June 27, 2009
New York Pizza Kitchen
Wife's mom took the baby so we finally had an evening to ourselves. Wanted to go some place nice for dinner, but nothing too formal, and there's certainly nothing formal about pizza. Located at a prime location on the 仁愛-安和 intersection, down the block from the Dunhua Eslite bookstore, NYPK is an Italian-American restaurant offering American brunches in the morning and New York style pizzas and pastas at night. The restaurant was full of ABCs looking for decent pizza, and hip chicks stopping in for a bite before heading out to the many lounge bars nearby. Us unreserved late-comers were exiled to an outdoor courtyard. Thankfully the evening had cooled down just enough to make the outside temperature tolerable, and we were reasonably sheltered from the street noise, such that we were disinclined to move inside even after a table opened up.
We were there mainly for the pizza, but we weren't hungry enough for a whole pizza, and they also offered other dishes. So we got a red-sauce seafood spaghetti and a Sprite float to go with a couple of pizza slices. The pasta was decent but forgettable. The pizza base ain't bad, thin-crust but not too thin, cooked in a dedicated brick oven visible in the open kitchen. But NT95 for three pieces of pepperoni is not a good $/meat ratio. It's even worse with the chicken-parm pizza as it's NT120 for three chunks of chicken.
NYPK is an American restaurant in Taiwan, and much like a Chinese restaurant in the US, it may be pretty good, but it's still not the same. On the other hand, it's nice to have a safe option for a good-old American slice of pizza. Not Italian authentic-but-different, and definitely not the Asian-style franken-pizzas.
NY Pizza Kitchen
台北市大安區安和路一段53號
02-2775-1582
June 21, 2009
Big Tom's Ice Cream
Wife's mother, aunt, and cousin all came over to see the baby. With all the extra help available it was a good opportunity to take him outside for a stroll around the park. But after a few circuits around SYT Memorial Hall on a cloudy but muggy summer day we were all looking for a break from the heat. There's a bottle for the baby, but what about the rest of us?
Big Tom Ice Cream is located on the grounds of the SYT Memorial itself, with a large patio extending into the park and air-conditioned rooms inside. It does great business on the weekends with all the kids running around the park, but we just happened to run into an empty table inside. The baby could have his bottle, a cold glass of juice for auntie, and ice cream for the rest of us.
Big Tom has your standard array of fruity and chocolatey flavors, named after American locales for interest. The waffle combo seems to be an especially good deal. Three scoops of your choice on a big freshly-made, warm Belgian waffle for about NT300. Crunchy waffle cones and bowls are also available to hold your scoops. Nothing fancy in the presentation, but good desserts at a good value at a convenient location. Not quite as many unusual flavors as Haagen Daaz, but the ice cream seems a bit thicker and creamier, and the entire atmosphere is much more down-home than the big flashy brand name places.
BIGTOM美國冰淇淋文化館
國父紀念館翠湖店
台北市中正區仁愛路四段505號
02-2345-4213
June 20, 2009
尚林鐵板燒
The merry-go-round of restaurants around Dapinglin Station continues at a dizzying pace. A new teppanyaki place opens with a bang by offering a 20%-off grand-opening discount. The attractive price break plus the usual curiosity over a new restaurant successfully drew a large crowds lining out the door. Being just across the street, we were similarly tempted into giving it a try. Thanks to sis for waiting in line to grab us a place.
The menu featured the usual assortment of different meats and seafood combos in different grades, depending on the price level. Amongst the five of us we could get a nice selection of beef, pork, and seafood meals. Unlimited refills for white rice, soft drinks, and corn chowder soup, to make sure you won't leave hungry. The aluminum foil instead of real plates indicates that it's not a high-end spot. On the other hand the beef was surprisingly tender. Sprinkled with black pepper and accompanied by the pile of sauteed garlic slices, the steak went great with the white rice. The herb chicken and lemon-butter cod were also solid. Have had better, but at much more expensive places, of course. Cabbage and bean sprouts for a well-balanced meal, and they always taste sweeter and crunchier sauteed on the professional hot teppan.
