The first thing that needs to be noted about Tanhou is that it is far more than just a restaurant. In fact, people passing by are likely to mistake it for a posh or gourmet supermarket. The large establishment consists of a bakery, a dry goods market, a frozen meat and fish section, a shabu-shabu counter and a coffee, juice and snack counter on the ground floor. The area for formal dining is in the basement. What makes Tanhou stand out from other places that offer healthy and natural foods is that this location is the retail face of a huge natural and organic foods production enterprise that includes its own fishery, pig and chicken rearing operations, and organic farm.
“Natural” and “organic” are words that are bandied about rather willy-nilly in this health-conscious age, and CEO Liu Tien-ho (劉天和) is careful not to make excessive claims for the food he sells. The fish and meat are “natural,” reared without the aid of growth hormones and antibiotics. It is only the vegetables that are strictly “organic.” The restaurant serves food prepared exclusively from Tanhou’s agricultural operation and affiliated farms, and as Tanhou has, until recently, primarily been involved in export, its products conform to a slew of international certifications including HACCP, one of the most stringent food safety assurance standards. Even the herbs used in the cooking are grown on Tanhou farms.
The restaurant, which had its soft opening last week, offers set menus (NT$480 to NT$880) designed to show off the quality of the foods on sale upstairs. Currently the menu favors very simple preparations. A salad of nuts and raw vegetables with an almost invisible vinaigrette impressed with the sweetness of the individual elements — the slices of red onion were so flavorful they could have been enjoyed unaccompanied. A portion of sashimi hit home with the delicacy of its flavors and the use of freshly ground wasabi. The oysters in a mixed appetizer were the most succulent local oysters that I have tasted in Taiwan, though the addition of a richly flavored sauce was an unfortunate distraction. While part of Tanhou’s appeal must certainly lie in the guarantee it offers regarding all of its ingredients, the food itself is competently prepared and staff is helpful in explaining each dish as it arrives. A good range of French and Californian wines is also available. And for those in a hurry, there is a selection of lunch boxes including pork and egg fried rice (海藻豬油蛋炒飯便當, NT$80) and steamed fish (鮮物魚片便當, NT$150). Vegetarian menus are also available.
The bakery upstairs is a must-visit for anyone interested in good bread, with some of the best white bread on offer in the city, as well as excellent brioches, baguettes and a selection of fancy breads. This is proper Western-style bread, sold at reasonable prices, with no fluffy pork in sight. The dry goods area features both local and imported organic goods, ranging from fruit preserves, condiments and rice to environmentally friendly household cleaning products.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not