With its antique-looking armchairs and slightly worn wooden armrests, crimson-colored walls set against black-and-golden carpeting, and original sculptures and other artworks in the dining room, a nostalgic sense of faded grandeur pervades Jimmy’s Kitchen, one of Taipei City’s oldest steak houses.
Hidden in a basement close to the roundabout on Renai Road (仁愛路), Jimmy’s Kitchen is said to have a history dating back to the foreign concessions in Shanghai. The owner fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after the Chinese civil war and restarted the business, which was taken over by the current management two decades ago.
Bearing such a history in mind, it is not surprising that the restaurant has retained a look reminiscent of bygone days when suits and gowns were de rigueur. The interior design cleverly turns the lack of natural lighting to work in its favor, with candles on each table exuding a look of old-school romanticism that is given an aural dimension by a resident pianist.
As for the food itself, it lives up to all the rave reviews Jimmy’s has accumulated over the years. On a recent Friday night the restaurant was packed (fortunately, we had made reservations a few days ahead). My dining partner and I ordered the tenderloin with fresh goose liver (NT$1,100) and filet mignon (NT$1,120), both of which were recommended by the gray-haired staff. The tenderloin was a savory fusion of steak and slightly fried foie gras, with the latter being a bit of crunchy on the outside and buttery on the inside. The filet mignon was one of the best I had ever tasted.
According to other recent reviews, the pig knuckles (NT$820) are also a must-try. The more premium seafood dishes have also received fair reviews, but these are said to pale in comparison to the steak menu.
Apart from its legendary past and lauded menu, Jimmy’s most famed asset is its seasoned wait staff, who seem to take pride in their trade rather than merely seeing it as a way to make a living. Impeccably dressed in suits, they attend to patrons with great care and respect, observing quietly what diners need and offering their services without being intrusive.
At Jimmy’s, salads and desserts are served buffet-style, and there are a decent range of choices. The advice is to stay away from the cakes and stick with the fruit. One of the very few weaknesses this restaurant suffers from is its mediocre selection of pastries and cakes.
On April 26, The Lancet published a letter from two doctors at Taichung-based China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) warning that “Taiwan’s Health Care System is on the Brink of Collapse.” The authors said that “Years of policy inaction and mismanagement of resources have led to the National Health Insurance system operating under unsustainable conditions.” The pushback was immediate. Errors in the paper were quickly identified and publicized, to discredit the authors (the hospital apologized). CNA reported that CMUH said the letter described Taiwan in 2021 as having 62 nurses per 10,000 people, when the correct number was 78 nurses per 10,000
As we live longer, our risk of cognitive impairment is increasing. How can we delay the onset of symptoms? Do we have to give up every indulgence or can small changes make a difference? We asked neurologists for tips on how to keep our brains healthy for life. TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH “All of the sensible things that apply to bodily health apply to brain health,” says Suzanne O’Sullivan, a consultant in neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, and the author of The Age of Diagnosis. “When you’re 20, you can get away with absolute
May 5 to May 11 What started out as friction between Taiwanese students at Taichung First High School and a Japanese head cook escalated dramatically over the first two weeks of May 1927. It began on April 30 when the cook’s wife knew that lotus starch used in that night’s dinner had rat feces in it, but failed to inform staff until the meal was already prepared. The students believed that her silence was intentional, and filed a complaint. The school’s Japanese administrators sided with the cook’s family, dismissing the students as troublemakers and clamping down on their freedoms — with
As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) — the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda — he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration. Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the
RSS