Taipei: ‘The best kept secret of Asia’

Every month, our magazine chooses to explore culturally rich and developing cities around the world. As we look into the attractions of these places from around the world, we learn more of their heritage and what makes it different from the rest.
This time, Cent Magazine goes east to tour the capital of Taiwan – Taipei. Known as ‘the best kept secret of Asia’, together with Eataipei, a unique event introducing this city to London, we look through a series of food performances and presentations of outstanding contemporary Taiwanese design.
Taipei is a modern city with diverse histories and inspiring natural contrasts. It is full of enthusiasm and creativity that is nurtured by delicious food, diverse lifestyle, beautiful landscape and lovely people.

ART AND DESIGN
Taipei is a city known for its creative minds and there are several emerging designers and artists who have helped this capital town to exhibit its talent.

APUJAN is a young talent Taiwanese fashion designer who graduated from Royal College of Art Fashion Womenswear (Knitwear). In 2013, APUJAN opened his first Fashion show during London fashion Week, he has strong knitting skills to construct womenswear with an unique form. The story behind his collection always combines history and fantasy, the real and the surreal.

A graduate from Central Saint Martins in 2010, Shao Yen is another of the young talents from Taipei. Since 2011, Shao Yen has been a regular participant in London Fashion Week, showcasing designs incorporating practicality with unconventional material and structures, in the form of catwalk shows, presentations and innovative fashion film screenings.

If you are a fan of collection unique pieces of stationary, then this shop will definitely cheer you up. Tools to Live by collect all different kinds of stationery from over the world. From useful pieces to interesting souvenirs, one can explore beautifully designed and vintage styled stationary here.

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Huashan 1914 was a Taipei Wine Factory and which has now been recreated into a show space.Members of the Golden Bough Theatre made a startling discovery in 1997.  There, deep in the heart of Taipei and cordoned off from all visitors, stood an abandoned factory.  The group described the factory as a city within a city, a place where nature was left to age with concrete for nearly a decade. Huashan 1914 is the heart of Taiwan’s creative pulse and a bridge to a unique architectural past. This is an organic creative environment with history and also an open space to show creative art, design and music.

For movie enthusiasts, Taipei Cinema Park provides integrated multifaceted entertaining culture, such as movies, coffee places and youth recreation in the surrounding area.
Founded in 1934 during the Japanese colonial period, this Cinema space, was left unused for 34 years, after which the location has now become a cinema park to create a large leisure space filled with art and culture.

National Palace Museum is an antique museum in Taipei. Being one of the biggest museum in Taiwan, the collection held there is more than 696,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks.

LEISURE AND RELAXATION

Taiwan is well known for its mountains and hot springs. Once a small park where locals used to relax in the hot springs, Beitou is one of the largest concentrations of hot springs and spas in the world. The valley has evolved today to include over thirty resorts and many locals and international tourists regard these as among the most relaxing and rejuvenating places in the country.

NIGHTLIFE

Plan your night outs with your friends and visit the Night market in Taipei, the best place to understand and know more of the Taiwanese culture. These night markets in Taipei are very famous, there are more than 5 well-known night market offering a lot of local food and creative cuisine. If you would like to know what is Taiwanese love to eat, just go to night market with your empty stomach.

CAFÉ AND RESTAURANTS 

Eataipei, a series of immersive culinary performances, will take place at Tent London this September, introducing Taipei as the World Design Capital 2016 through a diverse presentation of contemporary Taiwanese cuisine, design and architecture.
An experimental tasting menu of five dishes, created and prepared by Taiwanese chef, Chung-Ho Tsai will lead the audience on a narrated journey exploring five fundamental aspects of Taipei: history, landscape, people, lifestyle and the future. The senses that are triggered through this experience – taste, touch, sound and smell – will provide the bridge between the act of eating and the design history of Taipei. In the tasting of this series of exquisitely crafted dishes, the audience will be led on an immersive and sensory exploration of the city.
The food performance will take place alongside an exhibition that showcases the best contemporary design from Taipei including lighting, ceramics and industrial design from designers such as Pili Wu and Pochi Lai. The work displayed will reinforce the narratives from the food performances and reveal the rich design practices from this inspiring metropolis.

Raw is the most exciting new restaurant project in Taipei, conceptualized by one of the world’s best chefs, Andre Chiang and his Taiwanese creative team. The 50-seat lifestyle restaurant serves a vibrant ‘bistronomy’ cuisine, a new wave of cooking style born in Paris, offering experimental haute cuisine at a reasonable price. Raw aims to bring ‘The New Interpretation of Taiwanese Flavor’ to your table by highlighting beautiful Taiwanese seasonal produce through innovative food and drink.

Five Dime, a sculpted restaurant is surreally situated in the city serving traditional Taiwanese food. The interior spaces are explorative and full of nature inspired details making an immersive dining experience.

The World Design Capital will commence on the 24th of September at Tent London. Designer Shikai Tseng and architect Rain Wu will lead audiences on an immersive and sensory exploration of Taipei through five exquisitely crafted dishes, which will explore Taipei’s history, landscape, people, lifestyle and future. The senses that are triggered by food – taste, touch, sound and smell – are fundamental and will provide the link between the act of eating and the design history of Taipei.

EATAIPEI OFFICIAL WEBSITE
eataipei.com
Public booking open now on eventbrite
Tent London 24-27 September 2015