You are looking at the former site of Mary's Hamburger. It sold, you guessed it, hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and even milkshakes. All of which weren't very good at all. But I remember when I first ate here I thought it was heavenly. This is because it was about a year after I had arrived here, and a hamburger that wasn't from a fast food place, seemed like a distant memory. So yes it wasn't very good, but considering there wasn't any other choice in the whole country, it was in a way, wonderful.
Since then of course better burger places have popped up, so it's no surprise that Mary's Hamburger couldn't compete. However it has me thinking, if we really are better off. At that time I don't even know if I'd call it a hamburger, but it was all that we could get, so I enjoyed it for what it was. Now with all these choices and places getting darn close to making good burgers, the disappointment is actually greater. Back then i never left Mary's unhappy, but now it seems a common thing to crave a burger, go to a burger place to have one, then leave a bit sad cause it was not quite good enough. With the rise in standards, comes a rise in disappointment.
I do have one fond memory of this place though. Taiwanese love to qualify that a place is good by saying "a lot of foreigners go there." Not realizing that foreigners may go there just because they have no other choices, not necessarily because of quality. So it was always a nice moment when you would go to this restaurant and see another foreigner and you would both give each other this knowing look of "ugh, yeah this place isn't that great, but it's not like we have any other choice."
