OJT EATS | Indulge Experimental Bistro, Taipei
While it may not be known very well for it, Taipei’s cocktail scene is thriving with what feels like a bar on every corner and more opening up by the week. However, one of the ones that have been around the longest is Indulge Experimental Bistro. Often appearing in lists of Asia’s top 50 bars, this place is a bit of an institution in terms of Taipei Cocktails. After many many years, we went back to see how it’s doing.
As with a lot of bars in Taipei, this place does food and it does it very well. First up were these fried wontons. It came with a very moreish sauce that had us wishing for more and the wontons themselves were fried to perfection with a super crispy top. A great start to the meal.
This was just a massive plate of salad with tempura fish on it. Taipei isn’t always the easiest place to find fresh salad so this was a nice change of pace. The tempura on top was also delicious (Taiwan does to fried food very well!).
This spaghetti dish had a layer of crispy kale and a big chunk of uni on top all with a creamy sauce. Italian food in Taiwan is very different to Italian food in Italy but it’s still really tasty. This is a good example of that. It tasted great, especially with the uni which is something we love but I imagine any native Italian would cry sacrilege!. Still, super tasty though!
This last dish was a fried soft shelled crab. As before, fried superbly and came with a savoury foam that I have to admit didn’t add a huge amount. Still, it was a delicious dish and possibly my favourite dish of the meal.
I can’t write about Indulge without at least a couple of photos of the drinks. This was an Old Fashioned style drink. It was really nice, rich and pretty boozy; exactly my style of drink :)
This was a slight twist on an Aviation cocktail. It was really fragrant and well balanced. It was slightly sweeter than a standard Aviation but still, just a very tasty drink.
All in all, this was a great meal with good food and great drinks. Just based on the quality of the cocktails, you can see why this place is always so highly rated as a bar in Asia. Add to that the comfortable relaxed atmosphere and the quality of the food and I can imagine it will stay in Asia’s 50 best bars lists for a long time!
Indulge Experimental Bistro, No. 11, Lane 219, Section 1, Fuxing S Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City
Cheers, JL
