La Caja de Musica =Spanish Food

Its early days, but I had to break my 500NT rule because it was my wedding anniversary. Now I know that it sounds like pure gorgonzola to get married on Valentine’s Day, but it really was the only day available for the Church in Guam where we married. Really, you can ask Mrs. Bao.

As Saturday 15^th was a working day in Taiwan, because of the local government’s habit of giving people an extra day off for public holidays, only for you to have to make it up at a later date, we left it to Saturday night.

Spanish food may not sound too exotic to anyone reading outside Taiwan, but for many Taiwanese I can see it raising eyebrows in quiet admiration. My wife is not particularly adventurous when it comes to food, but she enjoys paella which I’d say is a safe bet for Taiwanese people who are trying to broaden their horizons a bit. Familiar looking enough to be safe, yet unusual enough to be an exotic choice.

Anyway, we opted for La Caja de Musica after a recommendation from one of my army of friends called Cat which I’d been told was Spanish food done well.  I have to say it was beyond good, like super-good. We had the Spanish omelet as an appetizer and the small paella which the owner said would be good for three. Mrs. Bao has hollow legs so she felt it was a bit small for three people, we polished it off quite easily but were satisfied.  We were slightly limited by having to bring toddler Bao, who tried the cheese and nuts appetizer and a few pieces of bread. Drinks-wise I had a Sprite, but the missus foxed me by going all experimental and having a kalimotxo.

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As love was in the air, topics of conversation for the evening included “Have you paid the phone bill yet?”, “I am going to exercise on Tuesday” and also the killer “Oh, we have to go to Family Mart later, my stuff has arrived”. And they say romance is dead…

I wish I could say we rounded out the evening with Mrs. Bao downing half a barrel of grog and then taking on a crew of angry Spanish fishermen and dock workers, bare knuckle, but it wasn’t the case. I had a bath, she went to Family Mart, and then finished up a PowerPoint for work on Monday.

Rock and Roll…

Would I go back? Man, in a heartbeat. A bit pricey to go regularly, but definitely worth going back. The guys running the place are extremely nice, clearly very into their business and really good with the bairn, which I thought was probably a bit outside their usual Saturday night.

Three down.

Spanish omelet 120NT

Cheese and nuts 100NT

Paella was 1350NT          

Sprite 80NT

Kalimotxo 180NT

No. 18, Alley 3, Lane 138, Chang’an West Road, Datong District, Taipei City, 103. If you are going by MRT, Zhongshan is your best bet.