Taihu Gyoza Bar – Dongmen (臺虎居餃屋)

Taihu Gyoza Bar (臺虎居餃屋) is a stand-and-eat izakaya run by Taihu Brewing, the Taipei brewery founded by local beer lovers in 2013, whose name means "Taiwan Tiger". It sits at No. 155 Jinhua Street inside Rongjin Gorgeous Time Village (榕錦時光生活園區), a cluster of restored Japanese colonial-era prison-officers' dormitories off Jinhua Street, and pairs Fukuoka-style pan-fried gyoza with Taihu beer.

Heritage timber, paper lanterns and a noren curtain set the tone for a small counter facing the kitchen, built for a quick beer and a plate of gyoza. A handful of Taihu's core and seasonal releases pour alongside a tight menu designed around them. The brewery is best known for an award-winning IPA and a tomato and plum gose, and its 9.9% canned cocktails are sold in 7-Eleven stores across Taiwan.

Treat it as an atmospheric stop rather than a full taproom session, and combine it with a wander through the heritage quarter, home to several of Taipei's more characterful bars and cafes. Dongmen MRT is a short walk away. Beer Asia lists opening hours of 4pm to 10pm on Mondays, noon to 10pm from Tuesday to Friday and 11am to 10pm at weekends, so unusually for a beer bar it works at lunchtime, and reservations can be made through the brewery's website.

For a longer session, Taihu runs several other Taipei venues, including Driftwood in Ximending, its Da'an tasting room on Ren'ai Road and a bar in Xinyi on Zhongxiao East Road.