Cairns (凱恩斯岩燒餐廳)
87 Minsheng E. Rd., Sec. 5 (民生東路五段87號); Tel:2765-8816. 11:30am to 10pm. Average meal: lunch/dinner NT$500 to NT$600; ostrich NT$880. English menu. Credit cards: Visa, Master Card, Diner's Club
This hot stone grill offers ostrich in its purest form, affording diners the best taste of this succulent red meat's natural savor. As with all of Cairns' dishes, the ostrich meat is brought to the table uncooked. In color it is much like beef, though its texture isn't quite as coarse, which makes it a little less rigid when uncooked and a little more tender once ready to eat. When prepared well, the experience is reminiscent of eating fillet mignon. The meat's natural flavor, however, is a little less strong than beef, though only slightly.
The great benefit of ostrich meat, explains Cairns manager, Eva Wang, is health. One study published last year by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that a 3 ounce serving of ostrich meat contains roughly the same amount of protein as similar sized servings of beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and turkey, but is significantly lower in calories, cholesterol, fats, and saturated fats.
Ostrich aside, Cairns is a stone grill steak house that lets diners cook their own meat at the table - be it one of five beef cuts, lamb, chicken, swordfish steak, or prawns - on volcanic rocks imported from Australia and heated to 400 degrees Celsius. A standard set meal includes a meat entree, salad, soup, rolls, beverage, and desert.
Shun Tai (順泰)
306 Kuangfu S. Rd. (光復南路306號); Tel:2721-6321. 11:30am to 2:30pm and 5:30 to 9:30pm. Average meal: lunch NT$580 and up, dinner NT$880 to NT$2880; meal including ostrich NT$1380. No English menu. Credit cards accepted
Shun Tai specializes in authentic and pricey Cantonese gourmet, though a slightly international approach has brought ostrich into two of the restaurant's set menus. One such dish makes use of a classic Chinese cooking style by stir-frying ostrich with onions, green peppers, and other vegetables. The other interprets ostrich as a thin pepper steak. Both recipes seem to take ostrich for a beef substitute, but since it is an extremely well fitting one, these meat courses sing with flavor on account of the extremely nutritious meat.
Ostrich, however, is not in danger of ousting Shun Tai's long time specialties of abalone and shark's fin soup, both of which are superbly prepared in the highest Hong Kong tradition. In the shark's fin soup, the fin is served in its entirety, steeped in broth, and tender enough to eat with a spoon. Using an entire fin is a sign of gourmet purity, guaranteeing quality and flavor, unlike cheaper varieties which shred the purported fin (sometimes it's crab) into an unintelligible stew.
Shark's fin soup, stir-fried ostrich, and Shun Tai's other delicacies all come within the confines of set menus of seven or eight courses each. Each includes either shark's fin soup or abalone, and courses of seafood, meat, vegetables, rice or noodle dishes, deserts and fruit. Since meals are charged per head, the restaurant makes it possible to enjoy an entire Cantonese round-table meal either by yourself or with a single companion. Parties as large as 20, however, can also be accommodated.
Kuo Bee Pen Da (鍋比盆大)
9, Lane 171, Anho Rd., Sec. 2 (安和路二段171巷9號); Tel:8732-1069. 11am to 2pm and 6pm to 3am. Average meal: lunch NT$300, dinner NT$800 to 1000. English menu. Credit cards: Visa, Master Card, American Express
A fantastic combination of nouveau Cantonese cuisine, brilliant atmosphere, reasonable prices and nightclub hours makes Kuo Bee Pen Da a must in south Taipei. In truth, the restaurant's proprietor, David Pien (邊仲安), doesn't know exactly what to call his particular brand of cooking. However, he can say that his kitchen is full of a younger generation of Hong Kong chefs, who have taken classic Cantonese and mixed it up with curries from southeast Asia, au gratins and pates from France, some Italian sauce concepts, and scores of other international influences.
The cool and contemporary lounge atmosphere has also attracted the glitterati of pop music and film from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Pien, pointing to a frosted glass panel full of autographs, says that some are practically regulars.
The menu is roughly split in half with sections for both hot pot and a la carte dining. For NT$300 (the cheapest in this survey) ostrich falls under hot pot, where flavor options include satay and curry in addition to the more traditional hot & sour and clear broth. Other house specialties include goose liver pate in fried pastry, stir-fried chili crabs fisherman style in mounds of fried garlic, abalone in oyster sauce, lobster sashimi, and what may well be the best mango pudding in town. Many of these recipes are unique, though Pien says imitators are popping up around town. As one might guess, the exotic seafood dishes tend to bump the price of the bill, but they're definitely worth it.
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