吃飯了嗎？

Gordon Biersch Brewery & Restaurant

The first time we visited they were still ramping up, and wife was pregnant and afflicted with morning-sickness with no appetite at the time. So we decided to give it another try now that they've settled into the local scene. Gordon Biersch has done surprisingly well in Taiwan since opening, staying busy even when we've passed by on weekdays. Good place to entertain overseas customers staying at the Hyatt, or for an after-work get-together for all the office-workers nearby. Glad to see them managing to keep most of the items on the menu, even the more obscure items like Cobb Salad. Blue cheese is a dicey proposition for Asian folks, and I wouldn't eat it straight up, but a little bit in a Cobb really makes it.

The pizza was slightly disappointing, though. Not impressed with the crust at all. There are lots of pizza places in Taipei now with fancy brick ovens doing legitimate Italian-style blistered crusts, so the bar has been raised and American-chain quality doesn't quite cut it anymore. On the other hand, it's nice to just have an American style mushroom-pepperoni pizza without fuss. The garlic fries were fantastic, much better than the last time we visited. Definitely a must-have at GB. Thankfully the wife is fairly tolerant to garlic-breath.

Oh yeah, there's the beer, too. They import the recipes and materials to brew in Taiwan. A nice amber ale with a heck of a lot more flavor than the sex-in-a-canoe-style Taiwan Beer.

Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant
GB鮮釀啤酒餐廳
台北市松壽路11號2F
Mituskoshi A11 2F
02-8786-7588

Hong Kong Miscellany

泰昌蛋塔

We were wandering around Central when wife mentioned that there's a famous egg-tart shop nearby. Checked the guide-book and found that it's a quick detour up the Mid-Level Elevator, which I wanted to ride for fun anyway. The interior is nothing special, but the big traditional-style sign outside and the steady stream of customers demonstrated its history and popularity. We got a few egg tarts and a couple of chicken pies to go. Should've got a sugar donut, too, since that's their other signature item. Oh well next time.

TaiCheong's egg tart is classic HK style. The egg custard is smooth, with a crumbly pie-like short crust. The custard filling is a beautiful yellow that comes from lots of real egg yolks and butter. It's different from the Portuguese egg tarts in Macau which have dark patches of caramelized custard tops and a flaky choux crust. Either way is good with me! We had reservations for lunch at a Michelin three-star restaurant in 30 minutes, but who can resist a fresh, warm egg tart staring at you in the face? So we had to have one right then and there. Yum. Haute-cuisine restaurants aren't exactly known for their generous portion sizes anyway, so a pre-meal snack won't hurt anything. The only regret was that we couldn't find a nearby milk-tea stand to go with the egg tart.

池記雲吞麵家

Made our way around Hong Kong all day before taking the ferry across the harbor then back to Causeway Bay to drop off the day's shopping in our hotel room. Wasn't too hungry, but didn't want to totally skip dinner, either. So a hot bowl of won-ton noodles seemed like just the thing. This shop near Time Square Plaza seemed nicely decorated, with a good crowd, and featured press clippings from the Michelin Guide. Which to be honest is not really a plus since the Frenchie judges don't know jack about HK street-food culture, at least according to the local critics. On the other hand, one can be assured of some basic level of quality and service by the recommendation, even if one might have to pay a bit extra for the privilege. At nicer HK establishments I do best by speaking English instead of Mandarin, but what about a small place like this? Turned out most of the waitresses spoke fine Mandarin, most likely imported labor from mainland China.

In the Chiuchow style, the wontons are made with pure whole-shrimp filling, and the shells go into the broth. The broth tasted strongly of the shellfish, without obviously tasting of MSG (they say they don't use any but I'm always a bit skeptical). I found the noodle had a bit of a basic (as in lye) taste that seemed harsh residue on the tongue. Not to mention the portion is tiny. But that was enough for us, plus it comes with dessert or veggies for HK$50, not that either was particularly memorable.

