Danny Deng, the culinary maestro behind the Ambassador Hotel's newest endeavor, is aiming for the very top. "We think we have a chance at the title of best steakhouse in Asia," he said of A Cut Steakhouse, which opened two weeks ago in the hotel's basement.
The moment you turn into the stairway leading to A Cut, you leave behind the conventional decor of the hotel lobby and are enveloped by a cigar-bar atmosphere of dark wood, stitched leather, plush carpets and subdued jazz.
For all the money that has clearly gone into creating an ambiance of refined luxury, the real point of A Cut is the meat, and this is something that Deng and his bevy of chefs take seriously. The name of the restaurant refers to a cut of meat that Deng calls the "cap" of the rib eye.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL
"In a cow weighing 700kg, we can get only about 2kg of this 'cap,'" Deng said. As it is not normally served separately from the rib eye, it has no accepted name, so Deng went ahead and called it the "A Cut," the restaurant's signature dish.
The Chef's "A Cut" Signature House Cut (NT$1,500 for a 10oz steak) is good value, with a succulence that justifies the price tag. The meat is served very simply, seared and presented in a cast-iron dish with a small serving of sauteed mushrooms. A variety of salts are the only garnish. "Very simple, very high quality," Deng said. The usual steakhouse side dishes such as mashed potatoes and vegetables are also available.
Simplicity marks the restaurant's other steak dishes. A 16oz USDA Prime Center Cut Rib Eye (NT$2,400) is intended for two and a 22oz version of the same (NT$3,300) serves three. "We wanted to incorporate the idea of Chinese-style dining," Deng said, "where good things are shared."
Although steak is the centerpiece of A Cut's menu, the menu includes many other meat and seafood options, with main courses starting at around NT$700. The choice of appetizers includes seared foie gras with braised baby abalone and wine poached pear (NT$700). The dessert menu demonstrates the restaurant's overall sophistication: the chocolate souffle with raspberry sorbet (NT$350) is a delight.
A wide range of wines, including a 16 house wines, means that pairing wines and courses can be easily managed even for small tables.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS