For a fruity meal fit for a king take a ride up Linsen North Road to the Gloria Prince Hotel and enjoy a combination of sweet pulps, savory meats and fish -- including some rare and unusual items even the most experienced gourmand may not have tried before.
Once you are seated in the elegantly appointed dining room, with its gilded furniture and brightly polished chandeliers, settle down for what could be a two-hour plus gastronomic experience.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
There are nine items on the Fruit Set Menu, which was devised by head chef Peter Wu in June and has been continued because of its popularity. The winner of two consecutive cordon bleu contests in Taiwan, Wu hails from Hong Kong and specializes in Cantonese cooking, which he has internationalized for the local and high-end traveler set he services.
The only man to have been the head chef for two presidents on overseas trips (Lee Teng-hui (
The set menu begins with fiery dragon fruit canapes and ends with a mango ice crush. In between the highlights were some highly inventive dishes, only one of which did not succeed, in this reviewer's opinion. That was the seafood and apple with mayonnaise sauce, which looked good enough, but was slightly sickly with the combination of sweet apple and overbearingly rich mayo.
The rest was an adventure for the taste buds that was rewarded by some original and flavorsome combinations. The pumpkin with egg and fried shark's fin was a revelation. The scooped-out half-pumpkin, steamed and filled with lightly fried eggs and bean sprouts, set off the delicately prepared shark's fin. Usually, I find the taste of shark's fin unremarkable, but on this occasion it was a treat. The sharks used are farmed, apparently, so conservationists need not be upset. The dish came with one of the most delicious clear broths I have ever tried. Made from ham, chicken, pork ribs, pumpkin, dried scallops and spices (the chef refuses to disclose), it is boiled, reduced and strained for days to form a golden nectar that is strong, yet refined in taste.
Braised beef and mango went together surprisingly well, the scallop dishes were superb and the deep fried banana fruit rolls were impeccable.
However, the most remarkable dish, fittingly enough, came last. Hasma sweet soup in papaya sounds bland enough, but the reproductive glands of the snow frog, dried, rehydrated and double-boiled with rock sugar, is a unique culinary invention that was previously only eaten by emperors. The hermaphrodite snow frog's sperm and ova form a glutinous and opaque dessert after cooking. It sounds weird and feels like tapioca in the mouth, but with a slightly salty after taste. Yes, indeed, a funny experience.
April 14 to April 20 In March 1947, Sising Katadrepan urged the government to drop the “high mountain people” (高山族) designation for Indigenous Taiwanese and refer to them as “Taiwan people” (台灣族). He considered the term derogatory, arguing that it made them sound like animals. The Taiwan Provincial Government agreed to stop using the term, stating that Indigenous Taiwanese suffered all sorts of discrimination and oppression under the Japanese and were forced to live in the mountains as outsiders to society. Now, under the new regime, they would be seen as equals, thus they should be henceforth
Last week, the the National Immigration Agency (NIA) told the legislature that more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) risked having their citizenship revoked if they failed to provide proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration within the next three months. Renunciation is required under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), as amended in 2004, though it was only a legal requirement after 2000. Prior to that, it had been only an administrative requirement since the Nationality Act (國籍法) was established in
Three big changes have transformed the landscape of Taiwan’s local patronage factions: Increasing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) involvement, rising new factions and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) significantly weakened control. GREEN FACTIONS It is said that “south of the Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), there is no blue-green divide,” meaning that from Yunlin County south there is no difference between KMT and DPP politicians. This is not always true, but there is more than a grain of truth to it. Traditionally, DPP factions are viewed as national entities, with their primary function to secure plum positions in the party and government. This is not unusual
US President Donald Trump’s bid to take back control of the Panama Canal has put his counterpart Jose Raul Mulino in a difficult position and revived fears in the Central American country that US military bases will return. After Trump vowed to reclaim the interoceanic waterway from Chinese influence, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an agreement with the Mulino administration last week for the US to deploy troops in areas adjacent to the canal. For more than two decades, after handing over control of the strategically vital waterway to Panama in 1999 and dismantling the bases that protected it, Washington has