This is the third week in a row that pies have featured in the Taipei Times’ restaurant review section. Too much of a good thing? Given that prior to March there was a dearth of decent, tasty handmade Western-style pies sold at reasonable prices, perhaps not.
The latest offering is Pie Boy, tucked in an alley off Zhongxiao East Road. The small restaurant is an intimate affair, with Venetian red walls, black wood paneling, two four-seater tables and one two-seater table inside, and a two-seat table on the narrow deck outside. Paper cutouts of two tiki, Maori symbols, and a New Zealand fern leaf adorn the back wall.
David Bernhartt, who was born in the UK but grew up in New Zealand, opened Pie Boy on March 15 as an alternative to the ubiquitous burgers and pasta served in typical ersatz Western joints. The menu is reassuringly simple: steak and cheese (NT$95), chicken and vegetable (NT$90), mince beef (NT$90), vegetarian (mushroom, broccoli and cheese, NT$90) and breakfast pie (NT$90).
PHOTO: STEVE PRICE, TAIPEI TIMES
The pies’ bases and sides are made of shortcrust pastry and flaky pastry is used for the tops, which provides a subtle combination of textures. Combos are available. But be warned: the steak and cheese pie and wedges (NT$135), which are hand cut and sprinkled with a piquant seasoning and served with either aioli or salsa, is a belly-busting meal deal.
Although a far cry from the purist’s version, Pie Boy’s Caesar salad (NT$100), which uses iceberg lettuce, three slices of boiled egg, green olives, cherry tomatoes, onion, croutons, green pepper, cucumber and grated Parmesan, is a meal in itself and can be ordered with a pie in a combo deal (add NT$70 to the pie’s price for a salad and drink). Compared to Subway’s vegetable salad, which costs NT$95 plus NT$10 for dressing, Pie Boy’s salad comes out on top for value and taste, especially as the fast-food chain recently reduced the amount of processed cheese slices it uses.
The breakfast pie, essentially an omelet in a pastry shell, is a drier alternative to the gravy-filled versions and is, therefore, easier to cut into segments and transport. The vegetables used in the filling — green pepper, onion and tomato — are crunchy and contrast nicely with the velvety texture of the cooked egg.
To get there from the junction of Zhongxiao East and Fuxing South roads, walk westward along the north side of Zhongxiao East Road and turn right at the first traffic lights. Pie Boy is two blocks up the alley on the right. —STEVE PRICE
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had