Bedding Down

Opened last April, the André Fu-designed Capella Taipei ushered in a new chapter for the city’s luxury scene with Taipei’s first private pool suites, a host of date-night worthy restaurants (ranging from haute Cantonese to a local-leaning grill), and a cultural experiences programme that brings guests up close with the artist ateliers and tea parlours of the surrounding Minsheng community. Across the street, the stately Mandarin Oriental Taipei is a dependable choice for those wanting to keep it classic, while the hip Kimpton Da An in the boutique-packed Da’an district expertly taps into Taipei’s creative pulse with daily social hours and smart rooms designed by Neri&Hu. In the hot spring-dotted mountains just north of the city, Relais & Châteaux’s sleek Villa 32 delivers a steamy break from the buzz of downtown. 

Capella Taipei

Sipping Up

Taiwan might be the country of tea, but in Taipei, coffee reigns supreme. Among the most ambitious coffee shops is Beanroom, which is styled like a high-design pharmacy brewing slow-drip coffees from Ethiopia to Brazil and the Taiwanese highlands. Simple Kaffa, with various locations around town, and the Scandi-chic Fika Fika in the Zhongshan district also draw hordes of coffee aficionados for their meticulous brewing methods and hard-to-find blends. After dark, the city’s award-winning cocktail bars offer buzz of a different calibre. Clued-in visitors head to Draft Land to fuel up on well-priced and expertly mixed cocktails on tap (think: aloe- and strawberry-infused Aperol spritz or an oolong-flavoured Tom Collins) before hitting up mainstays such as Bar Mood, where cocktail guru Nick Wu and his team mix drinks with homegrown ingredients such as bitter melon and soy milk. The rustic Wu (Nothingness) specialises in no-fuss classics done exceptionally well, while the Art Deco-styled Staff Only Club on the southern outskirts of town hits the spot with frequently changing menus themed around florals, gins, or elevated classics.

Beanroom

Eating Out

From early-morning eats to snacks well after midnight, it’s hard to have a bad meal in Taipei. You’ll want to skip your hotel buffet at least once to start the day as the locals do: with warm soy milk and fried bread crullers at breakfast institutions like Ding Yuan Soy Milk near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Other not-to-miss staples include Lao Shandong’s umami-packed beef noodles and Din Tai Fung’s soup-filled xiao long bao dumplings. Similarly quintessential is a visit to one of Taipei’s many night markets, such as Ningxia Night Market, which draws long queues for its deep-fried taro balls and oyster omelettes. At Michelin-starred Mume, chef Richie Lin and his team meld Taiwanese ingredients and Nordic techniques into flower-flecked tasting menus that could include chicken-liver brûlée and red prawns from Yilan. A few blocks away, chef Alain Huang’s Restaurant A cooks up French flavours with Asian finesse (think: king salmon in creamy lavender foam or veal chops with white jade snails from Taitung). Don’t leave before hitting up cafe-slash-concept store NBR by Louu to pick up some artisanal local sea salt, sesame oil and chilli pastes (plus a cheeky local liquor or beer) to try your hand at Taiwanese cooking back home.

Mume

Nosing Around

Formerly a tobacco factory, the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park lives on as a home for the Taiwan Design Museum and is a creative hub for artist ateliers, galleries and concept stores specialising in everything from hand-dyed indigo textiles to herbal teas and niche perfumes. Just next door, the sprawling Eslite Spectrum Songyan harbours a wide range of local fashion boutiques, artisan bubble tea cafes and a 24-hour bookstore. Seek out the chic Washida Park boutique in Da’an for expertly curated homewares and clothes by hard-to-find local and global labels, and hit up Chenjingkaioffice for made-to-measure leather loafers and sneakers. Dadaocheng, a centuries-old neighbourhood on the western end of town, has gotten a new lease on life as galleries and cafes such as Hoshing 1947, Asaban Tea and curated home-goods supplier A Design & Life Project have taken over its Japanese colonial-era warehouses. Finally, a visit to the National Palace Museum helps put all of the above in the eye-opening context of Taiwan’s multilayered past and present.

Eslite Spectrum Songyan

All images by Chris Schalkx