I always thought it’ was , endearingly, called 'Taco Hell"
That works, too. Always called it Taco Smell
But Jack in the Box tacos for the win! Dipped in oil!
To each their own, but I’ll never understand why people love this chain so much, especially if you’re from Texas where the Mexican food is second only to Mexico itself.
Taco Bell is terrible. It’s not even Mexican. It’s like processed Americana. Taiwan has awful Mexican food… but it still has better Mexican joints than Taco Hell.
I like me some Chick Fil’ A though.
Don’t know Whataburger. What we really need is an In-N-Out… but I’ll settle for a Shake Shack or even a Five Guys at this point.
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I honestly believe whataburger is better after eating at both. The place I lived in Texas was one of the few places out of California with in N out. And at the end I think whataburger is better.
Taco Bell is what it is. It really hits the spot late night when nothings open. I don’t pretend it’s authentic or good food.
You’re in luck. Shake Shack is going to be in the new shopping mall next to the 101.
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Well, that’s good for the 3 or 4 times a year I visit Taipei, but the rest of the time I’m stuck in Kaohsiung 
Here we have McDonald’s and a few expat pubs that make shitty burgers. And that’s it.
Guilty pleasure. Had some at the airport in Seoul but the tacos were the size of a frikken fortune cookie.
Those totally hit the spot when you get the late night munchies.
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Don’t know if you guys knew about the best small New England ice cream chain in the world Emack & Bolios when it was open for all of 6 months here in 2017, but it blows ColdStone away. Alas, Taiwanese didn’t care so RIP.
Nope I didn’t care either 
What’s that…Another over priced hipstery ice cream place you say?
I almost never have MIA feelings here because we cannot get my homelands authentic produce here. Most of the stuff you guys are talking about is muck. 
Racking my brains…Original KFC fried chicken is prob the only thing I slightly miss.
Isn’t there a Chickfillet in JB?
Coming from Vancouver: I miss competently prepared Chinese food. : P
And fresh affordable non-dodgy sushi. The heavy use of bright green “wasabi” and bright pink “gari” indicates the lack of seriousness at many sushi places in Taipei. I did find better stuff in Kaohsiung though, where the seafood kicks Taipei’s @ss.
Guy
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One problem I have is that chains open up here with seemingly no understanding of the local market, do no marketing whatsoever, and then close after 6 months as a “failure” never to come back.
Chains think that their “name and reputation” are enough to get by. Let’s be honest, we may all love Taco Bell but if their advertisement didn’t appear in our field of view (TV, paper, magazine, whatever) would we really think of going there all on our own?
They should make ads for the Taiwanese audience, explaining and introducing the products. They should put the shops in locations where it makes sense.
The first Dairy Queen some years back opened near the intersection of Tingzhou and Keelung. Second one opened at Sec. 7 Zhongshan N. They didn’t bring in any ice cream flavor syrup, so it was all vanilla, and they didn’t bring in a single food item. DQ Taiwan was vanilla ice cream with some candy toppings. I went once to each, but couldn’t be arsed to make those treks, especially not for a vanilla Oreo Blizzard, which are available at every McDonald’s.
Why do chains think they can get by in Taiwan with a local audience that didn’t grow up with them, zero brand recognition (let alone loyalty), no market research, no local advertising, no changes for the local palette? And then we are all surprised when they close? Preposterous!
Pizza Hut does extremely well here - which debunks the cheese theory yet again. They also heavily modified their brand and product, and advertise everywhere. I wouldn’t even be surprised if locals thought 必勝客 was a Taiwanese invention. Let’s see Taco Bell, DQ, Shake Shack, Chili’s or any other place try that, and I bet they would be equally successful. I mention Chili’s because it seems to be on its way out for the past few years and I won’t be at all surprised when they decide to hang up their hat.
(P.S. Its Taco Hell)
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Some chains can get away with little local modification e.g. McDonalds and Subway, but they price the product right, spend a lot of money on advertising and have comfortable air conditoned convenient locations to eat in.
McDonalds seems to have barely changed its pricing in decades !
Subway managed to up its pricing but still get them in with the 99ntd daily deals.
If you can get a foothold in Taiwan for certain franchises it’s a goldmine. Definitely need a strong focus on local strategy to get the punters in.
Those ice cream snickers bars, I’m glad they’re gone. Way Too good. Way to easy to grab a couple everynight after work.
Ok my 2c:
- Stinky tofu like it used to be, actually stinky. In the past 20 years, it has lost its smell.
- Go back to around 2003, 7-11 used to sell a white (nougat?) Snickers bar. But, it was two pieces in a regular size bar.
Does anyone else remember this?
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You don’t think after 20 years of smelling the stuff it might be that the loss of smell is on the part of the nose, rather than the tofu?
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Says the guy who has 'em going in one end and out the other within minutes. 
…and despite the shitty images I’m officially hungry. 
Damn you and your Malaysian cravings.
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Family Mart sold a similar white, two-piece Snickers bar earlier this summer. It had Cryllic lettering on it, I have no idea how that happened. I had one in like May, it wasn’t sweet enough and did not have peanuts in it.
Stinky tofu tastes like fried tofu that smells bad.
I haven’t been eating stinky tofu for that long, but it seems that a lot of it is mass produced and barely fermented.
I always get excited if I can actually taste the stink, er I mean the fermentation.
I know of one purveyor that rots her own tofu but then she gives it a quick dip in water to rinse before it goes in it’s first fry. I was told this is to keep the oil lasting longer and I think it has the effect of making it more mild.
Mostly agree. I would still order if it was just fried tofu- the combo of flavors and textures is really what makes it.