The 100 Best Bars in Taipei

[Mucha_Man]

Is this book still available? Still of any use to the traveller? Thanks.

[Chris]

I have an original copy from (I think) 1994. It’s in the States. I remember I used it as a guide to visit some cool bars way back then. I’m sure it’s sadly out of date, with perhaps most of those bars only fond memories.

[Josefus]

I found out it’s written by Jim Ehrhart & Anthony Watts.
No other info.
I’d love to get ahold of this book too.

[Lord_Lucan]

Didn’t know there were 100 bars in Taipei.

[irishstu]

@Lord Lucan

Didn’t know there were 100 bars in Taipei.

You beat me to it. I was about to type the exact same thing.

[the_chief]

Me three.

[AWOL]

1994!! given taipeis turnover i would hazard a guess 90% of those listed wont exist anymore.

[Chris]

According to the book, Tu (or “Tu Mambo”) is/was the best bar in town. The worst was one that is/was in the Grand Hyatt, judged so due to terrible drinks and gross overpricing.

[the_chief]

@Chris

According to the book, Tu (or “Tu Mambo”) is/was the best bar in town. The worst was one that is/was in the Grand Hyatt, judged so due to terrible drinks and gross overpricing.

Jeez, in 1994 there were TONS of better places than TU…unless your mission consisted of catching a disease…
I would kind of concur with The Hyatt, but, again, there were/are way worse places for price/quality/atmosphere, it’s only about as bad as any fancy chain hotel’s bar.
Sounds like a crock to me…

[Chris]

@the chief

[quote=“Chris”]According to the book, Tu (or “Tu Mambo”) is/was the best bar in town. The worst was one that is/was in the Grand Hyatt, judged so due to terrible drinks and gross overpricing.

Jeez, in 1994 there were TONS of better places than TU…unless your mission consisted of catching a disease…
I would kind of concur with The Hyatt, but, again, there were/are way worse places for price/quality/atmosphere, it’s only about as bad as any fancy chain hotel’s bar.
Sounds like a crock to me…[/quote]

The overpricing was due to a $1500 cover charge that IIRC did not include drinks, which were also priced higher than I’ve ever seen even in fancy hotel bars. Apparently that bar was intended solely as a place for the hip, credit-carded offspring of multi-millionaires to see and be seen. There’s no excuse to serve terrible drinks when the client is paying US$100 for the privilege.

[the_chief]

@Chris

[quote=“the chief”][quote=“Chris”]According to the book, Tu (or “Tu Mambo”) is/was the best bar in town. The worst was one that is/was in the Grand Hyatt, judged so due to terrible drinks and gross overpricing.

Jeez, in 1994 there were TONS of better places than TU…unless your mission consisted of catching a disease…
I would kind of concur with The Hyatt, but, again, there were/are way worse places for price/quality/atmosphere, it’s only about as bad as any fancy chain hotel’s bar.
Sounds like a crock to me…[/quote]

The overpricing was due to a $1500 cover charge that IIRC did not include drinks, which were also priced higher than I’ve ever seen even in fancy hotel bars. Apparently that bar was intended solely as a place for the hip, credit-carded offspring of multi-millionaires to see and be seen. There’s no excuse to serve terrible drinks when the client is paying US$100 for the privilege.[/quote]

Oh, that must be Ziga Zaga or whatever, used to be, uh…JJ’s.
I was just referencing the lobby bar.

[Chris]

@the chief

[quote=“Chris”]The overpricing was due to a $1500 cover charge that IIRC did not include drinks, which were also priced higher than I’ve ever seen even in fancy hotel bars. Apparently that bar was intended solely as a place for the hip, credit-carded offspring of multi-millionaires to see and be seen. There’s no excuse to serve terrible drinks when the client is paying US$100 for the privilege.

Oh, that must be Ziga Zaga or whatever, used to be, uh…JJ’s.
I was just referencing the lobby bar.[/quote]
JJ’s! That was it!

[the_chief]

@Chris

[quote=“the chief”][quote=“Chris”]The overpricing was due to a $1500 cover charge that IIRC did not include drinks, which were also priced higher than I’ve ever seen even in fancy hotel bars. Apparently that bar was intended solely as a place for the hip, credit-carded offspring of multi-millionaires to see and be seen. There’s no excuse to serve terrible drinks when the client is paying US$100 for the privilege.

Oh, that must be Ziga Zaga or whatever, used to be, uh…JJ’s.
I was just referencing the lobby bar.[/quote]
JJ’s! That was it![/quote]

A student took me there once…lots of pretty high-rent girlies having drinks bought for them by guys in suits and combovers…not exactly my kind of room…
Anyways, they’re still stuffed in their TU call.

