The rain is beating relentlessly on our umbrellas when we spot, through the thick shrubbery, a gray stone house covered in vines. Outside, the temperature has dipped a few degrees — a sign that fall had finally arrived, at least in the mountains. A whiff of warm stew beckons our olfactory senses. We had spent the morning visiting a couple of scenic areas around Yangmingshan (陽明山), and this restaurant, nestled high up in the cloud-covered forest along Zhuzihu Road (竹子湖路), was just the type of relaxing late afternoon lunch we were seeking.
Stone House (常青廬) serves home-cooked Taiwanese food in — you guessed it — an old stone house overlooking the Taipei basin. The restaurant is split into two separate buildings — the main house with a cashier, kitchen and seating area on the lower level, and a smaller, cozier converted guest house across the road.
We chose the latter for its ambiance. The floor and walls are made entirely out of gray stone, while gourds, cookie cutters and traditional wooden cooking utensils hang from the walls, creating a rustic, homely vibe. Skylights provide the inside with some natural lighting, while the outside is a lush seating area surrounded by potted plants and trees, perfect for a fine day unlike the afternoon we visited.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
As with most Taiwanese food, the dishes at Stone House are primarily sauce-based with a heavy dose of herbs and garnishing. The food at many local restaurants are too oily or greasy for my liking, but Stone House cuts it just right, serving dishes with enough flavor and zest, without being too rich or overwhelming.
To start with, the Szechuan-style kung pao chicken (宮保雞丁, NT$260) is a safe but tasty bet. The chicken, which is chopped into small cubes, is sweet and spicy, deriving most of its flavor from the dried chili and corn flour-based sauce mixed with soya sauce and peppercorn. The chicken itself is tender but a little dry, although the nuts add a crunchy contrast, while the chopped zucchini helps to counter-balance the spiciness.
If you love seafood, try the clams with basil (NT$280). With the Tamsui River (淡水河) at the foot of the mountain, the clams are large, freshly-caught and delectably chewy. They are soaked in a thick-broiled clam sauce which boasts a natural, tangy sweetness, complimented with the basil and spring onion.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
Also for devoted seafood lovers is the fried soft shell crab (NT$330) — but be warned that this is not a dish for people who dislike savory flavors. One of the more difficult dishes to cook because the shell remains soft only for a few hours after molting, making timing the most important aspect of the dish’s preparation, the chef did a skillful job, achieving a texture that is neither too crumbly nor too greasy. The skin is tantalizingly crispy and salty, while the inside is warm, soft and crumbles in your mouth. The crab is sprinkled with deep-fried garlic flakes, spring onions and cut chili, all of which help to draw out the natural crispiness of the skin.
My favorite, however, is the stewed tofu pot (NT$260). Served in an earthenware pot atop of a portable stove, soft egg tofu is dipped in a rich, egg yolk-based sauce and topped with spring onions. The concoction is a warm and hearty one, with the sauce sizzling the entire duration of our meal. The tofu is slightly charred and very silky, while the sauce is a little sweet and very thick and runny. In other words, ideal for a cool, rainy day in the mountains.
The only caveat? Having to run back and forth between the guest house and the main house to place our order and pay the bill — although that could be interpreted as part of the authentic rural dining experience. Moreover, the waiters were attentive and obliging even when tasked with transporting our food in the heavy rain. Certainly a gem in this neck of the woods.
Photos: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su