OK Welcome to another edition of the Eats of Taipei. I'm your presenter Francis Li.
Today we're in Tamshui. Right over there by the Tamshui River,
and really really close to the MRT station in Tamshui. So we're going to introduce you
to Donovan's. Donovan's is a coffee shop, maybe a restaurant, maybe a bar. So, OK guys,
let's go into Donovan's now.
So Gary, where are we? Actually we're here in Tamshui right on the river. If you take
the MRT to the Tamshui Station, just come behind the station. Walk as far as the river,
turn right, and we're the third door on the right, just up the stairs. OK, so we're on
the second floor, huh? On the second floor, right. So we're at Donovan's. What do you
serve at Donovan's? Well we serve a variety of things. Everything from simple sandwiches
and salads to homemade cottage pie, homemade Irish farmer's meals, fish and chips. So your
specials are kind of Irish specials? Most of them. We're a little bit international.
Most of them are Irish. Really it's good pub grub. So it's pub grub guys. So when are you
open? Well we're open from Monday to Friday. That is every day except Tuesdays at the moment.
But we'll be opening on Tuesdays soon. And during the week we open from about 3 until
10:30 or 11. at night. But then at weekends, we're open a bit later. Sundays all day long.
So what time do you close on Sundays perhaps? Really about 11 at night. I'm still a bit
confused. How would you describe Donovan's? Is it a bar? What is it? Actually, I get asked
this question many times. I would say during the day, we have a lot of young people and
families here, and they come for a cup of tea or often a toasted sandwich. Something
healthy like a juice and a salad. Then as the day gets later, the Sun goes down, we
serve a lot of homemade cocktails and lots of beer. Draft beer. Right, OK, different 0:02:39.580,0:02:34.580 times of the day it's sometimes kind of like a restaurant, sometimes like a coffee shop,
and maybe at the weekend's it's more like a bar. Yes, we get lots of students. Lots
of Tamshui students come here later in the day. So I can hear music now. Do you always
play music? Yes, we do and if I'm very on it, people have often commented on the music.
Really? Sounds good to me. It's UK music. UK? Where's the UK? It's a long way off. Also,
do you have drinks? Yes, we can make you any cocktail you want. Right, so, I'm kind of
poor though. I don't have much money. We always have a special happy hour. That's from 3 until
8 everyday and sometimes we like to extend that on Saturdays and Sundays. I'm kind of
confused. What is a happy hour? What is this thing? At happy hour we have certain drinks
for a special price. OK. For instance, you can get a beer for 99NT. You can get certain
cocktails for the same price. Right, great, thank you Gary. Just before we go, I noticed
over here and over here you have a lot of writing on the wall. What is that? Well, this
drove me absolutely crazy one time. We had just repainted the wall, and this little kid
came and started drawing on the wall. That's not very good is it? Well that's what I thought
but then everybody said "oh that's great" and other kids wanted to write on the wall.
So now we've got lots of students that come in and they sign their names on the wall.
Really? Hi you know. Anything interesting? Well sometimes we get a pretty girl who writes
her name and telephone number but otherwise. Right, I see. Can anybody write on the wall?
Please do, feel free. Maybe I'll do that later. Good draw a picture.
Right, so we're at the wall now, and at this wall people write different things- names,
they draw pictures. So anybody can come here and write something, so let's write something.
There we go- The Eats of Taipei, Francis
OK so I've ordered the German sausages. So it has the German sausages, the mashed potatoes,
and the barbecue sauce and the mustard. I don't know if you can see that. It's yellow
here and a bit of brown or black. Also we have the salad which includes tomato and cheese
and cabbage and carrots and things and homemade mayonnaise. OK, so let me just try some of
it now.
It's really nice. So this is kind of really good pub grub, and I like it. There's a lot
of salad here, so it's really good. I would say this is really good. I would recommend
this. So maybe when you have time, come to Tamshui and you can try this German sausage
meal.
For you coffee lovers here, we have cappuccino. This I'm told by Gary is real Italian cappuccino.
So let me just have a sip now.
Actually I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but this is, in my opinion, it's really really
nice. It has a lot of flavor. It feels very genuine. So if you come here,why not try the
coffee? I really do recommend the cappuccino. OK, let me have another sip. Of course if
you don't like cappuccino, you can always have a whiskey with it. Haha, wow, cheers
guys. I'll have the whiskey a little bit later. OK, cheers. OK, we've cut now, right?
OK, so this is the salad. This is lettuce, actually iceberg lettuce. I called it cabbage
before. Made a mistake, sorry. But the salad's really good here. It is nice, it is nice.
This is the fish and chips. Fish and chips is a very traditional British dish, so many
people come here and order the fish and chips. We also have the ketchup here, and we have
some sauce (tartar) here. I'm not quite sure what it is. I imagine it's mustard mixed with
something else. I can ask Gary later. So this is one of they're most popular dishes here.
Thank you for coming. This is for you. Thank you, Gary. Cheers. Thank you very much. Cheers
guys. Thank you very much for the coffee and the meal and everything. Well thanks for coming.
Hey, it's evening now, yeah? Now you see it's more full. Yeah, more people coming in. Before
I go, we're off camera, right? We're off camera? Those girls over there, could you introduce
me? Be glad to. Thank you. Just come with me. You know I'm kind of shy. I don't usually
talk to girls. We just want to say cheers. We don't want to interrupt. This is Felicia,
and this is Puma. Lovely names. Can I sit down? Of course. Sit down and chat. Thank
you, Gary. I've got to go work for a living I'm afraid. So girls, do you come here often?
Yeah of course. Almost every day. Really? So why do you come here? I like the people
here because they are so friendly, and of course their food is so excellent. The food
is excellent. What are you eating today? I'm eating the fried fish, and they are so crispy.
So is it fish and chips? Yes. So you're having the fish and chips. So Felicia, what do you
have today? It's kind of a sub with tuna. Kind of a tuna with chips, yeah? Yes. So,
how often do you hang out here? Almost every day. Almost every day? It must be good. Yes.
So what about the atmosphere? Because they're always playing music. Kind of irritating,
isn't it? Yeah, one of the reasons we come here is because of the music. Oh, so it's
not irritating? It's not irritating! Oh, I see. They actually like the music. Of course.
So what kind of music is it? What is it? It's a little bit like, sometimes they play country
music. Country music yeah? Country music and sometimes it includes a bit of rock elements.
To me it sounds like British music. That kind of rock.
Right, that was really good. I had some really good food, some really good drink, and there's
a really good party atmosphere here in the evenings. So this is Donovan's here in Tamshui.
I've got to go now, so we'll catch you another time on The Eats of Taipei. OK goodbye. Hey,
he's steeling my glass! He's stealing my glass! Right, OK. Next time guys, next time.