A notch or two below

I was away on the parental units' anniversary, so I made sure I took them out after I got back into town.  We went back to our old favorite Paris 1930, since it's kind of a tradition.  And truth of the matter is that Rolf and team have always taken care of us.  The parental units haven't been back here since the new chef came onboard last December, and I thought we'd go and give it a try.

As is typical, each of us took a different menu so we could have a range of dishes.  I decided to take the Ocean Special menu since I'd brought a bottle of white…

Amuse bouche - yellow squash panna cotta with red beetroot jelly.  Pretty yummy, as the squash flavors were surprisingly strong.

No tuna, please

I'm back at Gyodoike (魚道生) for an impromptu dinner.  It really has become one of my favorite places for Japanese in town, and I think the chef has started to recognize me.

As usual we let the chef make the call on what to send us, although I did ask for beef to be left off the menu, as well as tuna.  I've asked for tuna to be taken out almost every time that I've been here, but I still have to specify that it's ALL cuts of tuna.  They don't seem to get it here…

Whelk (つぶ貝) - very crunchy.  Nice way to kick off.

Flounder (平目)

Early Mother's Day dinner

For the first time in memory, the family decided not to wait till the last minute to figure out what to do for Mother's Day.  Mom decided that we should avoid the crowd and celebrate a week early, and tasked me to figure out the venue.  In the past we had always left it up to Last Minute Uncle… who would always decide at the last minute…

I was browsing through blogs for inspiration when I was suddenly reminded of Shanghai Restaurant (豫園上海湯包館) in the Capital Hotel (首都大飯店).  I had been there once for our company annual gathering, and I thought both the food and the setting were pretty decent.  It seemed like a good place to take the family, as we desperately need some new places to go for our gatherings…

I left the ordering to dad and Last Minute Uncle, and sat back and enjoyed the food.

The old standard

I was invited to dinner by some friends at the last minute, and joined them at the original location of Mitsui (三井).  This was the original restaurant to take Japanese dining upmarket in Taipei, offering something more refined than what we were used to before.  Over the years, though, the quality hasn't kept up with the rest of the market, and there are now many other choices in town.

I decided against ordering one of the usual set dinners, since I wanted to control my intake.  So I picked a few items from the menu to try to achieve a "balanced" meal…

Another Taiwanese Japanese sushi joint

The Japanese theme continues… and my guests and I were introduced to Jin Fu (錦富日式料理) by their friend.  I'd actually been to this alley restaurant once many years ago, and was curious to go back and try it again.

From the moment we walked in, it was obvious that this was much more local Taiwanese in style.  It also looked more like a neighborhood restaurant.  We were seated at the counter, and asked the chef for omakase.

Taiwanese abalone (九孔) - not a bad way to start.

Rustle of the bamboo leaves

Got a couple of out-of-towners staying with me for a few days, and they're all focused on eating their way through Taipei.  A list was drawn up last week and they're checking them off one by one.  I decided to join them for lunch at Sasa Sushi (笹鮨), a place I'd read about but had never tried.

The L-shaped Japanese cypress (檜) counter looked immaculate, and seats less than 15.  I knew we were in for some very personal service.  Not wanting to do omakase (御任せ) for lunch today, we opted for the priciest of the 3 business lunch sets at half the price.

Pickles are always important to me at a sushi restaurant.  They should be home made, and what we were served made me happy.  The radish came with finely chopped perilla (紫蘇) leaves, with just the right balance between being savory and sweet.  The cucumbers were carefully chosen to ensure they didn't have too many seeds, and marinated with a combination of soy sauce, mirin (味醂), sake and bonito (鰹). The flavors coming from the bonito made it pretty interesting, and I wondered which soy sauce they used because I detected the distinct fragrance of fermented beans.  I liked the ginger, too… and it's not often that I find myself in that situation.

