Taipei Lounge Bars

In the article David Momphard concludes we’ll be “going to more and more places that look a lot like home”. I don’t know about you guys, but my living room looks like a concrete block. The most plush thing in it is my cat Andi, and he doesn’t let me sit on him.
I can’t afford to buy an apartment, so I wouldn’t waste NT$50,000/ping on interior design when the landlord has the right to ask me to leave after my contract expires.
It is lamentable that Momphard did not cover Sofa. It’s maybe too new to have made deadline. Gorgeous place I mean the lounge to beat all lounges. A martini is NT$250. It is located in the alley behind California fitness off of ZhongXiao half way to ShiMin DaDao (Civil Blvd) on the left. I sat there alone on Tuesday night and read a book. I finished it!

The June issue of Taiwan Fun magazine has a cover story about lounge bars/clubs in Taipei and Taichung (mostly). I don’t think that the article has been put on the Taiwan Fun Web site yet.

[quote]A martini is NT$250
NT$50,000/ping on interior design
“going to more and more places that look a lot like home”. [/quote]

Maybe I’ll just stay at home and enjoy some NT$ 99 Belgian beers in the comfort of my own home.

Anybody have some good recommendations for “lounge” music?

[quote=“fee”]The June issue of Taiwan Fun magazine has a cover story about lounge bars/clubs in Taipei and Taichung (Taizhong) (Taizhong) (mostly). I don’t think that the article has been put on the Taiwan Fun Web site yet.

[quote]A martini is NT$250
NT$50,000/ping on interior design
“going to more and more places that look a lot like home”. [/quote]

Maybe I’ll just stay at home and enjoy some NT$ 99 Belgian beers in the comfort of my own home.

Anybody have some good recommendations for “lounge” music?[/quote]

Buy Geisha Lounge. a double CD. Also this sofa place sells music and you could go to any lounge bar that keeps DJs on staff on a weekday and talk to the DJ. They love to talk about their music collections. There is a little place tucked away in an obscure building directly across from Tower Records on ZhongXiao on the 4th floor. The building is calle China Phoenix, or something like that… it’s not phoenix um… um… anyway the entrance is narrow and there is a beibei watching TV at the entrance.

Will do. Thanks for the tip.

I’ll look for this place.

Is this a record store? I’d like to go in and have a look.

Thanks for all the help, Quirky. One more thing, if you don’t mind. I enjoy lounge music, but I am not sure with my lack of fashion sense and bloated belly how much I’d fit in at these places. Is this Sofa place you mentioned a scene for the “beatuiful people” and the hipsters of Taipei? Do I have to dress up to lounge around there? To be honest, I don’t look as if I’ve stepped off the pages of Wallpaper magazine. I guess I’ve always associated the lounge scene with more of the Oriented-Happy-Hours-type crowd.

Also, any pressure to spend in these places? I don’t mind buying a few NT$ 250 martinis, but I don’t feel like spending thousands in the course of one night.

Thanks again for the info, Quirky.

Anyone heard of a bar called Sofa?
If so where is it? and thoughts about it

Thanks :smiling_imp:

On my way to work in the morning I

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]On my way to work in the morning I

I was introduced to small (very) pub over the weekend, has lots of personality though, quirky charm and a friendly barman. Apparently they also screen rugby games (looking forward to that instead of the BM). It’s called the Spaceman bar, along RenAi rd, sec 4, no 420. The closest mrt would be Sun Yat Sen mem hall, ext 3. It was open till 6 am and is open every day of the week except Monday. :sunglasses:

Sofa is not bad, but I do not think it is a nice as many say. Also, I think somewhat more expensive than other lounges that are similar.

My wife and I went to a lounge close to Sofa a week or two back and it was much better. It’s called “The Bed”, but unfort. I don’t recall how to get there except for that it is very close to Sofa. I thought it was much nicer than Sofa, plus it is also a Hookah Bar with some decent tobacco to puff on.

My wife also owns a lounge called MURA on the other side of Zhongxiao East road from Sofa, but we haven’t been there in quite a while since she got pregnant and we had the baby. It used to be good??

The Bed is nice. It’s actually a vietnamese yun-nan restaurant and shisha bar. A shisha (I guess) is some kind of bong. I smoked from one and it tasted fruity. :slight_smile:

Tha address is: Zhongxiao E. Rd, Sec 4, Lane 181, Alley 35, No 29.
Phone: 2711-3733

For those still reading some of the earlier posts Room 18 is closed for good; at least at its current location. It will re-open according to their managers somewhere in the Hsin-Yi district. The location is still not found.

room 18 is happening on hsin yi lu right next to 101

Buy Geisha Lounge. a double CD. [/quote]

I’ve got an outstanding recommendation for lounge music: the Eddie Higgins Quartet. I never heard of him before, but picked up one of his CDs a year or two ago at FNAC and was so impressed I bought another. They are reaaaaally smooth. Perfect makeout music, background music or for putting a baby to sleep (which is what I just used it for).

The two CDs I bought are loaded with covers of classics: Smoke Gets in your Eyes; Bewitched, Bothered adn Bewildered; Love Letters; As Time Goes By; etc. Anyway, although I’d never heard of the guy, it turns out that Higgins has been around a long time and played with a lot of greats:

[quote]Born and raised in New England, Eddie (Haydn) Higgins started his professional career in Chicago, while studying at the Northwestern University Music School. For twenty years Eddie worked at some of Chicago’s best known jazz clubs, including the Brass Rail, Preview Lounge, Blue Note, Cloister Inn and Jazz Ltd. His longest and most memorable job was at the London House, where he led the house trio for twelve years, playing opposite the biggest jazz stars of the 50’s and 60’s, including Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Errol Garner, George Shearing, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and many others.

During his stay in Chicago, Eddie recorded a number of albums under his auspices and many more as a sideman with a wide variety of musicians, ranging in style from Coleman Hawkins to Wayne Shorter, Don Goldie to Freddie Hubbard, Jack Teagarden to Al Grey. Eddie’s versatility is well-known: he has backed singers, done studio work as both pianist and arranger and worked in every jazz medium from Dixieland to Modern Jazz.

In 1970, Eddie moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and began spending winters in Florida and summers on Cape Cod, where he plays local clubs and enjoys sailing and tennis. Since the early 1980’s, Eddie has traveled widely on the jazz festival circuit and has performed frequently in Europe and Japan. His releases on the Japanese “Venus” label have earned him number one in jazz sales on more than one album.[/quote]

I highly recommend his CDs. :slight_smile: