Driftwood: Classy Beach Bar With Taiwanese Craft Beer
Driftwood in Ximen is one of those unexpectedly cool bars with a great atmosphere, perfect for both dates and hanging out with friends. We stumbled upon it by accident when we were in the neighbourhood one time, and it has quickly become one of our go-to drinking spots.
Driftwood’s interior is awesome — think a refined beach or Tiki Bar with open flames, soft, flattering lighting, and lots of exposed wood. It doesn’t feel too girly or masculine, and the relaxed hip-hop in the background gives it a fun, modern vibe.
There’s plenty of seating, with tables occupying every corner. If you want one of the nicer tables you’ll have to arrive early and in a group of over four, but sitting at the bar is perfectly comfortable. Bathrooms are outside the bar, attached to the dining area of Hotel PaPa Whale next door.
One thing we love about Driftwood is that despite getting pretty busy on the weekends, we’ve never had to wait more than five minutes to get a table. It also never gets unbearably loud, so you never find your conversations getting drowned out by background noise.
Driftwood serves finger food, cocktails, and a massive selection of beers. We’ve never tried the food, though it’s reasonably priced. We’d strongly urge you to pass on the cocktails and try one of their beers instead — there’s a huge selection on tap that regularly changes, as well as bottles and cans. They have a great selection of Taiwanese beers, mostly from Taihu Brewing, and we love bringing friends from out of town to try the local beers.
The Taihu IPA and passionfruit tart saison are some favourites that we regularly order, but half the fun is trying out something new. Taihu likes to play around with interesting flavours like kumquat or plum, and we’ve enjoyed most of what we’ve tried. There are also a couple of ciders on tap that we weren’t as impressed by (too sweet), and the option to order red wine by the glass. The beers are mostly $200-$250, which isn’t a bad price at all, even though it’s not the cheapest in town.
Driftwood’s chilled atmosphere make it a great option for a casual beer, and it’s a great place to start a night of drinking. We probably wouldn’t spend an entire night here unless we planned on a very low-key evening, but that’s down to personal preference. Although we don’t recommend the cocktails here, there’s always an interesting new beer to try. We usually spend an hour or so here before heading to nearby Hanko 60 or Cafe Dalida for something stronger to round off our night!
What’s the vibe?
Great beers and awesome interior with refined beach bar vibes. Chilled out but not too chilled out. It gets much busier on the weekends, but tables stick to themselves and it’s never rowdy.
Worth it?
Yes. If you’re in the mood for craft beer, Driftwood is one of your best options in the city.
Would you go back?
We go back all the time!
| Driftwood 西門町 |
| Hours: Mon - Thurs: 5pm - 11:30pm Fri: 5pm - 1:30am Sat: 3pm - 1:30am Sun: 3:30pm - 11:30pm |
| Phone: 02 2388 3699 |
| English Address: No. 46, Kunming Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City, 108 |
| Chinese Address: 萬華區昆明街46號 |
