Restaurant this week: Chiu Ru (九如商號)

Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine has been the fashion in Taiwan's gourmet circle for quite a while. Most of the new restaurants boast authentic and delicate dishes. Chiu Ru, one of the oldest restaurants in Taipei, specializes in "Shanghai-style" snacks instead. Time-tested, the quality and variety of snacks in Chiu Ru's is something that few newcomers can emulate.

Renovated just three weeks ago, Chiu Ru is now decorated with more refinement but retains its quaint interior as a remainder of its long history.

When Wu Nan-wei's (吳南威) late father-in-law set up Chiu Ru in 1960, there were only six items on the menu. Being gourmets themselves, the Wu's diligently studied cooking styles and gradually enlarged the restaurant's menu, which currently lists 67 items. Chiu Ru also moved to bigger and bigger locations in its first decade. Thirty years after setting up in their present location, the restaurant's name card still mentions their earlier ones. Elderly customers, who have been loyal to Chiu Ru throughout the decades, still frequent the restaurant.

"These customers have been the mainstay of our clientele, but as time moves on, it's necessary to attract younger customers," Wu said. Therefore, quite a few trendy items have been added to the menu, including the health-conscious grain dumpling and the Japan-influenced green tea paste dumpling.

Wu recommended foreign customers several characteristically Jiangsu and Zhejiang snacks. Spring rolls (NT$75 for two) is nothing like what you can find elsewhere. Special attention has been given to the wrapping, which is nicely tough and chewy. The filling combines strings of bamboo shoots, tender chives, pork and fresh mushrooms. Although they look greasy at first sight, they do not taste so and would not be too stuffy for the stomach. Chiu Ru's fried rice with ham (NT$95) is no ordinary item either. Using Ching Hua ham instead of the common western ham, it is especially fragrant and rich in taste. These are just two of the many dishes that shows what magic Chiu Ru can do with seemingly ordinary items.

First-time customers are recommended to try what brought the restaurant to fame -- a Hu-chou lean meat glutinous rice dumpling (NT$55). The rice is flavored with soy sauce and sugar to such an extent that no dressing is necessary. The pork is marinated and then boiled for six hours first and then wrapped in rice to be steamed so thoroughly that the fat melts.

Another must-try is fried rice cake with pickled vegetable and pork (NT$125). The bouncy rice cake and the vegetable go very well together. Chili peppers in the dish bring out the taste of the ingredients.