ABV Caribbean — Restaurant in Zhubei City

Edit: they change their menu so now they have fried yucca. Also don't recommend the quesadillas or cubanos if you don't like asian fusion in sandwiches.

The most uniquely themed ABV location. The sign in the front and the wooden decor gives a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe. The food is relatively authentic and not the watered down version that happens sometimes when the Taiwanese twist on another cuisine isn't done well. They tout themselves as Caribbean but they have a lot of exclusively Peruvian dishes. They have complimentary bread to start. While it is not good bread, it is so refreshing to see for a change. It can definitely be dipped into their wonderful stews. The spices and seasoning - top notch. The beef cheek stew came with additional bread as well.

The steak on paella 🥘 is super savory. Also loved it in the entree with cornbread and yucca. Too bad they don't have yucca fries though. The service is polite, although there are a few who are vastly ignorant on the food and drinks. Speaking of drinks, they have a worldly selection of beers. I think the standouts to me are the Taiwan microbrews and the Japanese selection. The chicken wings pair so well with these. One slight bummer though: the first time I went, they assured me that they would inform us if a beer was over 400 NT. However, once we selected a regular California sour which came in a CAN, it set us back by 600 NT. Even a carefully concocted cocktail that is hand shaken for 6 minutes costs less than that! I mean, all ABV did was pull back a tab on a can. 😂 They definitely should have informed us if they don't bother having prices listed.

They have two floors with a stuffed llama halfway on the stairs. I once actually brought unfinished coffees from another place to ABV and they said we had to put it in a paper bag which they provided for us. I thought that that was a nice touch instead of making us throw it out.

Another cute thing they do is having a hexagon sticker on each beer which you can take and stick on a card. But the even cuter thing is that all the beer stickers are labelled with the beer name so you can remember what you drank even if you get too drunk by referring to your card. Once you accumulate 10 stickers, you get a 10% discount, which isn't much but it is fun. And not impossible to get if you go in large parties. You could fill a card in one go.

There is plenty of parking for...

This escape from noodles and rice has great selection of international beer and Caribbean food, including great music and plenty of TVs. I am watching last night's Sixer's game right now.

This place features a wall of coolers full of bottles of beer, including many ciders from around the world. There are no taps though and they could really benefit from a centralized bar.

Each of the 5 shelves of the six coolers are dedicated to a specific type of beer or cider. Yeah, there a few wine bottles rolling around in the bottom too. They do seem committed to Pale ales, but they have the right selection of Lagers, Pilsners, Porters, Stouts, Blondes, Belgians, Germans, Scots, and even Saisons. The Taiwanese micros were a full shelf and very well represented.

They have an extensive Saint Vincent's and the Grenadines selection of Caribe cuisine with a little Puerto Rico thrown in for good measure. The tapas selection is a bit mono- chromatic and in need of a good selection of appetizers to buttress the bar crowd.

Finally, it would be a gross omission if I didn't mention the eclectic mix of music. The majority is in Spanish, but there is a definately a good amount of real country. Yes, there is even country music in Spanish.

It is clear this place has the heart and soul of the owner, who just wants to share a meaningful part of their life with folks who might not otherwise ever experience it.

ABV is simply a beautifully unique experince not...

What a fun place!

Tapas-style food and proper individual plates. The food is in the style of countless Latin American countries and the decor really emphasizes it.

The beer selection is in the hundreds and they come from Germany, Belgium, England and the USA.

The one little complaint I have is that I felt the staff wasn’t quite aware of what was in the food so it was a little tricky with a friend who had dietary restrictions. Admittedly, it very could have purely been an issue of language and once things were clear things were corrected quickly and fully.

Prices were very reasonable for the location and the quality, but it is by no means the cheapest place ever. We were 6 and spent ~5500NTD for 11 food items and 7 beers.

I’ll definitely be back...