Restaurant with vintage cars serves up gourmet meals for dogs

Restaurant with vintage cars serves up gourmet meals for dogs

2023-02-17

Taiwan has its fair share of themed cafes. There’s an Alice in Wonderland-themed cafe and a llama cafe and many more. Today, FTV reporter Stephany Yang takes us to a restaurant with two quirky themes that you don’t often see paired together: vintage cars and gourmet cuisine for dogs. The restaurant has been around for a while; it was once featured in a popular TV show "Meteor Garden" about 20 years ago.

Stephany Yang
FTV reporter
Are you a fan of the TV series “Meteor Garden”? This themed restaurant was where the two actors from the show went out on a date. Now, 20 years later, this restaurant has transformed into a pet-friendly restaurant, serving up meals for dogs.

This first dish is sirloin beef bowl. Aside from meat, there are also veggies on the side like broccoli, carrots, and cabbage.

There is also penne gratin with pumpkin and beef. These mouthwatering meals are not for me. It’s for this husky, Poly, and this dachshund, Aloha. Over the years, the store has won many loyal patrons who bring their pets here.

Kristina Chang
Poly’s Owner
The fresh dog food here is good, and you can also play with the dogs in the store. My dog likes beef rice, but actually, he likes all of the food here. I tried the salad and seafood noodles myself. They are also delicious.

The founder of the restaurant, Gasper Lee, hired a pet nutritionist to design meals for pets. The restaurant was designated a so-called “Michelin-starred restaurant” for pets by the Taipei Animal Protection Office.

Gasper Lee
Founder
It can’t be seasoned. It’s cooked in a salt-free and oil-free way. It can be boiled, steamed, or fried a little. A pet nutritionist taught us. In addition, we have more than 10 years of experience in dog care. So we know the ratios and formulas that will suit them best.

This restaurant in Taipei was established in 1999 by Lee, an avid collector of antique cars. The restaurant is filled with classic cars, parking meters, fuel stations, and American car license plates. It even became one of the filming locations of the TV show “Meteor Garden.” Many fans of the program still come here to relive the show.

Maricris Agustin
Patron
I am from the Philippines. I am a fan of “Meteor Garden.” It was one of the places where the show has taken place so I went here because of that. I feel like I watched the drama again while eating here. I think I was just in high school or elementary and now I am working when I watched the drama

Bruno Singier
Patron
I think it is pet-friendly here, you see a lot of people bringing their pets. Sometimes it is dogs, and cats as well. I know that there has been people bringing some other pets as well like snakes and maybe iguanas.

In 2016, Lee decided to start serving healthy and delicious pet meals.

Gasper Lee
Founder
In the very beginning, I liked to collect antique cars, parking meters, antique fuel stations, and mini cars, and then re-create them. We started the pet business because of our shop dog, this dachshund. After seeing the dachshund, many customers asked if they can bring their dog over. I said: “yes.” Then they also asked if dogs can have their own meals. So we learned several recipes from pet nutritionists and sold fresh pet food in the store. We didn’t expect that it would be so well received when it launched.

Over the years, more and more Taiwanese are becoming proud pet owners. The Taipei City Animal Protection Office has created a “Michelin” guide for pets, selecting 10 pet-friendly restaurants across Taipei that provide high-quality meals. Seeing this demand, stores across Taiwan are also providing and developing more pet-friendly products and services, along with cooking meals to cater to pets and their owners.

寵物友善餐廳結合古董車和寵物美食

2023-02-17

台灣有相當多的主題餐廳，包括愛麗絲夢遊仙境主題咖啡館和駱駝咖啡館等等。今天，一起來看看另類的主題餐廳，結合古董車和寵物美食。大約20年前，這家餐廳也曾出現在熱門電視劇《流星花園》中。

[[民視英語新聞記者楊怡安]]
"如果你是電視劇《流星花園》的粉絲，對這間演員約會的餐廳一定不陌生，20年過去了，這間餐廳變身為寵物友善餐廳，為毛小孩提供餐點"

