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.
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
What is the importance within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of the meeting between Xi Jinping (習近平), the leader Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), the leader of the KMT? Local media is an excellent guide to determine how important — or unimportant — a news event is to the public. Taiwan has a vast online media ecosystem, and if a news item is gaining traction among readers, editors shift resources in near real time to boost coverage to meet the demand and drive up traffic. Cheng’s China trip is among the top headlines, but by no means
Apr. 13 to Apr. 19 From 17th-century royalty and Presbyterian missionaries to White Terror victims, cultural figures and industrialists, Nanshan Public Cemetery (南山公墓) sprawls across 95 hectares, guarding four centuries of Taiwan’s history. Current estimates show more than 60,000 graves, the earliest dating to 1642. Besides individual tombs, there are also hundreds of family plots, one of which is said to contain around 1,000 remains. As the cemetery occupies valuable land in the heart of Tainan, the government in 2018 began asking families to relocate the graves to make way for development. That
RSS