Sorry if I am beating a dead horse, but I couldn’t find any contemporary/specific info regarding the subject. So I am looking for a nice place to take my girlfriend to on New Year’s Eve (Jan 30th). Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks!
What city? I’ve been told many Korean restaurants will be staying open, like locally owned ones but not a chain specific one.
Oh sorry. In Taipei.
Does anyone know of good restaurants in Taipei that will be open during Chinese New Year week? We’ll be entertaining out-of-town guests and are looking for several options to help us survive the week…
Thanks!
Subway. Oh, oh, McDonald’s. MOS? Family Mart too.
You forgot 7-11! Can’t miss out on tea egg, the national gourmet snack of Taiwan!
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Also, consistently the winner of the receipt lottery grand prize. 
This has been my experience during the past five years I’ve been in Taipei. But I’m content with eating plain bread I picked up at RT-Mart.
My wife’s uncle, who owns a company which has branches in three countries, has heard many tales of Taiwan’s amazing food, and is taking time off to come visit us (despite the fact that we tried our best to dissuade him).
So… McDonald’s it is… he’s going to be severely dissapointed >_<
It is not necessarily the case that everything will be closed all week. Used to be so, but of recent years things have changed.
Small traditional eateries will probably close for most of the week. Department stores will open apart from the 2 main days when they will close early (sadly for the poor buggers who have to work there).
Many of the larger chains will open most of the week, and restaurants in the hotels will be open.
Sometimes experiences across these places may vary as the staffing level will be lower.
Some people even go out for dinner at CNY instead of cooking at home, and many younger people much prefer to get out instead of being cooped up at home, and many places do cater for this. Taipei tends to be a lot busier at CNY these days than it used to be back in the old days when everyone abandoned ship to go home elsewhere (it was kinda nice actually).
So keep an eye on the listings, and call or check with any places you may be interested in for their hours over CNY, and you should be able to get out with your uncle and get him fed with a bit of pre-planning.
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I barely even notice things being closed for CNY - I think those days are long in the past. Lots of the local family-owned places, sure, they shut down for a few days, but the chains or big restaurants remain open. I’m going to invent what I believe is a new rule of thumb: if they accept a credit card or app payment, they’ll be open.
Caveat #1: CNY Eve Is and Always Shall Be spent at the in-laws, so I have no idea what’s open that night.
Caveat #2: if you’re really trying to go to the small local “famous” places, the hole-in-the-wall type places that do indeed occasionally have fantastic food, then those are more likely to be closed.
So just figure out what restaurants you want to go to, and try to make a reservation. (And for that matter, if it’s the kind of place that takes reservations, it’s probably going to be open.)
See also:
It looks like even in 2005 it wasn’t that big a deal:
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Thanks so much for the info!
I almost exclusively eat at small shops… which is why I see a lot of closures. But my wife’s uncle is much more of an up-scale sort of guy.
I’m glad to know that it won’t be too much of a problem to suit his tastes. (Of course, we’ll call places in advance)
Thanks again!
TGIF is usually open during Chinese New Year’s. Also Chillies and Hooters.
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