這道牛肉沙朗親子丼，除了肉，還有青花菜、胡蘿蔔和高麗菜。

還有這道南瓜牛小排通心粉。這些令人垂涎欲滴的美食可不是給記者的，享用美食的是哈士奇Poly和臘腸狗Aloha。多年來，這家店累積了很多忠實顧客。

l[Poly主人 Kristina Chang]]
"這邊有狗的鮮食不錯，還可以跟店的狗玩。牠滿喜歡牛肉飯，但是其實都很喜歡。我自己試吃沙拉跟海鮮麵也很好吃"

餐廳的創辦人李家家，找來寵物營養師專門為寵物設計餐點，還被台北市動保處評選為"動物友善毛其林餐廳”。

[[店長李家家]]
"都不能調味，就是無鹽、無油的方式去做料理。可以用水煮的、蒸的，可以稍微煎一下的方式來調理食物。寵物餐的部分是參考寵物營養師教我們的，還有我們養狗10多年了的經驗，我們知道說什麼樣的比例跟配方對他們比較好。"

熱愛收集古董車的老闆李家家，於1999年開了這間餐廳。餐廳裡擺滿了經典古董車、停車計時器、加油古董機和美國汽車牌照。2003年，被電視劇《流星花園》劇組相中，成為取景地點，至今仍有不少劇迷來這裡重溫舊夢。

[[顧客 Maricris Agustin]]
"我來自菲律賓，我是《流星花園》的粉絲，這是拍攝地點之一，所以我來了。在這裡吃飯的時候，感覺像是又看了一次這部劇。我想我看的時候應該是高中或小學，現在我開始工作了"

[[顧客 Bruno Singier]]
"這是寵物友善的餐廳，我常常看到很多人帶著他們的寵物來這裡。有狗、貓，還有其他寵物，比如蛇和鬣蜥"

2016年，李家家決定開始提供健康美味的寵物餐。

[[店長李家家]]
"一開始就是很喜歡收集古董車、停車計時器、加油古董機以及迷你車，來做改裝。開始寵物的部分是因為你看到的臘腸狗，那是我們的店狗，很多客人看到牠，就覺得我們可不可以也帶我們家的狗過來，我說可以，那麼他也問狗狗可以有餐點用嗎，所以我們就跟寵物營養師學了一些餐點，在店裡面販售寵物鮮食，沒想到一推出就大受好評"

眼看越來越多的台灣人喜歡養寵物，台北市動保處也打造了一份”動物友善毛其林餐廳”指南，選出了10家提供優質餐點的寵物友好餐廳。全台各地的業者也積極開發更多寵物友善的美食和服務，搶攻毛小孩商機。

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Voice of Chen Yu-lin
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Chiu Kuo-cheng
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It was discovered at around noon yesterday. After we found it, we made an assessment and a preliminary inspection of its appearance. It said what factory in Taiyuan it came from and also said it was a weather balloon, but I think we will take a lenient approach in judging our opponent’s intentions. We won’t jump to conclusions. I have dispatched a team to do some research, and once we understand the fine details, we will make a conclusion.

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Chiu Kuo-cheng
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I just said we would take a lenient approach. There is something going on, but whether something somehow was attached to the weather balloon, or it had things that were harmful to people, we’ll just have to wait for our assessment. If an entity relating to aviation or sea navigation traverses inside our national borders, then of course we must deal with this. This does not amount to a first strike, but rather is called a responsive countermeasure.

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Resident of Hsinchu
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Resident of Hsinchu
Back in the days when we weren’t so affluent, sometimes students actually couldn’t afford books. Seaside Books offered relatively low prices. I bought lots of novels from here. Then I married and had children, and when my daughter was small, we often came here to buy children’s books.

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Huang Shou-yu
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It’s a really tough decision for me. I took the store on 18 years ago. I’ve been wanting to close down for about a year now.

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Some of the books are still in great condition. At the very end, I will sell them off more cheaply.

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Yu concentrates on his knife as he carefully carves an openwork design with many intricate layers.

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Yu Jung-ching
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