As of this writing, a few months after eating there, the restaurant still seems to be doing well. The key thing seems to be that teppanyaki offers a familiar cuisine to attract repeating business, but there aren't as many copy-cats nearby, unlike hot-pot shops, so the competition isn't quite as cut-throat. At full price I probably wouldn't volunteer to go regularly, but as a convenient nearby teppanyaki option one could do worse.
尚林鐵板燒
台北縣新店市民權路10號
02-8665-0199
June 13, 2009
寶船日本料理
The father-in-law was back in town from China, and we wanted to take him to a Japanese restaurant since that's one cuisine that's definitely much better in Taiwan than on the mainland. Told the wife that she can splurge on a fancy place if they wanted to, but her dad didn't want to be too extravagant and formal, so they chose this spot, an old favorite of the family. You could tell the restaurant has some history behind it, with all the middle-aged oba-san ladies in the service staff. On the other hand,the restaurant itself has had some reasonably recent renovations for some nice lighting and faux-granite tabletops in the private rooms for a brighter, more lively atmosphere than the high-end places.
For a mid-line restaurant to survive in Taipei, it's all about delivering visible value for the buck. And nothing says "value" like a fat slice of sashimi. The combo platter itself was impressive as they delivered the raw fish family-style. Each piece was thick-cut such that each piece could've been sliced in two and still be a respectable portion of sashimi.
In addition to the sashimi we also got some hand-rolls. The others chose the prosaic asparagus-prawn rolls. But I couldn't resist splurging for the chopped tuna. The fat in the chopped tuna gave it a creamy mouth feel that melts in your mouth in combination with the sushi rice. It's a lot like a fish-flavored snow-cone, except it's actually much tastier than it sounds. The hana-sushi roll is pretty with orange fish roe coating on the outside and various pickled stuffing inside.
We also ordered combination tempura, salt-grilled fish, and finished the meal with miso soup. Not tremendously memorable, but everything was solidly above-average without breaking the bank. Perfect for a comfortable family meal where you're out for some good food without having to impress anybody.
寶船日本料理
台北市中正區仁愛路二段93號1樓
02-23949665
June 07, 2009
Mitsui Redux
Mom was heading back to the US and the uncles wanted to have a birthday meal for her before she left, even though the birthday wasn't not for another couple of weeks. Mitsui has been a favorite destination for our big family meals, but this time I had a good excuse to bring the DSLR and snap some pictures during the meal.
One good thing about Taiwan restaurants is that they don't charge big corkage for BYOB. Sure, big Bordeaux reds make for a dubious match with delicate Japanese-style seafood, but uncle's Grand Cru vintages are excellent no matter what the occasion. And the uni appetizer is rich enough to stand up to it, too. There's enough time between courses to take a sip of the wine and just enjoy the flavors permeating the palate.
The sashimi is spectacular, as usual. Although the ebi shrimp wasn't as alive and twitching like last time. That's probably a good thing, as the ladies were put off by the shrimp's death throes, even though they usually like sashimi.
Sashimi is nice, but the hairy crab is the star of the show. Our doomed dinner companion was shipped live from Hokkaido, plucked from the tank and presented to us for a meet-and-greet before being salt-grilled over charcoal. The coal grilling adds a smoky overtone while retaining the original sweetness of the meat. There was plenty of meat, too, fully packed within the long legs and broad body. Meanwhile, the roe is made into a sauce for somen noodles, garnished with salmon roe.
Instead of the usual steamed whole abalone, we decided to have it in a hot-pot instead. As befitting a fine-service restaurant, they cooked and dish out the seafood soups for everyone at the table, which took some of the fun out of it, but there was nothing wrong with the rich seafood broth, except that we were getting almost too full to finish it.
Besides the usual green-tea ice cream and fresh fruit, Mitsui also does a fantastic fresh-made dorayaki for dessert. Uncle is enough of a big-shot customer that we get both the ice cream and the dorayaki. But this time we also had a birthday cake for mom, so we took the dorayaki home for afternoon tea the next day. Far as gifts go? A bouncing, smiling grandson will do.
三井料理美術館
Mitsui Cuisine
台北市敦化南路一段108號B1
(02) 2741-3394