Paying for home-cooked meal, AGAIN

On my first visit, I didn't find the food at D-Jen Food (鼎珍坊) to be anything to write home about.  The food wasn't bad, but honestly my mom could do as good of a job or better on many of the dishes.  For someone who is lucky enough to have a great cook at home, there's very little incentive to go out and pay for a meal like this…

But tonight Diplomatic Uncle is back in town, and decided to treat us to dinner there.  A rare opportunity for a family gathering.  I decided to keep my mouth shut and let others do the ordering.

Third and last visit

It was supposed to be a quiet evening at home, but I got called out by the parental units to have dinner with them and some friends.  Since there's nothing fancy around my run-down hood, dad suggested we go to Le Palais (頤宮) since it's the closest nice restaurant we could think of.

It was a late casual dinner, so we each ordered something.  I could detect that service was a little off today, as we were assigned to a very small table that wouldn't fit more than 3 dishes despite the restaurant being half-empty.  We were also not given any complimentary appetizers other than the fruit vinegar.  We did ask to switch to a bigger table and were much more comfortable afterwards.

STAY… for awhile

It was about time I did it.  I have stayed away from this place for long enough, giving it enough time to go through growing pains.  The comments from my foodie friends have been very mixed, and skewed towards the negative side.  Second hand stories from people who have worked on the inside - who grew frustrated with the French-Taiwanese JV and eventually quit - didn't exactly make me eager to spend my money here.

By now the original chef is gone, so my friend and I decided to check out STAY - Yannick Alléno's outpost here in Taipei and the fourth location for the chain.  The acronym stands for Simple Table Alléno Yannick, and is meant to be more casual, serving relatively straightforward cuisine.  Once again it was a romantic dinner between two guys, at a place where other guys were taking their dates or having business meals…

Smoky kaiseki

I met up with a friend from Hong Kong tonight.  He was here on business, and we caught up over dinner and some wine.  I wanted to continue exploring Japanese restaurants in town, so I suggested that we try out Toutouan (燈燈庵).  The main restaurant in Japan was never on my radar, but I learned about the opening of the Taipei branch from a fellow food blog, and it's always good to find a decent kaiseki (会席料理) restaurant.

We decided to take the Toutouan set (燈燈庵 会席).  We're still being served the March menu, but the final course was substituted for the item that will be in the April menu.

Tagging along for some fish

Last Minute Uncle strikes again.  The parental units were hanging out with him this afternoon, and they decided to go grab some dinner.  I received the call in the early evening asking me to tag along, which I was only too happy to do.  However, I asked them to choose the venue since it was very last minute.  After checking with a couple of places, they settled on Gyodoike (魚道生).

Raw oyster (牡蠣) - from Hokkaido.  Always good here.

Fusion cha chaan teng in Taipei

Our family went tomb sweeping today ahead of the upcoming holiday, and the few of us present in Taipei had a casual gathering over lunch afterwards.  I wanted to try out Happy Hong Kong (港欣新潮茶餐廳), and the others kindly agreed to indulge me.

To be honest, I didn't have high expectations.  I found out about this place through a TV program, and found out that they serve "creative" cha chaan teng (茶餐廳) food.  While some of the fusion dishes looked interesting, I didn't like the fact that the owner - the son of an old-time celebrity - spent time showing us how much money he spent on decorations… and how the seeming small elements cost a ton of money because they were special and imported.  For a casual meal that I would have in this place, food is much more important than the decor.

(Sugar and spice, and) Everything nice

An old friend's in town on business.  I haven't seen him in a while, so I was really happy to have a chance to meet up with him.  He suggested that we go to Tutto Bello, one of his favorite places in Taipei.  I can't remember how long ago my last visit was, but that visit many moons ago - under a very different chef now famous around town - did not produce a return visit for me… until now.

I arrived to find that, to my surprise, the dinner party had doubled in size.  My friend had rounded up a few of his good friends who share his passion for wine, and there was already a spread of bottles on the serving table…  This is a group of regulars at the restaurant, so the menu has been arranged by the kitchen.