翠苑甜品

Kept saying that we didn't want a big dinner, but a small bowl of noodles isn't exactly satisfying, and there's always room for dessert. Wife's mom said good things about this place when she was in HK last, staying near Times Square. So when we passed by and found a free table in the tiny store-front we decided to give it a shot. The shop was run by a bunch of Little Old Ladies, selling traditional Cantonese 糖水 desserts. Wife chose the soft-tofu sweet soup with lotus-seed. While I had milk pudding with sesame paste. Warm on a cool evening, and not too sweet, per Chinese tastes. They stuck the wife with an unwanted hard-boiled egg in her soup and charged us an extra HK$2 for it. Wasn't worth the trouble arguing about it but it was kind of a bummer. Still, even with the surcharge it was less than HK$20, so it's not wonder why the mother in law liked it so much, and the experience was a slice of old-Hong-Kong in the midst of the fashionable district.

正斗IFC

The wife was flying back to Taiwan in the afternoon while I head into Shenzhen to our factory. So we spent our morning in the IFC mall, right above the Airport Express train station. She could take her time in Zara in the morning without having to fight off the hordes of tourists later in the day. But it didn't leave us much time for lunch. Didn't want to go too far since she had a train to catch soon, so we looked around inside the mall for options. But the options seemed either uninspired or expensive. This Hong Kong style restaurant seemed like the best mid-range option, and we were there early enough to get a table quickly before the main lunchtime rush. Lots of fancy kitsch-Asian decorations, designed to appeal to the tourists that pass through. Kitchen is open and clean, although the window was heavily fogged by all the steamers and woks going inside. Picked some dim-sum favorites, as well as a bowl of frog-chicken congee, if only to make sure we didn't miss out on these Hong Kong staples during our trip. Liked their version of shrimp wonton noodles better than Chi Kee last night, too. The congee rice gruel was slow cooked until the rice grains have almost totally melted into the stock. Very tasty. The dim-sum items were freshly made and simply a step up from anything you can find in Taiwan. Not cheap, but we didn't have time to go out into Central, and for the IFC it's fair enough. A representative, albeit touristy, final meal in Hong Kong.

泰昌餅家 Tai Cheong Bakery
中環擺花街35號地下
+852 2544 3475

池記 Chee Kee
銅鑼灣波斯富街84號地下
+852 2890 8616

翠苑甜品專家 Tsui Yuen Dessert
北角北角道13號地下

正斗粥麵專家 Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
中環港景街1號國際金融中心商場一期3樓3016-3018號舖
+852 2295 0101

Caprice

Four Seasons Hong Kong isn't just a fancy hotel, it's a fancy hotel that holds the distinction of the only hotel hosting multiple three-star Michelin restaurants. With just the two of us it's just not practical to eat fruitfully at a Chinese place like 龍景軒 Lung King Heen, where the cuisine is designed to be shared by a large crowd. Caprice, on the other hand, is the prototypical fancy French restaurant transplanted to the Hong Kong waterfront, perfectly suited for couples. More importantly, they offer an inexpensive prix fixe lunch, with a starter, main, and desserts at a very reasonable price of HKD420, or HKD380 without dessert (not that you should even consider passing on dessert, see later). They even include a glass of wine and bottles of bubbly Pellegrino water in the fare.

The restaurant is plushly furnished and well spaced, a rarity in and of itself for Hong Kong, where personal space is an unaffordable luxury for most. The Saturday lunch crowd featured an equal mixture of curious tourists and upscale locals. The table was impeccably set with silver salt & pepper shakers, a nice flower arrangement, and gorgeous plate settings, although the initial setting of beautifully gilted plates got whisked away when it actually came time to eat. The included wines aren't quite up to three-star standards, but our palates have been slightly spoiled by tastes of uncles' fine Bordeauxs so one can't quibble too much about the perfectly drinkable freebie.

