July 27, 2008
Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant
Taipei would seem to be a curious choice as the first foreign outpost of the venerable American brewpub chain. Apparently some corporate scion with more money than sense fell in love with the idea and threw enough money at GB to convince them to let him set up shop, complete with local microbrewery. It's not a new thing in Taipei, but the existing offerings are hardly impregnable, and hopefully Gordon Biersch name is still worth something even in the unfamiliar environment across the Pacific.
They carved out a corner in the Mitsukoshi Dept. Store XinYi A11 to make it into your standard brewpub, slightly miniaturized. For drinks, there was a sampler of the Gordon Biersch beer selection for me, and a strawberry lemonade for her. Started with a big plate of soy-glazed chicken wings which went nicely with both our drink selections.
SO wasn't too excited about the prospect of garlic-breath, but I insisted on the signature side-dish to go with my burger. The garlic was definitely strong with these fries, raw and pungent. They asked how I wanted my burger and surprisingly they actually meant it when I asked for medium-rare. The burger managed to hold together nicely on their custom bun, but still-pink meat was almost too juicy and moist for a burger.
The beers were fine, offering a wide variety of colors and tastes and me not being as picky about it as some. We sat right by the open kitchen and some of the other entrees going out looked appealing, too, and appropriately American-sized. It's probably a step up from Chilis, but enough to justify the price difference? Still, variety is good, and hopefully they'll be more active in offering sports viewing options in the future, to bring it really up to par to the American version.
Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant
GB鮮釀
台北市松壽路11號2F
02-8786-7588
July 06, 2008
法德吉歐法料理
The restaurant has been there in the nearby alley for almost twenty years, without appearing to change much. I've never eaten there, and it never seemed to do much business when we wandered by at night. But one day I went by during the day on a work-day and apparently it makes a good living doing business lunches for the office-workers. To have survived for such a long time in this fiercely competitive area it must be doing something right. One night we finally had the right combination of wanting a meal out but feeling too lazy to go anywhere to end up here.
The restaurant is surprisingly large, with multiple dining rooms and private rooms available, but on a lazy Sunday night only a couple of the main rooms were needed. Decorated in a pseudo-Germanic-lodge style with dark wooden doors and Romantic paintings in gilded frames along the wall. We were seated next to a family with young kids, who were mostly well-behaved, thankfully. The generous space definitely seems like a good option for young families.
The menu offers a variety of pastas and Taiwan-Western standard entrees, with the option available to add salad, soup, and dessert to make a set-meal out of it. Decided on two entrees with one set-meal addition, since we could have the soup and salad as two starters. The simple green salad had a few slices of abalone draped on top to gave it a touch of class, even though it's probably canned. The soup was a hearty chowder filled with good stuff. The SO loved it enough to ask for seconds, which the boss gave us without complaint or surcharge. She totally thought it was the best part of the meal.
I had the pork cutlet with pate and red-wine sauce. It was old-fashioned Taiwanese-Western food at its best/worst. The wine sauce was a bit sweet but not bad at all, and the slice of pate helped to show off the plain pork. SO had pan-fried white fish covered with pesto cream sauce alongside roasted chicken leg in brown sauce. Quite a substantial dish but she was counting on me to help finish it anyway. The fish wasn't the greatest seafood in the world but the meaty pieces made a fair carrier for the sauce. The meat sauce was rendered with prunes to also give a touch of sweetness, and a drizzle of pine nuts was a nice garnish on top.
Dessert was good-old vanilla ice cream, served in a classic steel ice-cream bowl that was totally precious. All the little touches demonstrate how the place has stayed in business all this time. Sure, the food is old-fashioned and out-of-style, but it's quite apparent that they insist on doing this food the best they can, which is totally admirable and worth supporting. Will have to try the hand-made pastas next time to see if they're more in-line with modern tastes.
法德吉歐法料理
Fine Herbs
台北市信義區逸仙路32巷17號
02-27580294