unDer lab hides one floor below a burger joint on Lane 308 in Taipei's Da'an District, and it cracked Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025 at No. 73 in its first appearance. The name fits a room that treats every cocktail as an experiment.
The team builds menus around themes rather than a static list. Past chapters have run on seasonal scenes, food pairing, and the idea of cuisine as art, with each drink arriving beside a small plate designed to complete it.
That pairing instinct is the house signature. A gin build infused with yuzu wine, jasmine, Shaoxing wine, and amontillado sherry comes with a tofu panna cotta brushed in miso syrup and crumbled egg yolk, so the glass and the plate read as one course.
The menu rewards reading. The "Ham Over" leans savoury with sweet pepper, bitter gourd, tequila, fino sherry, a yogurt wash, and serrano ham, while "Mirror Ocean" turns lighter with Varee gin, lychee, lime, sea salt, sake, and coconut foam.
Dessert drinkers get their own lane. "Cream Dessert" folds spiced pineapple, cardamom, cinnamon, cachaca, and dark rum around papaya, closing a tasting flight on a warm, baked note rather than a sweet one.
The basement room is small and low lit, the kind of counter where the bartenders explain each build as they pour. The hidden entrance below the burger shop keeps walk-in traffic low and the mood focused.
Who would love it: drinkers who want a tasting-menu approach to cocktails and the story behind each glass. Who would skip it: anyone after a quick pint or a loud night, because the pace here is slow and deliberate.
Expect upper-end Da'an pricing in line with the bar's standing on the regional list. Doors open at 7pm, and a reservation is the safe move given how few seats the basement holds.
The Guangfu South Road address sits at the edge of the East District, a part of Taipei thick with dining and late-night options. The contrast between the casual burger shop at street level and the precise bar one floor down is part of the appeal, and it keeps the room feeling like a find rather than a destination.
The "lab" in the name is not decoration. The team treats each menu chapter as a research project, swapping in seasonal produce and rebuilding drinks around a single idea, so a return visit a few months apart can feel like a different bar with the same hands behind the counter.
The pairing format shapes how to drink here. Rather than ordering a single cocktail and leaving, guests are rewarded for working through a short flight, letting each glass and its plate set up the next. The bartenders pace the sequence and explain the thinking, which turns a round of drinks into something closer to a tasting menu.
The savoury builds show the kitchen's confidence. The "Ham Over" reads almost like a dish in a glass, with the serrano ham and bitter gourd pulling the tequila and fino sherry toward the table rather than the bar. It is the clearest example of the food-and-drink crossover the room is known for.
The recognition from Asia's 50 Best places unDer lab among the city's serious experimental rooms, in the same conversation as Indulge Experimental Bistro and AHA Saloon. For drinkers building a Taipei itinerary, it makes a strong early stop before a louder counter later in the night.
A first visit works best with an open mind and an empty stomach. Arrive near opening for a calmer room, tell the team how adventurous you want to be, and let them route you through the current chapter rather than ordering off reputation alone.
For more in the city, see the guide to the best bars in Taipei, the best cocktail bars in Taipei, and the best speakeasies in Taipei. It sits among the wider field of the best cocktail bars in Asia, alongside nearby names like Indulge Experimental Bistro and AHA Saloon in Taipei.
Sources: Asia 50 Best Discovery · En Primeur Club · Wanderlog. Editorially curated by Marcus Webb.
