I wonder if Nancy’s Bar is still there (it was in an alley near Haagen Dazs on Dunhua S. Rd. north of Zhongxiao). It was a good place.
I haven’t found a replacement for Spin yet. It was great to have a place to go to on the weekend. Now I spend all my time hunting for gigs all over the place, and it’s just never as good. Is this what getting old is like?
How many pages were in this book?
Did they actually give a review to each place?
Was it a local publisher?
And do you think people would buy this if it was completely rewritten and repackaged?
It had a review for each bar. I believe the publisher was Cave’s Books. I’d buy a completely updated copy.
Josefus wrote [quote]And do you think people would buy this if it was completely rewritten and repackaged?[/quote]
Very few. It would have to be written as a labour of love rather than for profit. The problems are:
- things change so quickly that it would soon become dated.
- there are actually rather few foreigners here.
- most drinking places are crap, boringly similar, and not worthy of a write up; it’s not like you’re going to be describing some quaint 17th century travellers’ inn that has been turned into a pub.
- there are free mags such as Compass and Taiwanfun that have bar reviews.
Your other points were quite valid, but don’t both of those mags (same publisher?) still consider the Combat Zone to be the SoHo of Taipei?
Does anyone actually go there besides WolvesMon?
They’ve been running the same ads for as long as I can remember.
For mixed drinks and a comfy bar area, I’d recommend Barcode. Yeah, there’s some drawbacks to it but for what counts, it’s probably one of the best so far.
-
They’re professional bartendars. How I know? They hired Bruce, a Scotmans, to train up their staff to serve, pour, mix drinks. Mixed cocktails are their forte. It shows. The only other pro I know is Juvena but don’t know where she went to after the defunct Taipei Sports Bar and Sapphos (on Anhe ?).
-
Comfortable area. Lounge bar style, but not like Plush, MINT, Room 18, Roxy stuff. Music level isn’t deafening, you can actually have a conversation (shocking, given this rarity). According to Bruce, it strives to give the patrons a British experience (whatever that means? But I like it).
Drinks are pricey though (mixed cocktails are 300-350). They also serve dinner from 8pm +.
You can find Barcode and Bruce at B1 18 Songshou Rd, Taipei 110. Its corner entrance is between Neo19 and Warner Village.
For neighborhood drinking holes, I like Bobundwaye (sp?) and the Voice. Miss Taipei Sports Bar (and their burgers!).
Bottoms up!
A 12 year old list…time for an update… why not start with the Top 10 and work from there…
I’d like to say BLISS is on that list (but maybe I’m not totaly impartial…)
Anyone still got a Top T-shirt?
Looking at that list makes me very nostalgic. It was better in the early nineties. Life was more fun. The bars were better. The drink was cheaper and more fun was had. It’s all true. How do we go back? I want it to be 1992 again.
Whoo, I’m geting dizzy…#1 is Absolute, is that the one on Xinhai 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…[/quote]
Nah, Absolute was on Anhe, between Dunhua and Ren’ai. Whiskey-A-Go-Go (later Sex-A-Go-Go) was on Xinhai between Fuxing and Keelung Road, and was the wickedest club in Taipei at the time, hands down. My God, but the women were hot! :shocker: 
:lovestruck:
OK, no one is really doing this so I’ll have a go and you can all hate me. My top 5 in the order I thought of them: -
My Other place - easy to talk but crap food
Carnegies - OK any night but Wednesday but you local gf will know you are going there to pull
Lounge- For the beautiful people but I get to sneak in occasionally. You can talk there
Zig a Zaga - strictly for the business contacts that you can’t be arsed to take out on the town. Very “nice” but definitely not cool
The Tavern - Great for sports unless its a popular game, when it just gets too crowded. Great beer and fantastic food.
[quote=“Lord Lucan”]Anyone still got a Top T-shirt?
Looking at that list makes me very nostalgic. It was better in the early nineties. Life was more fun. The bars were better. The drink was cheaper and more fun was had. It’s all true. How do we go back? I want it to be 1992 again.[/quote]
Maybe it’s because you were 14 years younger…?
[quote=“Lord Lucan”]Anyone still got a Top T-shirt?
Looking at that list makes me very nostalgic. It was better in the early nineties. Life was more fun. The bars were better. The drink was cheaper and more fun was had. It’s all true. How do we go back? I want it to be 1992 again.[/quote]
Maybe it’s because you were 14 years younger…?
BTW… heard that Absolute bar had a swimming pool outside and people got ‘in the mood’ and threw themselves in it… it became the most popular bar but at the height of their fame and succes the Mafia and the Police became an issue (the pool was illegal) and they had to close…
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]OK, no one is really doing this so I’ll have a go and you can all hate me. My top 5 in the order I thought of them: -
My Other place - easy to talk but crap food
Carnegies - OK any night but Wednesday but you local gf will know you are going there to pull
Lounge- For the beautiful people but I get to sneak in occasionally. You can talk there
Zig a Zaga - strictly for the business contacts that you can’t be arsed to take out on the town. Very “nice” but definitely not cool
The Tavern - Great for sports unless its a popular game, when it just gets too crowded. Great beer and fantastic food.[/quote]
Well, there’s a brave start… (I won’t hate you…)…
There’s your 5 bars… 5 more for a top-10 …
I’d like to add BLISS - because it’s my bar :bravo: and because it is a great bar with international feel (on 1st floor), great live music (on 2nd floor with music club feel), importers of Absinthe, friendly, good service, good prices, good bar food all night, at least 7 languages spoken, no service charge, … should I go on…?
Would like to ad ‘Circle’ bar too… just over the FuHer bridge in YongHer above the 7/11… used to live there (YongHer, not the bar) and I spent a fair few after hours there…they introduced me to the Darts Machine (great fun) and have nothing special but that the charm for me… a blind horse couldn’t do any damage… not even on the stage… friendly owners and crew.
That’s a Top-7…3 more and then time to eliminate, replace, vote in/out …
Wasn’t the manager at Topps named Marco?
Isn’t Bliss just very hard to find? I passed it once in a Taxi that was ripping me off but am sure I would never find it again.
Some of the best places are not easy to find… until you know…
The taxi drivers that know Bliss know it as BeLissu… from the HsinYi Rd - DunHuaNan Rd intersection, 100 meters towards AnHer (see Taipei 101) on the right hand side of HsinYi …
Big purple/light-blue wall light signs with Bliss logo (what do you call those things?) and huge Graffiti mural on the side street wall…
Yes, can be confusing indeed… haha… until you know…
Some of the best places are not easy to find… until you know…
The taxi drivers that know Bliss know it as BeLissu… from the HsinYi Rd - DunHuaNan Rd intersection, 100 meters towards AnHer (see Taipei 101) on the right hand side of HsinYi …
Big purple/light-blue wall light signs with Bliss logo (what do you call those things?) and huge Graffiti mural on the side street wall…
Yes, can be confusing indeed… haha… until you know…
Strewth! I never realised that they had 100 pubs here!
I can only name two good pubs, both are in The Zone.
Some were old fashioned 30 years ago!
All the rest are glorified eateries.
Green bar, Tien Mu, cheap and cheerful, sat tv, excellent staff