Ok, now that I live nearby, and I see ads almost every weekend in the TT looking for a western chef for this restaurant I wonder…has anyone tried the Tree Caf
Its good food, nice atmosphere, and if you go friday nights there’s a guy that plays live music or is it saturday, cant remember
[quote=“Sharky”]Ok, now that I live nearby, and I see ads almost every weekend in the TT looking for a western chef for this restaurant I wonder…has anyone tried the Tree Caf
wDevn:
It is off Hu Cheng b[/b] Street and Kanning b[/b] Jie (not Kanning b[/b] Lu), not far from Lotus Hill Apartments. I don’t have the actual address, sorry.
I will try to get it this weekend and post.
Do you mean near Golden Dragon Lake (Jinlonghu)? I live on a mountain near Lotus Hill. Please pass the address to me…thanks…
The Tree Cafe is at #95 Minzu 2nd Street, Xizhi City, just off of Huqian Street between Kangning Street and Mingfeng Street. It was started by one J.J. Liao, who wanted to provide the Xizhi community with a venue that was culture-friendly and could serve as a relaxed community gathering place. Across the Lane he has also opened another restaurant, the Maple Tree, which serves Chinese food.
The food at Tree Cafe is ok, but having international servers doesn’t do much for the quality of service. On my first visit I had a waiter from Turkey who didn’t uderstand English or Chinese. Maybe it was my heavy Canadian accent. 
On my second visit I had an American waiter, who was very nice, but needed constant prodding to do obvious things (having to ask to have my waterglass refilled three times was a little much, I thought - especially since each glass was requested with the not-inexpensive lattes I had ordered).
They’re open from 11:00 to 11:00 every day, they have live music from 7:00 to 9:00 and the bread they bake on the premises is very tasty.
The patio has a very nice ambience - trees and space in Xizhi! Who’d have thunk it. THe telephone number is 2692-1313.
We just ate there last night. Again, our waiter was from Iran, and also needed some prodding to bring items to us in a reasonable time frame, but unlike other restaurants in Taipei, all of the main courses were served within a few minutes of one another, which was a nice change.
3 of us ordered the same dish, the salmon, but it was very nice. My hubby ordered the pig knuckle, said it was good, but Schwarzwald is better. Music was live by someone from OREGON… my home state after 7:30 and very nice.
Dessert menu is a bit odd, the cheese bread is really French bread with melted cheese, not really dessert fare if you ask me. BUT…
All told a nice dining event. We will go back.
I second that! It’s a really cool place, that outdoor seating area was a real dream, with the trees and the white lights and fresh springy breeze blowing through. The salmon was pretty nicely done, and, even though I was hoping for a SWEET dessert, the cheese bread (that is on the dessert menu) was tasty and garlicky, yum - although I might have enjoyed it better at the beginning of the meal, hahaha.
Even if the Iranian server was a little slow, he was HOT and worth going to the Tree Cafe for. 
I don’t really like this area. A little too crowded to be pleasureable. I wouldn’t think it would be worth the visit unless you lived nearby. I am a ShiJr (Xizhi) snob and think anything on the other side of the tracks from Hsin Tai Wu (Xin Tai Wu) Rd. (Acer HQ area) is not that great, although that community where a lot of Seggies live Shui Lian Shan Zhuang (Lotus Hill) is pretty nice.
Hobart, do you mean that the restaurant is too crowded? The night we were there, there were only a few other people, plus since it was outside, the space seemed fully sufficient.
No, I mean the area where the restaurant is located. I try hard to avoid it. Maybe it is because I drive a car and the roads are very narrow. But actually the whole area is over built (guess you could say that about most of Taiwan). The spot where the tree cafe is a small oasis, but I still don’t like to go to that part of ShiJr. Kind of ugly. The Hsin Tai Wu Rd. area is a nicer area.
When I tried to go to the Tree Cafe one weekend afternoon it was very crowded so I had to go to another place. By the way, is the Tree Cafe run by a German guy call Martin? I think he also makes furniture no?
I think that’s Wood Martin… a guy Maoman wrote about some time ago. I’m still trying to figure out where his shop is.
did anyone notice a woodshop at the Tree Cafe?
I think that’s Wood Martin… a guy Maoman wrote about some time ago. I’m still trying to figure out where his shop is. Did anyone notice a woodshop at the Tree Cafe?[/quote]
Martin of Wood Martin is Swiss, not German. His business and the Tree Cafe are not connected, except through proximity - the store is located right around the corner from and adjacent to the Tree Cafe.
This cafe was featured on Taiwan Headlines yesterday/today (although it will be replaced around 4 p.m. this afternoon:
[i]Hsihchih bars attract international crowd
Published: April 7, 2003
Source: United Daily News
hile foreigners are a regular fixture in Tianmu’s bars, Taipei County’s Hsihchih also boasts a number of similar bars. The al fresco bar at the Coffee Tree Plaza sees patrons from Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Iran and many other countries. There are also foreign waiters and musicians here, all enjoying the multinational ambiance.
The Coffee Tree Plaza’s outdoor bar has Domingo, a waiter from Costa Rica, while Mike from the Czech Republic and Isen from Iran take care of the mixology chores. A beautiful German woman is a frequent visitor to the establishment. In fact, groups of foreigners have become the trademark of this bar.
Some people come to have a few drinks, relax and chat with the staff. Besides practicing their English, they can also hear accents from many different nations and get up their courage to open up and speak English.
The owner of the Coffee Tree Plaza says that with the Community Foundation as a bridge, a number of foreigners have volunteered their time to work here. The company provides free lodging and meals. However, due to economic considerations, some people who get married and have children after coming to Taiwan end up teaching English in cram schools. This is particularly true in the case of Americans and Canadians, who are in special demand in children’s schools. But for the volunteers from Costa Rica, the Czech Republic and Iran and other Middle Eastern nations, life at home is tougher than that in Taiwan, and, for some, their English is not so fluent. Instead of teaching, they come to work and share some enthusiasm with the world, making friends with working people in Taiwan along the way. [/i]
Love the commentary. Not quite sure what the last paragraph is really trying to SAY, but…
(shouldn’t be any copyright issues, BTW, this is GIO stuff which should be public domain).
That’s the GIO for ya!
Actually, that’s the United Daily News for ya. (It was definitely a puff piece. If I’d cut out everything in that story that wasn’t news or didn’t quite make sense, nothing would have been left. So I kept in some of the fluff.)
Wonder how long it’ll be before they get a visit from the FAP?