I'd managed to book a window-side table with expansive views of Hong Kong Harbor and Kowloon across the water. However on a gray day the views weren't quite picture perfect, and the Kowloon harbor-front isn't as architecturally impressive as the Hong Kong waterfront seen from Kowloon-side. But we'll go check out the postcard view in Kowloon from TST when they have their light-show later in the evening. During the daytime with sunlight through the picture windows threw plenty of light on our table, so the massive crystal chandeliers serve more as decoration than illumination, but it's nicer to have natural light during the meal anyway. After all, Chinese folks still prefer a brighter restaurant space, compared to the dim, atmospheric lighting of a typical high-end Western place.

The wife's brown lentil soup didn't seem particularly appetizing at first. But the warm, hearty soup was just the thing on a cool day. The mound of crab meat is sweet and fresh. And the dab of shellfish emulsion contains the umami souls of untold number of shrimps and bivalves shells cooked down and concentrated into the rich buttery mix.

The small slice of toast that came with my big slice of oxtail-foie terrine wasn't nearly enough to absorb the flavorful oxtail meat and foie pate. Thankfully the waiter offered free refills from the bread basket. The olive whole-wheat bread was particularly tasty. Although the plain ciabbata complemented the dish better.

My Crisp-crusted Chilean sea bass with basil aroma, on a bed of crushed zucchini and yellow bell pepper coulis, wasn't designed to be a mind-bender, but it's still a perfectly executed Western seafood dish. The clean and subtle flavors accompanying the meaty white fish were very different from the soy-ginger-scallion flavor profile of Cantonese fresh-fish preparations. But both show the same attention to detail and freshness. The heavy knife they set out for the wife turned out to be superfluous as the wagyu beef shoulder has been braising in red wine for a dozen hours and it was fork-tender and infused with flavor. Seems a waste to cook wagyu beef in such a heavy sauce. On the other hand, even wagyu cows must have tough cuts, and the price we were paying for the meal wouldn't get us more than a small bite of the prime stuff, compared to the hearty chunk on her plate.

The relatively light meal left plenty of space for dessert, and ours eyes lit up when the waiter pushed over the cart with a huge silver tray filled with:

• Double-chocolate tart
• Giant lemon macaron
• White & milk chocolate mousses on almond crust
• Milk pudding with brown sugar cognac sauce
• Caramel-chocolate tart
• Blueberry and butter-cream mille feuille

We were thinking that it was going to be awfully hard to choose from amongst the six options, they all looked so good!

Then the server offered, "each of you may choose three."

Well that's easy then.

Like the food, it was all classical French desserts, done without much innovation but with impeccable technique and top-notch ingredients that shows in the taste where it counts. Amongst the tarts, cookies, and puddings featuring creamy, fruity, and chocolatacious flavors, the selection satiated just about every sweet craving that one might've had. Totally earned the stars there.

We were plenty full by this point, so we took the petit fours away with us to munch later.

Unlike so many other expensive Western restaurants in Asia, there was no big-shot star chef's name to help brand Caprice. But the large crew in the open kitchen looked like they knew exactly what they're doing, not afraid of letting diners see them at work. And it's no surprise they managed to impress the Michelin tasters on their home-turf cuisine. It's perhaps lacking the fiery creative spark that would drive a French 3-star, but that was okay with us, since we were exactly hoping for well-executed fundamentals for our visit. Given the quality, service, and setting, our mid-day meal was an excellent value, which is definitely no sure thing at Michelin-rated restaurants.

Caprice
Four Seasons Hotel 6F
8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong
中環金融街8號四季酒店6樓
+852 3196 8888‎

Bo Innovation

Decided to spend a weekend in Hong Kong with the wife before I head to our Shenzhen factory for a week. The tourist hotel plus air ticket package ends up being cheaper than buying the biz travel ticket by itself. The schedule wasn't the best, with a later arrival on Friday evening. That doesn't leave much time to do much else besides a nice dinner. Wanted to try some cuisines that's not available in Taiwan, and Chinese-fusion molecular gastronomy would certainly fit that bill. Standing out amidst the dull hotel-restaurants that make up the bulk of the Michelin Hong Kong Guide was Bo Innovation, promising leading-edge Western techniques with Chinese ingredients. So once we got to our hotel in Causeway Bay, we set down our luggage and rushed to Wanchai by taxi for our reservation. Located in a renovated building amidst undistinguished restaurants, we sat out on the balcony with only a view of a tightly packed apartment block across the street, but that's Hong Kong for ya. Having gone through all the traveling and already being relatively late, we didn't want to drag out dinner for too long with the full multi-course chef's menu, so we both had the tasting menu, with a array of their signature appetizers in common and choices for the main plat.

