Near the intersection of Taipei's Yenping North Road and Minsheng West Road, Bolero restaurant is a reflection of the once-vibrant Tataocheng (
Bolero enjoys a huge reputation; when Taipei residents are asked about the restaurant, most have heard of it and some remember it as a matchmaking hub.
But like the character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Bolero and Tataocheng's heydays have passed.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The Bolero restaurant opened in 1934, and it was the top western-style diner in the 1950s and 1960s. But no one would recommend it as a top-class place to go anymore, although the restaurant still does good business.
"Twenty-five years ago, Bolero was still the leading restaurant in Taipei, doing even better than five-star hotels. There was no competition," restaurant manager Liao Tsung-chi (廖聰麒), who has worked there since 1967, said proudly.
"Bolero was not a restaurant for ordinary folks because of the prices, and people who came were always well-dressed and talked in low voices. Restaurants in major hotels would also send their people to us to learn about the business," he said.
Liao said that the restaurant used to host top businessmen, such as Formosa Plastics Group chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶).
"He doesn't come here anymore since it's difficult for a famous person to show up in a public place and not be recognized and bothered by others. But his third wife still dines here every now and then," Liao said.
Shipping tycoon Chang Yung-fa (
Even the so-called tang wai ("outside the party,"
Liao said that Huang Hsin-chieh (
"But of course these days young people have other choices, and the restaurant has become more a place for reminiscing," Liao said.
Indeed, with its slightly weathered exterior, plain white-and-blue billboard and unstylish blue sofa, Bolero has no visible glam to attract the young anymore.
Liao said that the restaurant now mostly hosts regular customers, and these customers often bring their relations.
"Now whenever I go to the restaurant, it's more for a taste of the past," said Yiu Chi-cheng (
Originally there was only one Bolero, but founder Liao Shui-lai (
"But both Boleros are well-known restaurants and popular matchmaking places," Yiu said.
And it is not just the restaurant that has a long history, its employees do too. Liao has worked there for more than 30 years, and 25-year-old waiter Lin Po-chi (
"Business is not as good as before with the economy slowing in recent years," Lin said.
Liao said that his experience in the restaurant proved to him the validity of the Taiwanese proverb, "Wealth can last no more than three generations."
"Sometimes I would see that certain customers or their descendents stop coming because they cannot afford to dine here any-more," Liao said.
Buildings similar to the one Bolero occupies are everywhere in the area of Tihua Street, made famous for its candies, snacks and food for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Most buildings are only three or four floors high, and the color of red bricks has faded, the white walls grayed.
Yet many buildings are also adorned with delicate engravings that cannot be seen on more modern constructions.
Tihua Street and Yenping North Road are a part of Tataocheng, a huge area along Tamshui River to the northwest of Taipei Main Station.
Tataocheng used to be Taipei's economic center before Japan's defeat in World War II, but now it is considered part of old Taipei.
Many famous local entrepre-neurs based their businesses in that area. Both Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Koo Chen-fu's (辜振甫) father, Koo Hsien-jung (辜顯榮), and Shinkong (新光) Group founder Wu Ho-shih (吳火獅) were respected tea merchants, while China Development chairwoman Diana Chen's (陳敏薰) family was in the textile business in the area.
"Tataocheng is a noble part of the past," said Tu Nien-ru (杜念魯), a 30-year-old Taipei resident. "But then again, Tihua Street is probably the only place in Taipei that can allow people to celebrate the Lunar New Year properly with its New Year goodies.
"The glory may be gone, but the area is a cultural treasure," Tu said.
"When you walk around that area, you do get the feeling of a rich tradition," he said.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,