[smell_the_glove]

I have the book sitting right here in front of me. It was published in ’93, and the authors say they wrote it because just about the only information then available about bars was from This Month in Taiwan. There sure as hell wasn’t widespread Internet access – hell, Netscape (Mosaic) hadn’t even been released yet. From the intro:

When reading this book, and visiting the bars yourself, you’ll discover many other ‘facts’ about Taipei’s bars. You’ll find that the drinks are ridiculously priced (as is everything in Taipei) and that they are often not mixed very well. You’ll see that the most common décor is a mixture of Western and Chinese styles that are combined in the worst possible way. But, you will also discover that most bar patrons and staff are exceedingly friendly and that an evening in Taipei’s bars is at least as amusing as the alternative – watching Japanese movies with Chinese subtitles in your hotel room or apartment.

They gave bars a 1-5 star rating, divided bars into cocktail bars & pubs / beer halls / student bars / discos / clubs / bars with restaurants, had little icons for beer / cocktails / wine, a food yes/no, and price from 1-5 dollar signs. Can’t take any of this too seriously, though:

Generally, the drunker we were when we visited the bar the more we liked it.

The only bars that got five stars were: C-29-R, Indian (Dinosaur), Tricks and Pub, and TU. The TU entry sure doesn’t really surprise me – it did kinda take the mantle from Buffalo Town and Spin around that time.

Here’s a quick digital photo of the 100 bars rated. For many of you, this will be a trip down memory lane punctuated by some head-scratching.

[Tigerman]

Hey! I didn’t see the Driftwood in that list!

[the_chief]

[quote=“smell the glove”]I have the book sitting right here in front of me. It was published in ’93, and the authors say they wrote it because just about the only information then available about bars was from This Month in Taiwan. There sure as hell wasn’t widespread Internet access – hell, Netscape (Mosaic) hadn’t even been released yet. From the intro:

When reading this book, and visiting the bars yourself, you’ll discover many other ‘facts’ about Taipei’s bars. You’ll find that the drinks are ridiculously priced (as is everything in Taipei) and that they are often not mixed very well. You’ll see that the most common décor is a mixture of Western and Chinese styles that are combined in the worst possible way. But, you will also discover that most bar patrons and staff are exceedingly friendly and that an evening in Taipei’s bars is at least as amusing as the alternative – watching Japanese movies with Chinese subtitles in your hotel room or apartment.

They gave bars a 1-5 star rating, divided bars into cocktail bars & pubs / beer halls / student bars / discos / clubs / bars with restaurants, had little icons for beer / cocktails / wine, a food yes/no, and price from 1-5 dollar signs. Can’t take any of this too seriously, though:

Generally, the drunker we were when we visited the bar the more we liked it.

The only bars that got five stars were: C-29-R, Indian (Dinosaur), Tricks and Pub, and TU. The TU entry sure doesn’t really surprise me – it did kinda take the mantle from Buffalo Town and Spin around that time.

Here’s a quick digital photo of the 100 bars rated. For many of you, this will be a trip down memory lane punctuated by some head-scratching.
[/quote]

Whoo, I’m geting dizzy…#1 is Absolute, is that the one on Hsin Hai that started out as Whisky-A-Go-Go and had the Absolut vodka bottle-shaped swimming pool? Everyone used to go and fall in the pool when they were drunk and God knows what else…they used to say that pool had more microbes per litre than the Ganges…

Wonder Bar!!! I remember there, wasn’t it like only open for 2 months or something?

I’m tripping, man…

Actually, it’s kind of amazing how many of them are still around…

ETA: Goddamn, Cheers (the original one, I’m sure) is #15…those who know me know why that one is special…

[Tigerman]

@the chief

ETA: Goddamn, Cheers (the original one, I’m sure) is #15…those who know me know why that one is special…

the chief,

I think that list is just the alpabetically arranged list of bars/pubs rated in the book. That isn’t the actual ranking of the bars/pubs…

[the_chief]

@Tigerman

[quote=“the chief”]ETA: Goddamn, Cheers (the original one, I’m sure) is #15…those who know me know why that one is special…

the chief,

I think that list is just the alpabetically arranged list of bars/pubs rated in the book. That isn’t the actual ranking of the bars/pubs… [/quote]

I wondered about that…then I saw Madame Zee’s at 100 and figured it must be ranking…because…damn…

[smell_the_glove]

@Tigerman

I think that list is just the alpabetically arranged list of bars/pubs rated in the book. That isn’t the actual ranking of the bars/pubs…

Yeah, sorry about that. I realize now it was a bit misleading to post the contents page what with its “100 Best Bars” title - that was just the alphabetical list of the full 100.

@Tigerman

Hey! I didn’t see the Driftwood in that list!

Probably since I was gigging there back then.

Here are the actual “ratings” - they’re not really rankings, just alphabetical listings under numbers of stars. And it’s not like this whole thing was a very deeply thought out endeavor…

[Quentin]

So, can anyone make any suggestions for an updated list? What are the best bars to hang out in Taipei these days?