A quietly relaxing cafe with quality coffee and friendly staff is hard to find. A casual Chinese restaurant with a chef that has 40 years' experience cooking for more than one ex-president is even harder to find. Salt surprises gourmets in Taipei by being both.
Formerly a planner/promoter in a record company, Chen Wei-jie (
Chen said of his restaurant's chef that "he wants very much too keep a low profile, but his ranking among cooks in Taiwan and his stories of working for the two [ex-president] Chiangs are enough to write a book about," Chen said.
PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES
"Many food providers are kind of afraid of him [the chef] because when the food quality does not live up to his expectations, he gets so mad that he throws whole boxes of food out of the door. With him in the kitchen, I can concentrate on serving customers without having to worry about the kitchen," Chen said.
The dishes and simple utensils look nice without being too fancy. Although not as spicy as traditional Sichuan cuisine, the dishes taste good nonetheless.
Slices of mountain chicken (NT$280) is Salt's main attraction. The homemade sauce is only slightly spicy so as to retain the meat's original flavor. The peas are fresh, crisp and a shining bright shade of green in color. The large, smooth mushrooms are another highlight of the dish. Few customers could have guessed that the tender and bouncy slices are actually duck meat.
"This is one of the many dishes here that takes a lot of time to prepare even by an experienced cook. Although buying processed duck parts would have saved a lot of trouble, our chef insists on buying whole ducks, which he skins and debones himself before choosing the best meat," Chen said.
Fried mushrooms on sticks (NT$240), a dish that few cooks can manage to make, are also heartily recommended.
Salt has many creative vegetarian dishes. Customers can also ask for vegetarian versions of other dishes.
Kongbao cloud pieces (NT$240) is made with konjac instead of squid, as is usually the case. Using bits of ripe chili peppers, the often bland konjac is made to taste as good as any meat.
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