On the Menu | Taiwan bars serve drinkers warming soup. Is this the pinnacle of hospitality?
Instead of just salty snacks, some bars in Taiwan are offering patrons free hot soup at the beginning or end of their drinking session
I love salty fries and other such greasy bar snacks as much as the next person, but after a short sojourn to Taipei last month, where a friend took me around three unique Taiwanese bars in one evening, I am convinced that they know exactly what drinkers need instead.
It is soup. Hot soup.
As an aspiring Chinese auntie, I fully recognise that my new-found appreciation for consuming hot and nourishing liquids creates a bit of a bias.
But hear me out: drinking cold, icy cocktails, with their spectrum of sweet, sour, and sometimes salty, bitter or spicy notes, can tire out the palate and wreak havoc on the digestive system. And that is before acknowledging that alcohol is, at its core, a poison.
Add that to the fact that typical bar snacks – salty and greasy, more often than not – are designed to make you thirsty and order yet another round of drinks.
In Taiwan, I noticed there is a lovely practice of having small portions of hot, savoury broth – chicken is a common one – that are either available on the menu to order or are given to patrons as a complimentary treat at the beginning or end of their drinking session.