Bastille Day was yesterday, but it's not too late to celebrate the French Revolution at The Landis Hotel's La Brasserie restaurant.
Today is the final day of their three-day National Day special, which includes a classic French meal for NT$640. But if you can't make it today, the summer-long promotion "Allez Allez" features cuisine from a new region of France each week, and next week is Alsace, which happens to be where executive chef Thomas Seiler hails from.
"Some regions of France have more unique food," Seiler said, "because they were more isolated and have a more stable history or because they have an Italian influence or a Spanish influence." As long as it's French, Seiler can create it, but for Bastille day, he decided to line up some French food classics: The first to reach the table is his pate served with white and wheat bread. This exquisite spread is rich but not too heavy. Next comes the choice of either salad garnished with a three-fish terrine or a classic French onion soup.
There are two choices of entrees: the traditional grilled sirloin with a bearnaise sauce and the mussels, chowder style.
The sirloin is thin and seared on the outside yet still pink and juicy on the inside. The bearnaise sauce makes Seiler particularly proud. He happily announced that the key herb tarragon was imported from Russia instead of from France, where it has less flavor.
Much of La Brasserie's ingredients are imported from around the world to ensure that the flavor is authentic. For example, the flavor of Taiwanese lobsters cannot compare to that of the French crustaceans, so when Seiler cooks lobster, he has it imported from France.
Other ingredients such as the mussels and the frogs are from Taiwan because they are as good as or better than their foreign counterparts. The mussels were delicious, though the high shell-to-meat ratio belies the fact that there isn't a desirable amount. If you're hungry, get the steak. Both entrees come with fries, which are perfect for dipping in your leftover sauce.
The frog legs, featured in next week's spotlight on the Alsace region, are far larger than the ones Seiler is used to. When Alsace's river Ill floods its banks with snowmelt from the Alps, the wet, grassy fields become breeding grounds for small frogs (and feeding grounds for the storks that are partial to them).
The dessert -- creme brulee -- was my favorite part. Chef Seiler's version of the treat, however, is to die for. Underneath the cream and crispy shell of burnt sugar is a pool of caramel. Mandarin oranges soaking in the caramel give the dessert just enough of a kick to take the edge of the pure sweetness.
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