On the west coast of the island of Taiwan, Taichung is the country’s third largest city with a population of around one million. The weather is warmer than the capital Taipei in the north, which can be important in the cooler winter.
The city is fairly unattractive to walk around but the best area for bars and restaurants is known as Little Europe. The Canal District just to the east of Little Europe also has a few pubs and cafes. The free Compass magazine is worth grabbing as that gives a good guide to what’s on in the city. Meanwhile, here are some bars to start off with.
Deluxe Brewhouse, 2 Dongxing Road Sec 3
The Deluxe microbrewery is a welcome addition to the Taichung drinking scene now that the Taipei outlet is closed. This is a modern beer hall with subdued lighting and nicely decorated. There are false copper kettles behind the bar and a large screen showing sports. The upstairs seating area is on a balcony overlooking the rest of the bar.
They serve four beers from the microbrewery – three regulars and a seasonal ale. The basic is the 5% Gold Pils, a lightly coloured and lightly hopped refreshing pilsner. The 4.5% Weissbier manages to be smooth and sharp at the same time, but more or less a fairly standard wheat beer. The 5% Dunkel is dark but not black with gentle caramel flavours – slightly sparkly with no subtle undertones or aftertastes, but pleasant enough. The winter seasonal beer comes in at 8% and is more hoppy than the pils with the extra alcohol giving it more depth, but nothing like as complex as special of this strength should be. This is the nicest in the range, but they could do better.
Le Ble D’Or, 20 Shijang Road
One of two outlets for this Taiwanese microbrewery in Taichung, this is a large beer hall with giant copper kettles for show behind the bar (the beer is actually brewed just outside Taipei). Wooden barrels are also used for decoration. There are four darts boards on the back wall and internet terminals on some of the tables.
It does the normal range of lager, weissbier and dunkel style beers. The seasonal 4.5% Logan Honey Lager is OK if a little too sweet for some palates. The other seasonal beers when on are Oolong Tea Lager and Valley Orange Ale.
The microbrewery’s other outlet in the city is in the basement of the Eslite Department Store at 68 Gongyi Road. This is slightly more modern looking and, unlike at the first one, you can sit at the bar, albeit on posh white cushioned stools.
La Bodega, 3 Jing Cheng Second Street
This bills itself as a Spanish restaurant, but is really a nice chilled bar serving basic lagers. It is a cool place to hang out, with its small bar and friendly staff. On draught are the local TTL lager and Kronenburg, along with Weston cider. Bottled San Miguel shares shelf space with canned Guinness, Boddingtons and Greene King Old Speckled Hen. New Year's Eve is celebrated with the twelve grapes ceremony.
Fubar, 25-9 Daye Road
TTL lager and Kronenburg are on draught in this little bar that is half inside and half outside on a short, covered pedestrian alleyway, which is probably pleasant in nice weather – it was a cold evening on the day of this visit. There is a small upstairs seating area and sports are regularly shown, including Canadian hockey.
Drinking Beer in Taichung
The outlets for the two microbreweries of Deluxe and Le Ble D’Or are musts for serious beer drinkers, and both do a good range of food as well. At the time of writing, this was Deluxe’s only outlet in the country as its bar in the Taipei Arena has now closed, but it does have plans to open another outlet in the capital as soon as a suitable venue is found, so it will once again be listed among the bars of Taipei.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
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