Nightmares Meet Reality at Asylum Bar
This classy cocktail bar has a twist: it’s themed like a spooky retro mental asylum. Asylum Bar, located near Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station, makes great drinks in a chill atmosphere.
We visited Asylum on a Saturday night before Halloween, unsure of how spooky the bar would be. We soon discovered they don’t fully commit to the horror theme — at first glance, Asylum is very similar to other cocktail bars in Taipei, with a sleek, dark interior and relaxed background music. It’s nicely decorated with muted tones and shiny finishes.
There’s plenty of seating — the bar didn’t feel too crowded, even on a Saturday night. This makes Asylum a good place for a date or chill hangout with friends, but not necessarily the sort of place you would want to start a wild night of partying.
Although the asylum theme isn’t immediately noticeable, it does feature a collection of sinister items scattered around the bar: a straightjacket, gas masks, an old bed, children’s toys, and mysterious glass jars. Despite being creepy, these are only minor details that are easy to miss.
Asylum is known for its well-crafted cocktails, which we couldn’t wait to try out. Prices are comparable to other cocktail bars — from NT$280 for a gin & tonic to around NT$450 for more complex cocktails. We’d assumed most of the menu would reference the asylum theme, but there were surprisingly few connections.
We ordered a combination of classic and original cocktails. They were nicely balanced and well-made; we enjoyed most of our drinks.
Check out their menu here:
All in all, we did quite like Asylum for its sleek interior and quiet vibe, but we probably wouldn’t return unless we were in the area for a date or a quiet catch-up. While the drinks were good and the theme is interesting, we felt like more effort could have been put into staying true to the theme. As it stands, it lacks slightly in personality, making it hard to hard to distinguish from the billion other nice cocktail bars in Taipei.
What’s the vibe?
Calm, dark, relaxed cocktail bar with a muted asylum theme.
Worth it?
That depends. The cocktails were good, but we prefer a place with a bit more atmosphere. We were a little disappointed that the asylum theme wasn’t more apparent, because, without it, we felt that the bar itself was rather forgettable.
Would you go back?
Probably not, although perhaps we would if we lived closer. There are plenty of cocktail bars left to explore in Taipei.
Visited: October 2018
| Asylum |
| Hours: Sun-Thurs 8pm - 2:30am Fri & Sat 8pm - 3am |
| Phone: 02 2775 1627 |
| English Address: No. 10, Lane 219, Section 1, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, |
| Chinese Address: 台北市大安區復興南路一段219巷10號 |
