吃飯了嗎？

武藏坊 Musashibou

The sis-in-law and her BF were nice enough to take us to 羅東 and 宜蘭 for a nice weekend outing. Figured the least we could do was to buy them lunch and mom had just visited Luodong the week before and stumbled upon this Japanese place and turned out to like it quite a bit. The place was nice and the kaiseki combo meal was quite a multi-course deal compared to the high Taipei prices. Two sets of the kaiseki supplmented by some extra sushi and noodles were more than enough for the four of us.

• A pumpkin mousse for the cold starter, along with a few pieces of quality sashimi.
  
• Ordered an extra nigiri/maki sushi platter just in case anyone was still hungry.
  
• Tempura, simply battered and fried. Love the fan on the eggplant.
  
• The 煮物 was a home-y Japanese meat-and-potatoes stew.
  
• The grilled 燒物 item was teriyaki chicken. Having eaten a lot of Japanese food in Taiwan we always try the fancier stuff. So it's actually been a while since I've had good-old teriyaki chicken, and it's not something you can really screw up. The grilled fish wasn't bad, either.
  

武藏坊日本料理
宜蘭縣羅東鎮公正路130號
03-9557878

六胡村飲食館

Thanks to a conveniently located freeway interchange 關西 has made itself into quite a weekend destination for Taipei residents as the gateway to the Hsinchu Hakka region. A long row of family-style Hakka restaurants line the main street coming off the freeway, and this one is SO's family favorite. It's not as prominent as the other restaurants since it's located at the end of the main drag, but the unassuming storefront still does great business, a testament to its reputation.

We make the same wide noodles at home with more stuff, but the simplicity of the noodle in broth with scallion and bean sprouts on top shows perfectly that less-is-more. They can make a big pot of slow-cooked broth that we just can't get the same depth of flavor at home. Either that or they throw in a boatload of MSG which is also entirely possible. Also ordered a plate of pork cheek and stir-fried garlic vegetables as complementary sides.

It's all as rustic as can be, of course, a converted storefront space filled with a motley assortment of tables and cheap chairs. But it's clean enough for working purposes and not too expensive. Familiar home-style for us, maybe an exotic local experience for others.

六胡村飲食館
新竹縣關西鎮正義路250號
03-587-1864

Khaki 咖啡吧

Part of a three-level complex that makes up FIFI茶酒沙龍, located along the wide, leafy stretch of 仁愛路. The second floor is a Chinese restaurant in the style of colonial Shanghai, and the third floor is an upscale lounge-bar. We had a seat in the coffeehouse on the first floor, taking a break along our stroll to the Flower Market. The space in the back is especially nice, brightly lit with big skylights and fashionably decorated with a motley of tables, couches, and other vintage furnitures.

We ordered something mostly out of obligation so we could rest our feet a bit. Understood that the fashionable space justified a slight premium for some simple afternoon tea snacks. Even then the food was seriously disappointing. SO's blueberry shake was more icy than fruity. My tiramisu was rock-hard and I almost put up with it until the SO spoke up in indignation. They were nice enough about it, at least, but the cake they replaced it with was generic supermarket quality at best. Nice space to sit down and chill, and maybe their dinner menu works out better, but the afternoon tea certainly wasn't anything memorable.

FIFI茶酒沙龍
台北市大安區仁愛路4段15號1F
02-2779-1152