What to do and eat in Da’an in Taipei, from restaurants and shopping to hotels, as new lifestyle hub draws the crowds
- Da’an was already a popular district in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, but the opening of Rongjin Gorgeous Time has rejuvenated it once again
- The district’s existing reputation for fine dining and as an incubator for food and drink concepts has attracted restaurateurs with big dreams
The tree-lined boulevards of Dunhua South Road and Renai Road Section 4, which intersect at one of Taipei’s busiest roundabouts, are reminiscent of Shanghai’s Xuhui district, where parts of the former French Concession used to be.
Royal palm, banyan, camphor and sacred fig trees provide shade along these broad arteries in eastern Da’an District, where some of Taiwan’s most expensive real estate can be found.
High-end boutiques and upmarket lifestyle stores line the main roads, while bijoux restaurants – a number of them Michelin-starred – and kooky bars are tucked into the labyrinth behind.
It’s also here that Taipei’s answer to New York’s Central Park, the 26-hectare Da’an Forest Park, can be found.
The Xuhui resemblance is reinforced in Taipei by street names such as Guangfu, Dunhua and Renai roads, which are similar to those in Shanghai, and there’s a reason for that.
When Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalists fled mainland China after being beaten by Communist forces in 1949, it’s widely believed that his wife, Soong Mei Ling, who was Shanghainese, was so homesick that she influenced the planning of the city with her hometown – which was also that of many fellow émigrés – in mind.
