Was away to China for a couple of weeks and GF was busy when I got back so it's been a while since we'd seen each other. Decided that getting together for a quick dinner after work was better than nothing so we met up at 中山 near her workplace. Didn't have any particular destination dining in mind, but Idee has been flogging their remodeled food court in ads at the Taipei Main Station so we decided to give it a shot. They were definitely going with the Fashionable Japan theme in their offerings, and Ootoya was one of the anchors. Remembered seeing an Ootoya outside Shinjuku Station East which was enough of a reason for me.
The restaurant was still spiffy new but much smaller than I was expecting, but Idee isn't a big building and tonly half the basement was dedicated to the food area. We were early enough to beat the post-work dinner rush and get a table immediately. I had the signature char-grilled fish 烤竹筴魚 and she chose the curry nabe. My fish was split in half lengthwise and grilled until both sides were golden brown. The thin fish was deceptively fatty which kept the flesh moist, and well-salted to make good company for rice, which was quite good but not quite up to the Japanese standards (just a tad stickier than perfect). The skin was more tough than crispy but I'm not sure whether that's the inherent quality of the fish or insufficient heat on the grill. A bowl of grated daikon and small dishes of tangy pickled items helped to break up the saltiness of the entree.
GF's chicken curry nabe came in a roiling earthenware bowl sized for one. The thin curry soup had plenty of hearty veggies and shrooms but only came with one piece of chicken, quite at odds with the menu photo. Call the server over to express our disappointment and were advised that it was suppose to come with two pieces of chicken and they would take it back and add our rightful protein right away. Oh well, GF could share some of my fish in the meantime. The chicken chunks were good, grilled to crisp the skin and seal in the juices before being dumped into the hot-pot. The curry soup is a bit weird to drink as a soup but not thick/flavorful enough to be a sauce on top of the rice. It's good Japanese home-style cooking, just not our favorite thing.
It's perfect as a convenient meal with the consistency of fast-food but delivering comforting savory dishes instead of greasy gut-bombs. 300NTD per person or so is fair, although perhaps more so when compared to Japanese standards than Taiwan levels.
大戶屋
台北市中山區南京西路14號B1樓
(Idee 衣蝶本館)
02-25110882
Been a while since we've gone somewhere nice for dinner. Been meaning to check out the upstairs restaurants at the new Eslite XinYi flagship store. The Chinese place was packed and not really suitable for a two-person table. Wasn't hungry enough for the all-you-can-eat buffet, no matter how upscale. The medium-priced Western restaurant would've been good except it was booked for a private event. Meanwhile, Burgundy sat empty of diners, although a quick look at the menu showed that the lack of popularity was most likely due to sticker shock rather than any deficiencies in the food. But the fancy menu certainly looked good enough to eat, and we were coming from work and not totally under-dressed, so what the heck.
There is the choice table next to the window looking out into the Xinyi night scene, but it was reserved for later by a fancily dressed couple out for a special date. All the tables in the small space are perfectly nice though, and the restaurant even featured some private rooms to satisfy Asian sensibilities. The room did fill out but never crowded as the night went on. Could've got more value and more food with the prix fixe selections, but didn't feel like that many courses so we ordered a la carte. GF ordered Beef Consomme for the starter with the Seafood Risotto main, and I had the Spinach Salad (with organic spinach, yes I know) and a duck-plus-fois main. With a name like Burgundy, the wine list is obviously a selling point, and I flipped through the weighty tome many times before picking a half-bottle Burgundy red which was good but a bit young (2001 Nuit-St. George, "Les Didider"), not to mention extravagantly marked up, but then so was everything else on the list. The wine was decanted (kinda silly with a half-bottle but what the heck) and served in high-quality Schott crystal. The silverware was also fancy German, too, in WMF.
The server was with it enough to be able to express the special points of the dishes as we dithered, and was properly apologetic when he told us the seafood risotto was unavailable due to shortage of fresh shrimp. GF switched to the mushroom risotto, but expressed her disappointment and the server was smart enough to throw in a giant scallop on top of the 'shroom risotto for a bit of seafood goodness. Many bonus points for the service there.
A clear soup isn't what we'd normally order but GF skipped the seafood soup because she thought she was getting it in the risotto. Nevertheless it was a good opportunity to sample something which appears simple but is actually hard to do well. And there's nothing wrong with a hot bowl of soup on a blustery day, with the scent of a few drops of brandy added at the end to stimulate the appetite. The spinach salad was simple, maybe a bit too simple, with just spinach leaves and some shaved parmesan cheese dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette made with mellow aged balsamic vinegar. Good stuff used well, but for a high-end place I was hoping for a bit more creativity.
The mushroom risotto was a bit of a brown lump sitting on the plate, but even without meat it was rich and toothsome. Maybe a bit too toothsome as I thought risotto should be a bit softer. My main was a pretty fan of sliced duck breast accompanied by a luscious hunk of seared fois gras. The duck was lean but the fois more than made up for that, oozing rich fat as soon as I cut into it, perfect with the duck and a sip of the Pinot Noir or to be sopped up with the bread (the server was happy to bring extras), although the bread already came with a spicy Spanish olive oil for dipping.
Ordered our dessert off the get-go because the menu warned that the souffle took some time to make, and our foresight was rewarded as the fluffy confection came soon as we finished the entree. Poked through the perfect golden brown skin and poured in the vanilla cream sauce. The fluffy insides soaked with cream was like a warm pudding, which went nicely with a good cup of coffee.
Paid the bill (ouch) and still felt like we had enough appetite to hit the night-market for some squid balls and stinky tofu. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with paying good money for a good meal without having to blow out the gut every time. Not as if I was saving any calories by soaking in all that fois fat. Far as fats go, fois gras fat definitely rank higher on the tasty scale than the night-market mystery vat.
Burgundy
台北市信義區松高路11號6樓
(誠品信義旗鑑店)
02-87893388
