Notes from Taipei
Seven nights in Taiwan's bustling and energetic capital city
It’s taken me a little while to get to this piece as I arrived back home from Taipei just over two weeks ago. However, it gave me the space to reflect on the trip and the city itself.
In many ways, the trip felt like a challenging reset. One where I was out of my comfort zone in terms of weather, language, culture, and more. But I think I needed it, and that’s the beauty and privilege of being able to travel.
The week in Taipei threw me about a bit. But it gave me the one thing I needed most: perspective. It’s a big world out there, and it’s unfortunately easy for one to focus on the minute things which are right in front of us. That’s almost especially true for those of us in Australia, where we live in our little bubble isolated from the rest of the world.
For me, it’s been work and study that have occupied almost every minute of my mind for the past few months. However, being somewhere completely foreign made me realise how indifferent the world is to these small things we tend to worry about. For me, travel forces me think big and I didn’t think of work or study once.
So, what is Taipei like? It’s too easy to say that it’s a completely unique city that feels like a mishmash of other cities while retaining its own personality, but it’s sort of true. There were moments where I felt like I was in Japan, others like I was in Singapore, but these moments were fleeting as it was clear from being there only a few hours that I was well and truly in Taipei, a city I will come to adore.
The city is bustling, but rarely overwhelming. It’s chaotic, but also a place full of calm and respite. The food is delicious, the people are a joy, and it’s one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever been to.
I could dedicate a great many posts dissecting the week I spent in Taipei, but I’m going to focus on just one and highlight the areas I know most: music, café’s, and menswear, all of which Taipei does incredibly well.
Music
For a smallish city, Taipei has a pretty great music scene with plenty of live music options. My first discovery prior to the trip was coming across Blue Note Taipei. Funnily enough, it has nothing to do with the Blue Note label, despite the fact that it shares similar branding and is also a jazz club. It’s been open since 1974, making it one of the oldest jazz clubs in the country, and it occupies half of the second floor of a corner building in Taipei’s Da’an district. It’s also very small and intimate, with no more than 30 to 40 seats in the entire place, as it hosts live performances from mostly local musicians almost every evening. For a jazz lover like me, this place was paradise. There’s vintage jazz prints adorning the walls, dark brown oak furnishings, and neon lights creating the perfect atmosphere. It may not be Blue Note as I know it, but it was still a must visit for any jazz lover in Taipei.
One of my other highlights was visiting Vinyl Decision, a record store that acts as a café/bar. I saw online that it stays open until 10pm, and since it was located only a few minutes walk from my hotel, I decided to check it out on my first night. I didn’t know what to expect and honestly thought it may have just been a glorified record store, but what I stumbled into was a pulsating and infectiously energetic bar that hosts some incredible live musicians. The night I was there I saw a fabulous jazz-funk band from Japan called of Tropique, who filled out the entire place and had everyone in the palm of their hands. I had so much fun here that I managed to fit in another visit on my last full day of the trip.
Tucked away in a side street opposite Daan Park is Sounds Good, a vinyl listening café/bar that is reminiscent, albeit a very modern interpretation, of Japanese jazz kissatens. It’s got all the hallmarks of a place that you could easily spend an entire afternoon: a full and extensive menu, plenty of space, rotating mood music, and a low-talking policy. It doesn’t feel like the type of place you go to for discovery like those in Japan, where you trust the master or mama to curate a selection of music that you will continue to play for years after, but it was a fun visit nonetheless.
Not far from the main crossing in Ximending is BlackHat Jazz and Café, which is a very cool bar on the second and third levels in an unassuming building. There’s lot’s of jazz memorabilia and prints on the walls, but I found it odd that the music being played was one of those cool jazz coffee shop instrumental mixes you come across on YouTube (I know this because there was a TV screen behind the bar that showed what was being played). No real bother though, it’s a fun space with good drinks and a great vibe, making it a more than worthy pitstop during a full day exploring the city.
Finally, there’s Sappho Live, a live music venue in Zhongshan. I had a bit of an interesting experience here. I arrived early and the place was completely empty. The scheduled band were warming up, a new local trio who performed well and were in sync with one another, before the show time. Show time came and went and no other patrons arrived, despite Sappho Live’s reputation as one of the city’s best live music venues and the performers being a band of good local ones. Was it the heat? Or because it was a weeknight? Or is this common in Taiwan? I’m not sure, but either way it felt like a shame that there was nobody else in attendance.
Cafés
One of the greatest surprises of the trip was discovering how truly incredible the café scene is in Taipei. Just about everywhere I went served great coffee and had remarkable service, but the true discovery was seeing how well built into the environment these café are.
Simple Kaffa occupies two stories in Zhongzheng and arriving feels like you’re checking into a hotel. You are met at the door by an attendant who takes down your requirements, explains the café’s process, and escorts you to your seat. From there, you’re in the hands of the professional wait staff who make suggestions and steer you the right way. This might be a little overwhelming for those who just want a quick pick-me-up and to be on their way. But if you’ve got time to spare and you have caffeine running through your veins, Simple Kaffa is a must visit for anyone in Taipei.
I admired what many in the city are doing with small spaces. Summer Savage Coffee sits on the corner of a small side street with only a serving window and a couple of crates that act as chairs across the street. It speaks to the quality of the coffee and the charming service that on a rainy morning there were dozens of people lining up at the window waiting to place their order.
Similarly, Kikumo is a Japanese inspired mini café that has floor to ceiling windows and a cosy interior. I sat inside and enjoyed an espresso not long after opening and it was the best start to my morning. The same can be said for Paper St. Coffee Company, which during my visit had just one staff member handle every task flawlessly.