We slurped down the first appetizer of Australian raw oyster with scallion-lime sauce and ginger snow before taking a picture of it. Oops. So the image above was liberally borrowed from Luxeat. At home we might do oysters with scallions and ginger as a hot stir-fry. Having it as a chilly appetizer was certainly a refreshing change.

Squid ink Chiuchow noodles dressed with XO sauce. Topped with fresh uni. The strongly flavored XO sauce distracted a bit from the fresh seafood taste of the urchin roe.

Scallop carpaccio in rich 高湯 broth. Puffed rice and snow peas. The most classically Cantonese preparation, but delicately arranged as Western-style single-servings.

The Molecular XLB is the creation that put BI on the map, integrating Chinese flavors with molecular gastronomy. A typical 小籠包 xiaolongbao's meat stuffing is cooked to extract the meat juices. The outer surface is gelatinized to form the "skin" while retaining the hot, juicy center. Overlaid with a piece of dehydrated vinegar-pickled ginger to complete the one-bite experience. Not sure the flavor really outdoes Din Tai Fung, but the presentation was very cool nonetheless.

Finally, ocean-trout fillet marinated with fermented black bean and honey-miso. Sprinkled with freeze-dried fermented black-bean 豆豉 powder. Pickled bok choy and ginger gelee cubes accompanying. Another array of traditional flavors presented with innovative flair. I can think of a lot of uses for that fermented black-bean powder, if I had a freeze-drier of my own.

Her entree was a smoked pomfret fish, foie gras, topped with apple foam. The smokiness helps the fish to stand up to the generous portion of rich foie. The fruity foam is also designed to accompany the foie in flavor profile while maintaining a light touch unlike the typical sticky, jammy sauces.

My plat was wild hunter-caught duck breast. cooked sous vide. Preserved kumquat, longan, and red rice on the side. The wild duck meat was darker than farm-raised birds, quite red due to the slow-cooking process. Unfortunately on the dimly lit patio it was impossible to get the picture to get the dark meat and dark wild rice to show up nicely, even with the f1.8 prime lens maxed out. Found the wild game meat flavorful, but a bit tougher than expected.

Just like an Asian banquet, they service a rice dish after the mains to make sure no guest leaves hungry. Bo's Fried Rice was a salmon fried rice with fish roe sprinkled in. The fried rice was cooked hard, almost al-dente, to clearly delineate the elements. Certainly, if there's anything they know how to do in HK, it's fried rice.

Dessert was caramelized banana poached in "shui jing fang" sweet chinese rice wine, accompanied by a classic dark-chocolate ganache, with a kiss of jasmine. It doesn't get more classic than banana-chocolate combination, but the luxurious coating of rice wine sauce and the floral accents made the rich dessert worth savoring slowly.

Petit fours came in a gorgeous little rattan basket. Inside were 山楂 mulberry-flavored marshmallow and gelees in the top basket. 山楂 macarons and chocolate-filled sesame-mochi balls in the bottom layer. The mulberry flavor is more subtle and well-integrated with the Western-style candies, unlike the harsh chemical-tasting 山楂餅 in the cheap candies of our youth. Accompanied by excellent tea.

Mr. Alvin, the founder and head chef, is quite the character, going from cooking neophyte to Michelin-star restaurateur in only a few years with his culinary creativity and outsized personality. With only one seating per evening the chef can take his time to come out and visit each table. I blabbered something about appreciating merging Eastern flavors and Western techniques, which he politely acknowledged before moving on to share a glass of wine and a puff of cigar with better-dressed and higher-paying patrons at other tables.

