Posh’s interior doesn’t quite live up to the name. Even though you’re likely to spot young hipsters and shopping warriors sitting on the covered street-side patio, this East District restaurant feels more like a homey cafe than a fancy restaurant or lounge with its slightly dirty white walls and vintage furniture.
The food is also decidedly un-posh. The restaurant announces a passion for burgers on the cover of its menu, which reads “One of the best meals in the world is burgers and fries. Our burgers are fantastic.” Words to inspire confidence, to be sure, but unfortunately Posh fell short on this greasy spoon staple when the Taipei Times visited earlier this week.
The cheeseburger with mushrooms and onions (NT$190) should have been a winner. It came with two freshly made 4-inch beef patties. The cheese was melted onto the patty. The bun was good: it wasn’t sweet at all; it had heft but wasn’t too doughy. The burger even arrived well presented with the top bun lying open, very lightly toasted and buttered with a tomato slice, two big pickle slices and onion on top.
Yet all of this attention to detail was spoiled by the tasteless canned mushrooms, which merely served as a faint, slimy texture in the burger. Perhaps Posh is taking the irony of its name too seriously. And even though the beef patties are “homemade,” their recipe tasted like it had too much pepper.
In fact, be prepared for a spicier-than-normal meal. The French fries tasted like they were coated in chili powder. I suspected that the vinaigrette on the side of salad also had a large dose of either chili pepper or pepper, but it could have been the aftertaste from the fries that lingered throughout the rest of the meal. It didn’t help that the wait staff were slow in refilling my water glass.
Other burgers include the Jumbo (NT$240), which comes with cheese, egg, bacon and onions and the Hawaiian (NT$190), which is topped with pineapple and bacon.
There’s an extensive drink selection of milkshakes, juices and coffee and tea drinks, which are NT$30 cheaper when you order a burger. The banana milk (NT$120) was labeled a house specialty and helped alleviate the spiciness of those fries. For beers, you can pay NT$150 to have a Corona or Heineken while perusing a fashion magazine from Posh’s wall-sized magazine shelf, but a fruity Belgian brew might be a better match and value at NT$200 per bottle.
The restaurant serves breakfast all day. The “deluxe” (NT$230) comes with eggs made-to-order, hash browns (the frozen packet variety), wheat or white toast and a choice of bacon, sausage or ham. For those with a sweet tooth, pancakes and French toast are available for NT$230.
Posh seems like as a fashion victim when it comes to the food, but it has apparently done well enough to open two other branches in the neighborhood. Posh II is located south of Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路) at 42, Ln 190, Dunhua South Rd (台北市敦化南路一段190巷42號) and Posh III is at 11, Ln 233, Dunhua South Rd (台北市敦化南路一段233巷11號).
The relatively cheap prices for the area and the free Wi-Fi are two reasons one might visit. But those hankering for a good burger or an authentic American diner meal are better off elsewhere.
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