8 pieces for lunch

The Specialist is town again and wanted some more Japanese, so I looked around for a new place to try.  I had long heard someone rave about Honda (本多日本料理), so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It also helps that the place is within walking distance from my office...

I decided to try out some sushi on the first visit, so I took the Take Sushi Set Lunch (握壽司午餐“竹”).

The Colgin perspective

It's been three days since I first met Ann Colgin and Joe Wender, and I was seeing them for the third time this week - this time in Taipei.  The Specialist had kindly invited me to join her tonight at Justin's Signatures, where Sotheby's was hosting dinner for a select group of clients.  The auction house is working with Ann and Joe to showcase the wines from Colgin Cellars, as a parcel of library wines feature prominently in the upcoming Hong Kong auction.  While my wine collection seems miniscule compared to those of my fellow diners, I am a big Colgin fan as well as a loyal client… and I was so looking forward to tasting all the wines tonight!

The best Peking duck in Taipei

Tonight I finally did it.  I returned to Song Kitchen (宋廚菜館) after almost 8 years.  The place is legendary among Peking duck lovers, which means the restaurant is always packed full of hungry diners.  It is quite possibly the hardest reservation to secure in Taipei.  The reservation "system" is open once a month on the first of each month, where diners can call in to reserve a table for a date in the next calendar month.  So our table tonight was actually reserved on February 1st, just over a month ago...  Now why does this remind me of the reservation system for El Bulli?

Chinese cabbage salad (松柏常青) - on the house.  Nice and refreshing, with crunchy peanuts and a little Chinese parsley for kicks in addition to cabbage hearts.

Paddle service

I was invited to join the Chairman and friends for dinner on short notice, and in fact haven't seen most of the group since our dinner together last September.  Venue was 久食 Robata Yaki, which is apparently pretty new.  I hadn't found a place for robatayaki (炉端焼) in Taipei yet, so this was a good opportunity to scout out such a place.

We had a big group of almost 20 people, and took up the entire counter section around the grill.  As one would expect, all of the freshest ingredients were displayed right in front of us.  I guess someone had taken care of the ordering for us, or perhaps the chef had decided to just send us whatever he felt like… omakase (お任せ).

Spanish birthday

We finally got to mom's birthday, and decided to pick another new place to treat mom to dinner - our third straight day of dining out.  I had told mom about DN Innovacíon some time ago, and thought this would be a perfect opportunity for her to try out some Spanish cuisine in Taipei.  Not surprisingly, we picked up a couple of stragglers just before dinner… Last Minute Uncle and my younger cousin.

Chef Daniel was apparently down with an illness over this long weekend, and the Spanish sous-chef was left in charge.  I guess business was kinda slow, so the kitchen didn't seem to have enough ingredients to provide for some added variety that I was looking for.  Bummer…

Dinner with a palatial view

Tonight was the second gathering for mom's birthday, and I decided to revisit Le Palais (頤宮).  My last visit piqued my interest and I wondered what it would be like with more people and a wider range of dishes.  Heaven knows this family needs to find a few more venues for our gatherings, and this one happens to be extremely convenient for me to get to…

The setting is great.  We took a private room on the top floor of the Palais de Chine Hotel (君品酒店), which faces west and just happens to have direct line-of-sight of my apartment building.  The period Chinese decor - with many accents dating from 2 millennia ago - worked well and achieved the mood I wanted.

Birthday lunch with No. 88

It's coming up to Mom's birthday, and this year we decided to celebrate it with a few small groups of close  friends and relatives.  For the first meal, I decided to take them to something a little different - for them, that is.  Lunch at Gyodoike (魚道生) seemed like a pretty good idea…

Raw Hokkaido oyster - I offered this to Mom for a taste, thinking that she would split it with me.  No such luck…  She enjoyed the fresh oyster so much that she ate it all by herself.  Oh well…