sound systems are undergoing a testing phase - hence the loud rock music - to see (a) whether they will blow up, and (b) whether anyone will complain about noise. The thing is there are no neighbours.
I don’t think this is going to be a quiet Alleycats. Maybe during the day. The whole area is all set up for music. Zhou Jie Lun (周杰倫)(Jay Chou), the singer, is opening a place across the road and the hanger next to Alleycats is going to be heavily used for concerts.
I’ve been to the new place quite a few times, I like it. I like the Italian farmouse idea and the pizza is great as expected. It’ll be interesting to see how the Huashan Cultural park place develops.
Corner of Jinshan and Bade Loos. Where the old beer factory is. If you ask for the old beer factory, though, there is a 50% chance they will take you to the new Taiwan Beer factory down the road which does not sell pizza.
Had lunch there today in between the morning and afternoon session of a photo workshop. Great location, great atmosphere, terrible music. Mariah Carey “Hero”. On repeat. 5 times.
:yay: :dance: :hungry:
