Restaurant of the week - Hollywood Underground
明星天地餐廳

Hollywood Underground, at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, fits into the mold of Western pop culture theme restaurants pioneered by Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe, but runs circles around these two with the quality of its food.

One enters the restaurant through a corridor lined with portraits and posters of Hollywood stars like the one of Dustin Hoffman in drag in Tootsie or Wings performing in Europe. A touch of Asia is thrown in with the addition of Ang Lee (李安) and Jackie Chan (成龍).

Popular items include smoked chicken quesadillas in charred flour tortillas (燻雞肉墨西哥薄餅) and the Power House Beef Burger, topped with cheese, bacon and served on a sesame bun, which is worth every NT dollar -- even at NT$350 each. Other highlights are the European cuisine items, especially the beef specialty menu for next month.

Resident manager of the hotel Michael Hendler (韓龍) has brought in a Belgian-trained chef with apparently a suitcase full of secret recipes. The beef tartar will change the way you think about beef, coming raw and mashed and tasting cool and wonderfully chewy. Being Belgian, the cook has added fried potatoes to the dish, as well as a garden salad. For group dining, try the fondue bourguignonne (美國牛肉鍋), a mouth-watering hot pot made with choice US beef. Spike the chunks of meat with the fondue fork and dip them in the boiling broth for no more than two minutes. There are four sauces to go with the beef, all of them mild and delicious. Each pot is NT$580 per person.

For those who prefer their beef grilled and cut with a knife, the rib eye steak topped with a herb and walnut crust is a supreme choice at the affordable price of NT$320. The topping renders a more fragrant and delicate taste than the usual mushroom sauce. This and other grilled beef courses come with rice and an assortment of vegetables.

Beside a la carte, there is also an express lunch that changes weekly and a buffet filled with appetizers, salads, soups and desserts. For a lighter pasta meal try the buffet on the B2 level. For NT$350 at lunch or NT$450 at dinner, the buffet offers a variety of cold and hot dishes.

Restaurant manger Allen Chen (陳其昌) reminds diners that the restaurant also has a fully stocked bar for those in need of a happy hour drink starting at 5:30pm. Moviegoers to the nearby Meihua Cinema can also exchange their movie tickets for a specialty cocktail.