Anniversary in Taipei

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When we planned this trip to Taipei for dad's birthday, we knew that Foursheets' birthday and our anniversary would fall in the same week, so we made a conscious decision to spend more time with the Parental Units and, for the first time, celebrate our anniversary with them. This means we weren't going to be at our beloved Caprice on this special day, and would have to choose a place in Taipei instead.

I was busy planning my trip to France, and when I returned I dithered a little about where to go... It would appear that the fine dining scene in Taipei is doing pretty well, perhaps thanks to the booming stock market over the last few years, as a number of places I wanted to book were all unavailable. So in the end I chose Ephernité - a name that's been in the back of my mind for a few years.

Since it's our special day, I opted for the Chef's Tasting Menu for us, preferring to have ingredients that are meant to be more premium and interesting.

Salmon tart - made with diced smoked salmon and a fie roe sauce.

Fig and cream cheese crisp - Taiwanese figs served with French cream cheese blended with air-dried tomatoes, which delivered a nice amount of umami.

Chicken liver cherry - we have a mousse made with chicken liver and Cognac, coated with a sauce made with French cherries and served on a crisp. Mom felt the mousse was on the salty side, but I thought it was fine.

I had already noted that service here was very robotic, with the server eager to recite their spiel about the things in front of us. I had to ask them to slow down and repat the explanations. Now another idiot came and actually moved Foursheets utensils across back to the wrong side, clearly ignorant of the fact that she's a lefty... Both of us instantly thought of this episode at a restaurant we would never again patronize...

16 kinds of seaweed | squid | lemongrass - so different types of seaweed have been cooked down into a stock before being made into a jelly, cut into a disc and wrapped with nori (海苔). We've also got seaweed crisps, seaweed, foam, radish, snow fungus, sea grapes, and thin wafers of physalis accented with passion fruit sauce.

Lavender | Tainan No.16 rice \ purple potato - the al dente risotto was perfumed with lavender and served with a purée made with purple potato and pea flower. We also had sweet bamboo shoots, baby corn, and purple potato.

Black truffle | wagyu beef tongue | Brussels sprouts - this came with sauce made with porcini, Bruseels sprouts, and shaved truffle.

The seared Australian wagyu tongue was so springy and bouncy. The flavors were so nice.

Silkie chicken | Kyoto turnip | Japanese leek consommé - besides the Shogoin turnip (聖護院蕪) that's hidden from view and the tiny piece of winged bean, we also had some Japanese leeks, which was used to make the light and elegant consommé along with the chicken, and this was a little sweet.

The silkie chicken roulade was very refined, and the skin was really nice and tasty.

By now the service was really pissing me off, as the staff kept disregarding when someone from our table got up to use the toilet. So the dishes get served even when no one is at the seat...

Lobster | tuberose bud | Tokushima sudachi beurre blanc - sadly, the lobster was very limp, and actually pretty mushy on the outside. Although we were told that the lobster had been grilled, Foursheets felt that this had actually been cooked sous vide for much too long. Well, the only other explanation was that the lobster wasn't fresh, and either way this was a FAIL.

New Zealand lamb | shishito pepper | eggplant dip - the lambs were, apparently, finished by grazing on chicory to improve marbling. The even color and texture again led Foursheets to conclude that the meat was cooked sous vide before a final browning. On the side we had a shishito (獅子唐辛子) stuffed with minced lamb and diced olives, as well as a Japanese eggplant mash.

Cheese plate - this was Brie stuffed with dried Taiwanese fruits, with jam on the side.

Red guava sorbet with perilla foam - nice and refreshing.

White asparagus | ruby peach compote | chamomile - white asparagus was used to make ice cream, vinegar, and cut into strips. We also had strips of chamomile agar, and chamomile syrup.

Wentan pomelo tart - with Marscapone and topped with the pulp of Taiwanese Wentan pomelo (文旦).

Avocado honey madeleine

Biluochun macaron - made with Biluochun (碧螺春) tea grown in Taiwan.

Given it's our anniversary, the restaurant served us a passion fruit mousse. That's a nice touch.

An anniversary requires the right wines to celebrate, and for the first time we opened two bottles from our wedding vintage:

2020 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc - classic sauvignon blanc nose of green apples. There was ripeness on the attack with a decent balance on the palate.

2020 Mouton-Rothschild - served around 45 minutes after decanting. Very minty nose with lots of sweet fruit and toasty oak. More than two hours later we also got pine needles on the nose. This was obviously MUCH younger than the wines mom has become accustomed to drinking... and frankly this was much too young to open right now. I would have waited a few more years under normal circumstances.

Well... this was disappointing. I had high hopes for this place, and while there were a few dishes that were tasty, overall this was just OK. The service didn't help with our experience. I guess I need to plan better for my next trip back to Taipei.

P.S. This is another restaurant who advertises about their "farm to table" philosphy. But while their vegetables and fruits are locally-sourced, the majority of the proteins are still imported - with the possible exception of Silkie chicken. This reminds me of my experience in Hong Kong many years ago with another place that was loudly advertising this philosphy... only for me to call bullshit.