Last friday I went up to my old neighborhood to do some shopping and to eat at a restaurant I miss. After running my errands I decided to take a walk around. It was pouring out, so it was a rare chance to walk around without being surrounded by crowds.
It was a bit depressing to see that a lot of my old haunts were no longer there. Not that it's surprising though. More often than not if i like a place than it means Taiwanese don't. So when I'm there, I'm the only person there and usually say to myself "wow Taiwanese businesses are really good if they can survive with me being the only customer" only to have reality set in when I go back one day and find them closed down.
It can hurt though, especially with this particular place in the photo. It's of a shop that sells a unique kind of Taiwanese...let's call it ice cream (i'll have to make a post about this in the future). It was across the alley from a super popular shop that sold the same thing. Meaning that one always had a big line, while this one only ever had a few people in it, even though of course the taste was much better here than the popular place.
I'm sad to see this place go for two reasons. The first is because it was the place i used to try and show people that "popular" doesn't mean "good." most people knew the famous shop pretty well, and never wanted to give this place a try, so I would have them try both and everybody agreed that the non-famous place tasted much better. Granted some people might have just been saying that to shut me up, but for some it was a pretty profound experience, shaking what had previously been their very strong belief system about how things work. A few got angry and felt betrayed that they had been lied to believe that only popular things are good, and started to wonder what other things they had missed out on.
As you can see this was some pretty powerful ice cream.
But the real reason I will miss it is because of the fond memories I have of this place. There was a time when I had a late start on fridays, so every friday I would go here for a mid afternoon dessert. I would meet up with a friend who was going to school at a nearby college, as she finished early on fridays. we would just sit and eat our ice cream and chat and enjoy the peace of being the only people there.
I have no idea what we would talk about, maybe just some gossip and talk about our weeks. But it was always so relaxing and allowed me to get through the rest of my week. It was also nice to see somebody who I had known for such a long time and who was stifled during her school years, finally blossom in the freedom that college provided. I think it gave me a lot of hope for the young people i work with who can't see any escape from the pressure of their current situations.
So thanks to this place for the good times and great memories. I know it never became the popular place, but for me, for an hour a week it was a little slice of paradise.
