To be honest, I am very reluctant to write about this as I want to keep this place as my secret garden. I won’t share with you the exact location, even I shared this post with you. Maybe you can’t find it. 

I wonder if it were my illusion… very surreal… and maybe next time I can’t find it anymore. 

A Taiwanese friend, Aven who had been travelling in Europe for many year invited me. 5pm, exact time which this bar opens. 

I was puzzled. Having a few drink or two at 5pm? Shouldn’t had we had dinner first before we drank? Maybe it was a restaurant bar. I also teased Aven that he just had his clinical visit and now invited me on few drinks. 

Since covid19, I had not visited Taiwan for about 5 years. Also, this blog has not been updated since then. This year has been packed with 3 trips; 2 in Taiwan. It broke my personal record on travelling same place twice in a year. 

Sitting across the street opposite Otaru Handmade Coffee, I told Aven proudly that I have arrived. He said that he is in  My confidence has got me as I visited DaDaoCheng(大稻埕） in June. Then I got an urgent call from a client, needed to solve the problem right away. The digital capabilities by the company gave me the luxury to solve it online. The air turned slightly colder. 

I walked into BookBar 1920s, looking inside out. Eh? I called him that I was in the bar. He said he didn’t see me and told me that I needed to walk up the staircase. Then I looked at the message and google map he shared with me. It was “Antique Bar 1900”. Then I went to the BookBar 1920s counter to ask the staff, “Is this place Antique Bar 1900?”. He said no, never heard of this place. I wondered, maybe rivalling bar. Then I crossed the street, trying to look around. A signboard with BuWu Design on 2F. I walked up to 1st floor. The lights were off. Then I walked further to 2F. I pushed open a door, a girl greeted me. She seems to be the handcrafter for BuWu design. I politely greeted her and asked her if there were bars here upstairs. She replied shyly that not that she knew of. I was like ….. wow. Calling Aven again. He said, “there was a staircase along the alley. You just walk up then you can find your way.” 

Tada! Finally got my way in. Geez. By the staircase, I got another call from unsolved case. It was temporarily resolved after 5-10mins call. 

Red coloured staircase with dark green painted wall. It slowly flashed me back to the nostalgic times. 

It looked like someone has left trail of photo frames, luring me into time travels. The end of the trail was the glass crafted door with “1900”. Feeling butterflies in my stomach, I took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Would I be sucked into time travels and never got back? 

An old time door bell rang after the door opened. Aven was sitting across. Wow! It seemed like he was the only one who sat there, like he booked the whole bar for us. I looked around, only us in the bar with the two bartender girls. Intriguingly, it was my first time seeing a female bartender; I have been trying to look for a professional term for female bartender. Google only gives “bartenders, barmaid”, in which I think don’t sound too good. 

I think it maybe great to suggest to create a new term for female bartender, called “Bar-Profferess”. New word by me, in short “Barfferess”, more elegant. 

Barfferess comes from the term, “bar” + “proffer”, sound similar as “Buffer”. Proffer

Proffer

An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender

Reference: https://www.wordsense.eu/proffer/

A bar serves as a mood buffer in life. 

I was surprised that few drinks before meals. I said,”Do we need to eat something first before we drink?”. Then Aven was sharing his experience in Europe. He said, “In Europe, apéritif is served as appetiser before meal.” I always enjoy Aven’s company as it has always been fun and interesting to listen to his life stories. He said it was his first time to come to this bar too. I grumbled,”this place is highly hidden, no signboard at all. I have tapped couples of times on google map. There was only a BookBar 1920s, not Antique 1900. I even walked up to 1st and 2nd floor shops across the street opposite BookBar 1920s. Neither BookBar 1920s and the designer on the 2nd floor heard of a bar like this.” 

I told him I bet our mutual friend, Esther who lives nearby doesn’t even know this place. Bingo! She said she is unfamiliar with the drinking culture in Taiwan. Haha. 

To me, it doesn’t matter what you eat/drink or even the sceneries when you travel, it does matter on whom you be with. 

Cheers~ 

There were 4 bases for us to choose: Rum, Whiskey, Vodka, Gin. 

Aven had Whiskey on Rock Lemon; and I picked rum as base. Intriguingly, the barfferess said rum-based would be off menu. Surprise me then. She made mine off menu. 

The barfferess(female bartender) was beautiful that I could not help to say that. Aven was shy to tell her that. I told him it wouldn’t hurt to praise a girl that she was beautiful, even if it was taken as a casual flirt.