Okay, so maybe the dishes weren't quite as consistent and reliable, compared to other Michelin-starred restaurants. But one visits Bo Innovation for the innovation and they definitely delivered there, deconstructing familiar flavors in creative ways. We had plenty of well-executed food, but I still had to wonder what we missed out on when I saw the liquid nitrogen, CO2 cartridges, etc. featured for the degustation at other tables. Maybe next time when I need to impress on someone else's dime.

Bo Innovation
香港灣仔莊士敦道60號2樓13號舖
Shop 13, 2/F J Residence
60 Johnston Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong

同28

Joël Robuchon's latest Atelier outpost grabbed all the headlines at the newly opened BellaVita complex in the midst of the fashionable Xinyi District. As well it should, as it instantly becomes the finest French dining destination in Taipei, with its Michelin star-winning pedigree. On the other hand, I still wouldn't take mom or grandma there since they're just not appreciative of frou-frou Western cuisines (believe me I've tried). On the other hand, Japanese cuisine has long been a high-end staple in Taiwan, and it's appreciated by everyone from conservative oba-sans to West-obsessed young people. So as a high-end dining destination, it behooves Bellavita to also feature a flagship Japanese restaurant. The owners were appreciative of the high-end 同壽司 sushi-bar down the street, and invited its young chef to open a full restaurant. Thus 同28 was created. It's convenient location makes for a good location for a family meal, and the uncles ponied up for a night out for grandma, and we got invited to help fill out the table.

The main dining room featured a long sushi bar and tables for couples and small groups. But we were ushered through narrow corridors to one of the private rooms with the large Chinese-style round table, with nice views of the Mitsukoshi complex across the street and Taipei101 in the distance. Halogen spots lit each seat in the evening, but the natural light from the windows suffused the room during the day felt more comfortable and better complimented of the blonde wood decor. Good thing the private suite featured its own bathroom, because once you open the thick door to leave there's no distinguishing sign to mark your room. Between the main room and the private suites the restaurant is carefully designed to accommodate hip young couples out for seen-and-be-seen as well as discreet moneyed folk treating customers or the extended family to a fancy meal.

The cuisine is Japanese kaiseki-style, but they do try to incorporate some Western-fusion elements into the dishes, not always successfully but the effort is worthy of appreciation. There was a nice variety of dishes between two visits, a good sign that they menu won't get stale over time. Being newly open and eager to woo high-rolling regulars, the chef was quite generous with both the quantity and quality of the food. Almost too much so, as we were almost uncomfortably full and one feels way too guilty leaving such fine food uneaten.

Family kindly indulged my DSLR at the table, so I will (mostly) let the food speak for itself. It was all quite tasty, but I was glad that I wasn't responsible for the final bill. Frankly, one can visit Robuchon properties at a great many places. But the combination of Japanese-style kaiseki cuisine with Chinese-style banquet portions is a uniquely Taiwan combination and a darn good value, even if the service efficiency isn't quite up to three-star standards.

• Appetizers

  

  The chef obviously wants to start the meal with a bang here. Slices of perfectly roasted duck breast covering a generous chunk of foie gras, more French than Japanese.
  Mixed greens, whole abalone on the half-shell, garnished with pomegrante seeds. A bit of truffle is shaved into the Japanese-style soy-vinegar dressing for luxurious effect.

• Sashimi and Sushi

  

  The sashimi plate featured top-notch everything, even the salmon which is wild not farmed. The shrimp's feelers were still waving weakly despite the de-shelling and decapitation. And don't forget that perfect piece of luciously fatty tuna belly toro hiding in the back there. Particularly notable is the sweet raw oyster garnished with lemon and salmon roe. A bit of raw bar with the raw fish.

