The number one hangout for the expat community in Taoyuan is Feebies (Chung Hua Road, # 145. Phone (03) 336-8887). Their brick oven pizza is superb, and they offer many other items, such as nachos, pasta, wings, caesar salad, and dessert.
Another great place for Western food is Debbie's (Da You Road, #419. Phone - (03) 315-1019). They have excellent breakfasts, sandwiches, spaghetti, Mexican food, and a lot more. Their Mexican spicy burger is recommended.
Rodeo's Pub (Min Dzu Road, #165) has a great selection of Western dishes, including hamburgers, nachos, burritos, and sandwiches. Live music on the weekend.
Bangles Grill and Steakhouse (Fu Hsing Road, #420. (03) 339-5456) has pretty good Taiwanese style Western food. Lots of typos on the menu...
Atayal Restaurant, a.k.a. Chi Fen Dzui or 70% Drunk, is the place for Aboriginal food and alcohol. They're located on Da Hsing West Road, Sec. 1, #285. Phone - (03) 357-5488. They open at 5 p.m. and have live music after 8 p.m.
If you don't want to support the other guys, you can get coffee (and often a good meal) at these spots:
If you're looking for some good bread, Mr. Mark has an outlet across from the Land Reform Museum on Chung Cheng Road. Another excellent bakery is at Tina Bread and Tea House (Chung Cheng Road, #1029. (03) 316-6058).
Jazz Cafe (Tian Hsiang 3rd Street, #42. (03) 316-0370)
Skylark (Chung Cheng Road, #20, 10F. (03) 332-7550) has delicious western meals.
Enjoy (Chung Cheng Road, Lane 77, #6) is a nice place for spaghetti and other western dishes. It's close to the Tong Ling Department Store.
IKEA has a wonderful restaurant with a salad bar and free refills on beverages. Oh, and I think they sell furniture, too, or something like that...
Nyonya (Nan Ping Road, #421. (03)316-2662) has Singaporean and Malaysian food. The Lost Swede recommends the sambal shrimp, chicken wings, and BBQ chicken.
E-Mail Age (Chung Shan Road, #351. (03) 338-3256) offers a refreshing variety of dumplings. Besides the usual pork dumplings, they sell salmon dumplings, squid dumplings, chicken curry dumplings, chicken kimchi dumplings, and many more. They also have "pot stickers", soup, and some rice and noodle dishes. Very delicious and reasonably priced.
A good spot for Japanese food are Japanese Cookroom (Chung Shan Road, #863, (03) 378-2248). They're right across the street from IKEA, and they have an extensive menu.
Yan Ping Road, located right behind the train station, has a few Thai and Indonesian restaurants.
Pubs with unusual names seem to be popular in Taoyuan. Ass (I didn't make that up, yes the name of the bar is ASS) is a small place with a live band. They're located on San Min Road, Sec. 2, #304. Their phone number is (03) 347-8388. Another pub with an interesting name is The Legend of Evil Wolf Pub (Nan Hua Street, #140. Phone - (03) 336-7017).
Vegetarians will want to head for Gan Lu (Chung Shan Road, #861. (03) 379-2764). They're located right across from IKEA.
Cola Planet (corner of Da Tong Road and Chung Ching Road, near the Far Eastern Department store) is a pretty decent Internet cafe. Another spot, Angel Love, (Jian Guo Road, #69) is behind the train station.
Located off Min Dzu Road, down the street from Rodeo Pub, Dong Yang Laundromat (Nan Hua Street, #197. Phone - (03) 337-8868) will take a bag of your dirtiest laundry and wash it for $200 N.T. Another spot, right in the shadow of the Chinatrust Hotel is Jin Jeng De (Chung Cheng Road, Lane 48, #8. Phone (03) 334-0198), although they charge more than Dong Yang. The cheapest place is Hsiang Deng (Da You Road, #558. Phone - (03) 326-2927 or 0936-885-051), a few shops down from Debbie's.
Age Cafe (Min Dzu Road, #271. (03) 335-1403)
JJ Coffee (Yong An Road, #350)
UCC Coffee Shop (Tong Ling Department Store, Chung Cheng Road, #61, B2. (03)337-3414)
Dante Coffee Shop (Chung Shan Road, #482. (03) 331-8157 ext. 101)
Mr. Brown Coffee (Chung Shan Road, #38. (03) 336-9393. or Tong Ling Department Store, Chung Cheng Road, #61, B1. (03) 347-7118)
La Cafe (Chinatrust Hotel, Min Sheng Road, #107. (03) 337-5353)
Cafe 85 C (Chung Cheng Road, #325. (03) 332-4802)
He Feng Coffee (Cheng Kung Road, Sec. 2, #62)
Harwana Coffee (Tian Hsiang 3rd Street, #46. (03) 316-8666)
Nha Trang Cafe (Wen Jung Road, #147. (03) 378-6633)
Jin Chi Coffee House (Da Tong Road, #126. (03) 336-2955)
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