At Escape Artist, afternoon sunlight filters through huge floor to ceiling windows. Instead of menus, a small group of calm cafe-goers muse over blank canvases. Thick and thin paintbrushes replace forks, and metal buckets replace cups.
Escape Artist, located on the second floor of the Songyan Eslite Spectrum, is one of the many DIY shops in the mall, opening alongside places where you can blow glass, make ceramic pots, or create your own leather wallet. The goal of Escape Artist is simple: to help ordinary people who aren’t artists step away from their tech-heavy lives and paint worry free.
The cafe is bright and cheery, with paint-splattered leather chairs and floors, and an art studio-like atmosphere. People remain absorbed in their work for hours, chatting and enjoying the relaxing environment. Everything you could possibly need is neatly organized on a metal rack, including aprons and slippers in case you’re afraid of getting your clothes dirty. You can stay up to four hours at the cafe and they also have a small menu of drinks, snacks, and sandwiches. Although the cafe is mostly empty around 11:00, even on weekends, it gets busy after lunchtime, and queues grow long due to the limited seating. After you’re finished painting, the cafe packages your work in a small cardboard box with a handle, so you can easily carry it home.

• Address: Songyan Eslite Spectrumm; 88 Yan Chang Rd., Taipei, Taiwan
• MRT: Taipei City Hall Station
• Opening Hours: 11:00-22:00
• Price: $$$ (canvas sizes range from mini to large, with 450 NT being the cheapest and 1200 NT being the largest)