February 28, 2008
大山無價
林'R was nice enough to take us away from the fetid Taipei basin out into the hills above Xindian and stopped in at this restaurant for lunch. They'd been here before as a date, but it's also well-suited for a group gathering. Nicely spaced tables with see-thru bamboo curtains to offer privacy while maintaining an expansive sense of space in the dining room. The tatami-padded benches offered a Japanese-like seating feel without being so hard on the knees with all the squatting.
The multi-course set meal offered a wide variety of tastes and textures in a Sino-Japanese vein. Considering the nice environment and the variety of food it's an excellent value. The relaxed setting allowed plenty of time and space for picture-taking, so I got a complete record of our multi-course set meal. So I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Red wine gelatin with a sakura petal garnish.
Hand-made tofu with pine-nut garnish. Red-rice cake topped with salmon roe.
Rustic flour dumplings in a hearty stock flavored with 臘肉 and scallions.
They offered different flavored vinegars as an interlude between the courses. The sweet-sour fruity vinegar helped to cleanse the heavy flavors of the soup course in preparation of the lighter courses to come.
Free-range chicken gently cooked in broth and garnished with scallions on the left. On the right is freshly cut sweet corn in a soy-milk soup. Perfectly tender chicken and very fresh corn, with their original flavors well preserved and enhanced by the preparation.
The seafood quality of the sashimi salad wasn't as extravagant as a real sushi restaurant like 三井. However, the artfully arranged sashimi, padded with a wakame salad, made for a nice presentation.
A thick, stewy soup blended from organic local vegetables. Topped with a chunk of crunch-soft fried mochi.
The signature entree, salt-grilled jumbo prawns accompanied by grilled vegetables on one side and tempura vegetables on the other side.
烏魚子糯米飯: Put the minimum amount of fish roe there to qualify it as an ingredient.
The dried lotus flower is allowed to soak into the steaming pot of chicken stew filled with goodies like taro and lotus seeds.
Mashed taro in syrup makes for a rich dessert, a bit much after the big meal. A few chunks of fresh local fruit is more refresh.
大山無價飲食空間
台北縣新店市北宜路3段62號
02-22178891
