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[RESTAURANT REVIEW] Jiau's (嬌食)

Lu rou fan goes gourmet at Jiau's. PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES

The section of Fuxing South Road near Civil Boulevard has become a nexus for trendy restaurants, the most recent being Jiau's, which opened last Friday as part of a four-story lifestyle center ambitiously called MOT (Museum of Tomorrow). The venture has an outlet for designer furniture, an art gallery and a coffee shop. On the ground floor is Jiau's, named after and created by Zhuang Yue-jiau (莊月嬌), one of the biggest names in organic and healthy dining in Taiwan.

This high-concept establishment takes the simplest traditional Taiwanese dishes and turns them into gourmet fare intended to be savored not just for their superior flavor, but also for their health value. The centerpiece of the restaurant's menu is its lu rou fan (滷肉飯, rice topped with stewed meat), a dish available at any night market for around NT$20, but priced at NT$120 and renamed drunken wuson rice (酒打烏松飯) at Jiau's.

But don't feel ripped off. The organic rice, wine-flavored fatty pork that avoids being too oily and the contrast provided by pine nuts and two slices of quality mullet roe make drunken wuson rice a virtuoso variation on a perennial theme.

Jiau's (嬌食) Address: 22, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段22號) Telephone: (02) 2751-8088 X61 Open: 11am to 2am Average meal: NT$500 Details: Picture menu with English; credit cards accepted On the Net: www.motstyle.com.tw

The same philosophy has gone into the other dishes on the menu. They're all based on simple Taiwanese snacks - roast sausage, stir-fried cabbage, cold bitter gourd, spare rib and taro soup - and use high quality organic ingredients from specially contracted farmers around Taiwan.

The grilled salted pork (complained pork, 獨鹹豬肉, NT$220), is also a revelation. This dish, which is usually tough, fatty and salty when purchased at a night market, was presented at Jiau's in thin, tender slices with a ginger vinaigrette. The fat, the lean meat and the grilled crust formed a symphony of tastes and textures. Zhuang has taken a Taiwanese staple and transformed it into something spectacular.

Extreme simplicity in preparation and presentation emphasizes the amount of thought that has gone into creating each dish.

It would be nice if a similar amount of thought had gone into other aspects of the restaurant. The service staff tried hard to be sophisticated and helpful, but the young servers lacked the urbanity and confidence to compliment the suave and casual ambiance that the minimal lines, polished wood and undressed stone of the decor sought to create. Many dishes on the menu were unavailable, and the menu itself, which featured some truly gorgeous photography, was unfinished, and had the kind of peculiar English that seemed out of place at an establishment with such high aspirations.

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