No. 155-1, Renhe St, Renwu Dist
高雄市仁武區仁和街155-1號
(07)372-7676
Monday-Sunday
4:00pm-2:00am
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acelgr
English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: yes
average cost: 300-400NTD
Ignorant foreigners such as myself might be surprised to learn that gambling of any form is illegal in Taiwan. Of course Macau is but an hour or two away by plane, but there's always the risk of finding oneself unable to afford the flight back... Lucky for us, some clever restauranteurs have come up with a way to scratch your gambling itch without ever leaving the city.
...At least technically, anyway. This place is WAY up in the north of Kaohsiung, about a 100NTD taxi ride away from the nearest KMRT stop (Zuoying), so those without private transportation are advised to take advantage of their friends. All the better if said friends are good at navigation, as it's somewhat hard to find. You'll know you're there when you see the gaudy blue replica Eiffel Tower on the horizon. (I'm pretty sure they built that JUST for the restaurant, so. That should tell you a lot.)
The following review is barely a restaurant review, because this place is barely a restaurant. Not to say that the food is *too* horrible or anything, but it is definitely not the focus.
The last time I went they were offering a selection of fried goods, set meals (like steak and grilled pork), our favorite "Italian noodles", and hot pot, but this time the menu had been reduced to fried goods and hot pot... I'm not sure if this was because they were holding a special event, or if they've actually decided to narrow down their menu because quality > quantity.
This is a good idea, in theory, but having ordered the hot pot both times I am forced to wonder how terrible the other menu items could have been, that they would want to make hot pot their specialty. The above is my neighbor's lamb and clam hot pot, which unfortunately doesn't sound nearly as charming in Chinese.
Definitely edible, but not going to change your life or anything. They also sell beer and cocktails, but from what I can tell the latter come in two flavors: watery juice ("half moon") and mouthwash ("mojito"). I am serious, it tasted EXACTLY like Listerine. Go with Budweiser.
I ordered the chrysanthemum tofu hot pot, which looked sort of cringe-inducing upon arrival...
I guess that's the natural result of choosing such a combination of ingredients, but the platter of things for putting in the hot pot didn't look so great either:
The assorted fake meat shapes were absolutely frozen solid and my little sesame-filled mochi was still in its wrapper. Now I'm not a hot-pot expert or anything, but I wasn't very impressed, nor excited to eat.
Once things got bubbling though it was pretty alright! The meal was saved by a mysterious delicious dark-red salty paste sauce (not pictured here) and the RICE, which was somehow AMAZING.
Sooo good, this rice.
Don't come here for the rice though, come here for the gambling! A certain amount of your meal price will be automatically converted into ~20,000NTD of chips (you can also buy more separately) used to play a wide selection of casino games including the familiar Blackjack and Texas Hold'em and some others that I had to have explained to me. When you've won a nice pile of chips (or sold your house to fuel your burgeoning gambling habit) you can exchange them in turn for dinner coupons or cute little prizes like iPad covers, whiskey shots, or poker sets (only 1,200,000NTD!).
I was a little busy trying to win a toy dinosaur so look here for pictures of the casino area: http://www.ipeen.com.tw/comment/496662. The dealers are extremely professional and there are a few regulars that play a MEAN (read: terrifying) game of Texas Hold'em, so don't be expecting to go in and take the place for all it's worth.
But if you do go, plz win me a toy dinosaur. :(
OVERALL RATING: 3/5
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