  

  A uni hand roll, deconstructed. The sea urchin roe and nori sauce on rice are laid out on a romaine leaf, garnished with salmon roe on top. Felt like there were few too many elements which distracted a bit from the flavor of the uni itself. Ume-pickled tomato goes to the wife. Dad gets the pickled ginger.
  Sushi East-West style. Wild anago eel is less slimy and much rarer than the more typical unagi. The seared foie gras was full of rich, fatty juices inside. The vinegar rice ball hidden under the massive slices of topping helped to moderate and balance the flavors in the mouth.
  They brought out another big plate of sushi compliments of the chef, just in case were were still hungry. Soft-shell crab maki-sushi coated with bonito flakes. Chopped tuna maki roll coated with chopped scallion greens. Actually I was quite full but I couldn't help but have a piece of that. Both are favorites of mine and I would've been happy to have made a meal out of just that.

  
  Sakura somen in mintaiko-cream sauce, which was a bit too adventurous for the older folks at the table. The 烏魚子 mullet roe on top is expensive stuff, but the intensely fishy taste kinda obliterated any delicacy of the remaining ingredients.

• Seafood

  

  The shrimp heads from the sashimi plate weren't waving their antennae anymore after being deep-fried for a mid-meal snack. The tamago egg roll in rich crab broth is something tasty and different. Although the wife liked it better than I did.

  
  Fresh steamed scallop on tofu with uni sauce dressed with scallions. Almost Cantonese in the preparation.

  
  When they said the chef was sending out something complementary we weren't expecting a whole platter of stir-fried lobster. It was toward the end of the meal and way too much to finish. But thankfully we could take it away and it reheated nicely for dinner.

• Meat Entree

  
  Wagyu beef in cubes, almost like how it'd be served at a teppanyaki. Like the typical Japanese beef course, what it lacks in portion size it more than makes up for with the tender, flavorful meat essence in each small cube.

  
  Beef tendon and gobo root, roasted in leaf-wrap. The slow roasting softens the tendons and infused the gelatinous rounds with the soy sauce and herbaceous leaf aromas. Mom liked the slightly bitter gingko nuts.

• Dessert

  
  Cream-puff with pralines, sprinkled with macha powder was very tasty. The butterfly is edible ink printed on corn-styrofoam, edible but not tasty at all. The coffee was perfectly competent and complimented the western-style dessert well.

同28
台北市信義區松仁路28號6樓
Bellavita 6F
02-2722-2888

Alohas Restaurant

Wife's mom and aunt were kind enough to take the baby for the evening, giving us a night to ourselves. We were too tired for an fancy, extended meal, but we wanted to at least get out of the house and go some place nice. Thankfully there are plenty of options nearby, so we could just head out into the alleys between SYT and ZhongXiao DunHua and see what restaurant inspired. We passed by Alohas, which I remembered that it's got some good recs on the Net, and the light-colored, well-lit space seemed attractive, so we decided to give it a try.

The menu is short but more innovative than the typical pseudo-Western place, with an emphasis on healthy, low-fat dishes. Got excited for a second when they brought out Pellegrino bottles, but it turned out they only used the bottles to hold regular water. Knew it was too good to be true.

The Ikea-style low-rent modern decor, with whimsical murals on the walls, is comfortable while subtly encouraging one to dawdle. The signature French-style onion-chicken featured juicy chunks of chicken and onions baked to sweetness all stuffed back into the hollowed out onion shell. Seasoned with provencal herbs and the mellow sweetness of the slow-roasted onion infusing the tender chunks of meat. Wife wasn't as pleased with her curry-vegetable fettucine. The pasta was fresh-made and there were plenty of veggies, but it wasn't as toothsome and satisfying as my chicken. But then she knew it was vegetarian when she ordered it.

The restaurant featured a long bar as well as tables, perfect for light meals during a quick lunch or after-work dinner. I like my fancy dining and all, but sometimes it's nice to still be able to have a nice meal out without busting my gut and my wallet.

àlohas 野草餐廳
台北市大安區延吉街138巷3號
02-87715430