The year of rams and ewes

Lamb dishes are also the specialty of Sheep Tower (羊摟), which opened last month and which touts its cold collation of heart, tendon, aspic and stomach of the sheep, or for even greater intimacy, there is the sheep kidney and testicle pot. Eating here you really will digest the spirit of the Lunar New Year's zodiac beast (台北市龍江路78號, tel 02-2516-1161).

Of course there is no need to confine oneself to specialist lamb restaurants to get a good feed on this year's animal. It can be found on many other restaurant menus, ranging from a relatively easily available lamb curry -- Kunming Restaurant (崑明園, tel 02-2751-6776) is a Taipei Times favorite -- to various versions of the old staple lamb chop, which in the diverse culinary environment of Taipei, ranges from New Cantonese-style at Little Canton (小廣東餐廳, tel 02-2556-9985) or South American at Salsa (tel 02-2700-3060).

So regardless of whether it is lamb, sheep, ram or ewe, there is plenty of good dining available to get one thinking about the Lunar New Year and what the zodiac animal may or may not represent.

Although many restaurants will not be taking much of a break for the New Year, making a call before going will probably not go amiss.