One of the most beautiful spaces in the city is the Scandi-inspired Fika Fika Coffee, which is located in a leafy, almost suburban square. I sat by the window and had a batch brew and it truly felt like a moment that holidays are made for. Perhaps my favourite of the bunch was After5, which is another double story café. It’s very rustic, and is lit with some stunning down lights. I had a local filter brew which took some time to prepare, but didn’t bother me in the slightest as it was a joy just to sit and take in the atmosphere.
I managed to fit in one final café before my flight home and I’m glad it was at KiOSK, which was only a few minutes walk from my hotel in Zhongshan. It was a Saturday morning, so the café was naturally full with people enjoying their morning brew with a good book or their laptop. I ordered a ‘stumpy’ which caught my eye on the menu as it was a drink I was completely unfamiliar with. It’s a little bigger than a piccolo and was so delicious I considered ordering another almost immediately.
Shopping
If there’s one thing you should know about me is that I love to browse shops, especially when I’m travelling. Taipei’s shopping scene is wonderful, with a mix of high end retailers, department stores, and small local holes in the wall selling trinkets and souvenirs.
First up was The UNCLES’, which I think is the best menswear store in the city. I happened to visit on the weekend when Drake’s London, one of my very favourite brands, did a complete takeover of the store, filling it with just about every Drake’s item imaginable including chore jackets, sports jackets, scarves, hats, and more. It was an immaculate setup and a delight for me, especially since Drake’s is a brand that is rarely stocked anywhere in Australia. I even got to meet and chat with some of the Drake’s staff who were welcoming and generous with their time. It was a great experience that I was lucky enough to have been in the city for.
Japanese brands and labels are represented incredibly well in Taipei, including BEAMS, United Arrows, and Kinokuniya, as well as Hands, and of course, Family Mart. However, a store that well and truly won my heart was Eslite, particularly their 24-hour outpost in the Songyan district. A 24-hour bookstore sounds like an absolute dream, and I can’t describe the joy I felt as I aimlessly wandered through this incredible space (which also featured a fantastic record section!) late into the night without the thought at the back of my mind that closing time was approaching. To top it off, there’s also a café. I wish there were one of these in every city.
I’ll also mention The Anthology, which I visited briefly, for the very fact alone that it featured some of the most beautiful tailoring I’ve ever seen. If I ever need another suit and I’m somewhat in the vicinity of Taipei, this is my only option.
What I bought
I tend to go a little overboard when I travel, so it was nice to not have to lug around a heavy suitcase that I’d worry about being over the airline’s weight limit. I didn’t pick up too much during the trip, but what I did bring home was a nice mix of things that I’ll treasure as mementos of the trip.
Drake’s x The UNCLES’ cap
This navy cap was one of two options that were for sale at the Drake’s pop-up at The UNCLES’ and I couldn’t leave the store without it. It’s in my favourite colour, has a graphic of a character reading a book titled ‘Taipei’, which just seemed like the perfect souvenir.
DVDs
I grabbed two Taiwanese films that I’m yet to see from Hou Hsiao-hsien, long considered one of Taiwan’s greatest filmmakers. Both Millennium Mambo and Café Lumière have been on my watchlist for years and are not available either physically or digitally here in Australia.
Postcard
I don’t quite know why this artwork caught my attention and admiration, but there’s something about it that I love. It’s titled “Ayusi Sweeping Bandits with a Lance” (1755) by Giuseppe Castiglione, who was an Italian Jesuit who served as an artist in China. I grabbed this postcard from the National Palace Museum and currently have it sitting on my bookshelf.
BRUTUS magazine
Maybe my favourite pickup of the trip. I tend to buy copies of these Japanese magazines for reference and inspiration. While I wish I could read them properly, I get enough out of the photography, designs, and outfits to justify finding room for them in my suitcase. This particular edition, published in 2022, I’ve been hunting for a long time as it features an interview with Haruki Murakami (I first saw it on display at The Haruki Murakami Library in Tokyo), so I was completely shocked to just see it on the display rack at Kinokuniya.
Monocle tote bag
I’ve got a stack of Monocle tote bags and tend to grab one from each store that I visit so I couldn’t pass this up. I love the colour and they’re really well made so it was a no-brainer.
The Monocle Companion
I grabbed both editions of The Monocle Companion, which are each made up of 50 essays about a wide range of topics including film, photography, commuting, isolation, cities, and even how to make friends.
Showa Guide Tokyo
I’m very excited by this pickup. I came across this book a while ago when I found out that David Marx, who wrote Ametora, contributed to this. It’s essentially a 300-page repository of Tokyo’s historic café’s, bars, kissatens, and restaurants that opened between 1926 and 1989, some of which no longer exist. With my next trip to Japan only months away, this will make a great resource for my preparations. I’m so glad to have picked it up.
Thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with a song by Shawna Yang, a brilliant Taiwanese saxophonist who I had the pleasure of seeing live at Blue Note Taipei. I highly recommend her 2015 record, Simple Life.
Great recap! The biggest thing that stood out to me was the 24 hour bookshop. I wish there were things like this in the states (at least where I live). Even a 24 hour library would be nice. We're sorely lacking third spaces in the US -- an unfortunately symptom of an individualistic and profit-driven society. Anywho, enjoyed the read!!
Very cool trip Joel! Definitely need to make my way to Taipei soon. Millennium Mambo is such a beautiful film I think you’ll love it. Check out Rebels of the Neon God for more Taipei cinema if you haven’t seen it already. Cheers!