Roma and Alena crooning their native Russian folk songs and the display of matryoshka dolls at the entrance indicated this was a restaurant dedicated to cuisine from the former Soviet Union. Otherwise it was business as usual at Salt and Bread. The cafe on the 10th floor of the new Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) opened at the end of last year and is the third Russian-themed restaurant in Taipei, following in the footsteps of an older brother on Dunhua South Road.
Like its borsch soup, it offers a watered-down version of Russian food that is made to suit local palates rather than emigres from the frozen Steppe. Sour cream is hard to find in Taipei, so a dollop of something made from butter and garlic is added to the soup. Instead of potato vareniky or a Russian salad to accompany dishes there is rice. The result is something that looks like many other main meals at chain restaurants in Taipei.
The tomato beef stew tasted like ordinary tomato beef noodles (without the noodles). Though the chicken Kiev was a reasonable effort the tomato sauce that accompanied it appeared to have been poured straight from a tin. It arrived with the obligatory sprigs of broccoli, a couple of serrated carrots and mashed potato. It was part of a set called the Complete European-Style Meal that came with borsch, a tangy orange-flavor salad, some small pastries and coffee. Authenticity issues aside, it was good value for NT$550.
Other sets include the "Complete Novoslobodskaya Palace Style" meal for NT$680, with clam chowder and shaslik, a kind of shish kebab popular in Russia that wait staff set fire to with a flourish in front of customers. The Complete Russian Crown Classic meal for NT$880 had deep fried oysters with sweet-and-sour sauce, frozen samovar tea and a surf 'n' turf of US sirloin steak and king prawn. On the a la carte menu the most promising items appeared to be caviar canapes at NT$600, Caesar salad with smoked salmon and pork knuckle marinated in Russian beer. Salt and Bread scores top marks for its list of vodkas and ice creams. Service was good.
Glocalization is responsible for the expanding number of Taipei restaurants that appear to offer dining options from around the world but in fact end up tasting much the same. We are offered variety but end up with similarity. Salt and Bread is good at what it does and provides value for money and novelty in the mid-price meal market.
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