Mention "Western-style breakfast" and the next sentence out of anyone's mouth will likely contain the name "Grandma Nitti." The restaurant has become an institution and its owner, Rainbow Lin (
By way of comparison, Les Amis' interior maintains the same earthy charm as Grandma Nitti's, though much smaller. Like Grandma's, Les Amis also hopes to capitalize on a Western-style weekend brunch. But there the comparison stops. By contrast, Les Amis' menu is up-market of Grandma's while remaining relatively inexpensive considering the area in which the restaurant is located.
Anyone who wonders what happened to the quality of Grandma's home cooking need look no farther than Tiger, Grandma's former chef who left a few years ago to start Dolce Vita. Rainbow has since caught Tiger by the tail and pulled him into the kitchen at Les Amis, where he's created a menu that could put Grandma into retirement.
PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES
Appetizers (NT$100 to NT$280) range from fresh fruit with a brandy dressing; fried shrimp and mushrooms; a tomato and onion salad with mozzarella and Dijon mustard, and an excellent Caesar chicken salad with diced tomatoes, almonds and a pinch of pesto on the chicken. A selection of pastas and potato dishes (NT$280) includes seafood stew and baked mushrooms under a cheddar cheese blanket, fish fillet with linguine and shrimp pesto and herb chicken with linguine and wild mushrooms. For an entree (NT$380 to NT$620), choose from pan-fried sea bass with fruit sauce, grilled ribeye with basil, salmon in a spicy sauce, grilled rack of lamb in a black olive sauce or a delicious grilled tenderloin with wine liver pate. A wide selection of coffees and teas, served either hot or iced are also on offer. Tip: Try a cup of Blue Mountain coffee with a chocolate truffle.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located