In the rabbit-warren-like alleys of Tiao Tong, in the Zhongshan district of Taipei, Fei Qian Wu is easy to find – just look for the long queue of people waiting outside the grilled eel restaurant. Since the pandemic, these places have been joined by trendy bars and restaurants that seat only a handful of people. With their advent, Tiao Tong’s reputation as Taipei’s red light district has faded somewhat.
Tiao Tong’s boundaries are hazy; Japanese visitors regard the part that extends into neighbouring Zhongzheng district as the safer, less sleazy end of Little Tokyo, according to Brady Chu, chief concierge at the Sheraton Zhongshan Hotel for the past 11 years. Although it encompasses Linsen North Road and parts of Zhongshan North Road, Tiao Tong does not quite reach the Regent Taipei, the first luxury hotel of international standing to open in Taiwan, in 1990. The hotel is an incubator of restaurants with ambitions to Michelin stars – something which began in late 2018 when the casual fine-dining restaurant Impromptu received a Michelin star within eight months of opening in the Regent.
After this, other restaurants started leasing space in the hotel – among them Coast, which specialises in Western seafood with Asian touches and opened in late 2020. In early 2022, Little Tree Food – a vegetarian restaurant chain whose branch in the Taipei suburb of Da’an has a Michelin green star for its sustainability – opened the Curious Bar and Restaurant at the Regent Taip.