“No Diet Coke, no skim milk, no low fat cheese, no credit cards,” reads the menu at Toasteria (吐司利亞), which is devoted to one thing: grilled cheese sandwiches.
The concept behind this sandwich bar is simplicity, but its charm lies in the opportunity to indulge in comfort. On offer are nearly 20 different kinds of sandwiches, cooked on small panini-style grills, and made with five kinds of cheeses, fresh vegetables, light meats, and spreads.
Grilled cheese is “the perfect meal” to proprietor Tomer Feldman, who created the menus at Citizen Cain (國民) and the Sababa (沙巴巴) restaurants. Although he studied culinary arts and worked as a chef in New York City for over 10 years, the Israeli native knew that he would return to “his roots” — the sandwich.
PHOTO: DAVID CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
“[With this place I wanted to offer] simple things that make people happy,” he says.
Toasteria, which lies on an alley off of Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路), is basically a bar squeezed into a four-ping (13m²) storefront. But Feldman uses the space well and manages to create a warm and welcoming vibe. Soft lighting illuminates the copper-top bar, which is already forming a nice, weathered patina. Bar stools are padded with soft vinyl cushions. In front of the bar, there is a small deck area with two sets of tables and chairs.
Sitting at the bar, I smelled coffee and the savory scent of butter and cheese cooking. At times, the music (vintage jazz and blues the day I went) blared just above conversational level, but it did block out the din of cars and scooters outside.
I had the feta pesto (NT$95) sandwich, which had feta cheese, roasted red peppers, shitake mushrooms, and a pesto sauce with a generous amount of garlic. The flavors were well-balanced, with nothing overpowering, and the bread was just right — not too sweet, as is often the case in Taiwan. Each sandwich comes with a small dish of pickles and green olives, soaked in an oil and vinegar recipe from Feldman’s family.
Among Toasteria’s other sandwich selections: classic grilled cheese (NT$70) and smoked salmon tapenade (NT$105), which has feta, roasted peppers and tapenade, an olive paste. Diners looking for something different can try the grapa (NT$105), which is made from gouda, red-wine onion jam, roasted garlic and fresh basil.
Fries and simple salads are also available, and there is a modest selection of beverages: espresso, soft drinks, teas, Kirin beer and red wine.
To get there on the MRT, go to Zhongxiao-Dunhua Station (blue line), leave the station at Exit No. 3, and walk straight ahead along Zhongxiao East. Turn right at Lane 248, just before Yanji Street (延吉街).
A “meta” detective series in which a struggling Asian waiter becomes the unlikely hero of a police procedural-style criminal conspiracy, Interior Chinatown satirizes Hollywood’s stereotypical treatment of minorities — while also nodding to the progress the industry has belatedly made. The new show, out on Disney-owned Hulu next Tuesday, is based on the critically adored novel by US author Charles Yu (游朝凱), who is of Taiwanese descent. Yu’s 2020 bestseller delivered a humorous takedown of racism in US society through the adventures of Willis Wu, a Hollywood extra reduced to playing roles like “Background Oriental Male” but who dreams of one day
Gabriel Gatehouse only got back from Florida a few minutes ago. His wheeled suitcase is still in the hallway of his London home. He was out there covering the US election for Channel 4 News and has had very little sleep, he says, but you’d never guess it from his twinkle-eyed sprightliness. His original plan was to try to get into Donald Trump’s election party at Mar-a-Lago, he tells me as he makes us each an espresso, but his contact told him to forget it; it was full, “and you don’t blag your way in when the guy’s survived two
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almost entirely ignored a big story that could have serious national security implications and instead focused on a series of salacious bombshell allegations. Ko is currently being held incommunicado by prosecutors while several criminal investigations are ongoing on allegations of bribery and stealing campaign funds. This last week for reasons unknown Ko completely shaved
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would amend Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to permit retired and serving (!) military personnel to participate in “united front” (統戰) activities. Since the purpose of those activities is to promote annexation of Taiwan to the PRC, legislators
RSS