Situated along the banks of the Tamsui River, the Datong district once flourished as tea exports boomed and foreign companies did brisk trade on the wharf. Recent years have seen more efforts towards revitalising the neighbourhood, aimed at a younger, design-minded audience. The result is a concentration of refreshingly unpretentious art galleries, hip eateries, handicraft stores and intimate speakeasies along Dihua Street, clustered with the shopkeepers and herbalists who were there before, going about business as usual. One stellar example of the area’s influx of vitality is Peacock Bistro, an intimate eatery tucked behind the leafy courtyard of an old, elegant mansion.
