Breeze Songgao Branch Opens to Draw Crowds; Food Street Offers 90% Off Queueing Items

▲ Menya Musashi has opened its sixth branch, “Tiger Cave,” at the Breeze Songgao Branch. (Photo / from Menya Musashi’s Facebook)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

The Breeze Songgao Branch grandly opened on the 24th. Although it was a non-holiday, it still attracted a large crowd eager for a first look. The management controlled the number of entrants, so visitors had to line up to get in. In addition to department store merchandise, the Breeze Songgao food street attracted crowds with “exclusive” offerings, including the sixth branch of Menya Musashi here—“Tiger Cave”—the first-ever appearance in Taiwan of the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse, the first Iseya Shouseki tonkatsu shop set up in a department store, and the Taiwan-exclusive TJB Vietnamese cuisine.

In the highly competitive Xinyi Department Store business district, the Breeze Songgao Branch sought to differentiate itself in the market by also featuring exclusive food offerings in its food street. Taiwan-exclusive items include kiwi Kiwi Japanese-style Italian pasta, TJB PHO, and Imperial Plate de食堂. Department store-exclusive items include Shouseki Tonkatsu and Old Tsai Pan-Fried Pork Buns. Xinyi District-exclusive offerings are Zhenyi Xuan, Menya Musashi Tiger Cave, Taiwan Dried Meat King, and Tianxianglou Mini.

TJB operates coffee shops and cha chaan tengs, but what’s newly opened at the Breeze Songgao Branch is Vietnamese cuisine. TJB explained that the owner loves Vietnamese food and has a good friend who is Vietnamese, which inspired the idea of opening a Vietnamese restaurant. However, to suit Taiwanese tastes, the restaurant tones down the spiciness while increasing sweetness and acidity in its dishes.

Additionally, to coincide with the new opening of the Breeze Songgao Branch, many food vendors are offering 90% off promotions. For example, Ice Monster’s “Crazy Coffee Cotton Candy” and B2’s Zhenyi Xuan “Taro to Mud” are both available at 10% of the original price for the first four days after opening. TJB Vietnamese BBQ (with lettuce) is specially priced at 10% off on the 25th and 26th. On the 27th, KIWI Japanese-style Italian Pasta’s Happy Festival Large Cream Puff is just NT$18 (original price NT$180).

% TJB PHO is the first Vietnamese restaurant under the TJB brand. (Photo / taken by Huang Shiyuan)