Lesson one when picking a place to eat in Taipei: if a restaurant claims to serve Western food and has no English menu, there’s a chance it might not be Western food. Lesson two: when a coffee shop starts branching out and serving food, run — just run.
My friend and I were willing to give Bistro Smith the benefit of the doubt mainly because of the tantalizing photos on their Facebook page: chicken wings and ribs arranged on wooden chopping boards and beef stew served in a rustic frying pan will do it for me, apparently.
There were nagging signs, however, that we chose to ignore. Seventy reviewers gave the restaurant five-stars. All reviews were in Chinese, and my experience has been that what Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese perceive as good Western food is wholly different. Also, just over a year ago, we feasted on rubbery chicken at Mr Brown Coffee in Kavalan Distillery in Yilan County, an example of a coffee chain that tries and fails dismally to serve credible food. (Incidentally, if you want to learn more about Coffee Smith’s transformation to Bistro Smith, there’s a lovely video on YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw1fFP0Hczw).
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
Our suspicions were confirmed the moment we were seated. The counter’s pastel blue paint might look okay on the walls of a beach home, but in a “bistro” smack in the middle of the city, it’s a little nauseating. The matching gray seats and walls rimmed with gold did nothing to ease the nausea. I’m reminded of a trip to Cingjing Farm (清境農場) in Nantou County last summer where faux Tudor-style castles promised to bring Europe to Taiwan. And who names a French bistro after a name that comes from the British for metal worker or blacksmith?
Initial concerns aside, the food itself wasn’t quite that bad — if you can get past the fact that some dishes look nothing like the photos. I was a little crestfallen when my order of beef stew on a hot plate with onsen egg (小鐵鍋燉牛肉附溫泉蛋, NT$390) arrived. The side salad — a lot of lettuce swimming in oily vinaigrette — was significantly larger than the stew, which was presented on a tiny plate, rather than a frying pan as it was in the photo (though the Chinese name on the menu did feature the words “small hot plate”).
There was redemption. The beef tenderloin was succulent and juicy on the inside, slightly charred on the outside, much like fondue beef. The onsen egg — Japanese-style slow-cooked in hot spring water — over the beef added a nice touch, giving the stew a delightfully silken, gooey texture. This I mix with the baguette, which was warm and freshly baked, and French fries, which were thin and crispy.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
My friend ordered the New York steak with black truffle mushroom risotto (紐約客牛排與黑松露牛肝菌燉飯, NT$430). The risotto, with its alluringly nutty, woody flavor, complemented the tender and succulent medium rare steak. The mushrooms added crunch while the sun-dried tomatoes provided a sweet-tart kick. The risotto was served with either a side of salad or soup — my friend opted for the salad, which was basically a larger portion of my side salad and almost as big as the risotto itself.
Food-wise, my main complaint is that the portions are too small (aside from the side salads). The food is actually good — but this is sadly obscured by deceitful marketing gimmicks and a tacky ambiance, all of which detract from the overall dining experience. My friend suggests a better theme than cutesy faux Parisian bistro would have been a 1950s Mad Men-esque diner with waiters in suits as that’s essentially what Bistro Smith delivers — American with a tinge of European snobbishness.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
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