| A Cut Steakhouse
Address: Ambassador Hotel, B1, 63 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中山北路二段63號B1) Telephone: (02) 2571-0389 Best steak of the year definitely goes to the new restaurant A Cut, which opened last month in the basement of the Ambassador Hotel. Danny Deng, the culinary maestro behind the hotel's newest endeavor, is aiming for the very top. "We think we have a chance at the title of best steakhouse in Asia," he said of the restaurant. The Chef's "A cut" signature house cut (NT$1,500 for a 10oz steak) is good value, with a succulence that justifies the price tag. The meat is served very simply, seared and presented in a cast-iron dish with a small serving of sauteed mushrooms. A variety of salts are the only garnish. Simplicity marks the restaurant's other steak dishes. A 16oz USDA Prime Center cut rib eye (NT$2,400) is intended for two and a 22oz version of the same (NT$3,300) serves three. |  PHOTO: COURTESY OF A CUT STEAKHOUSE |
| Mamm Goz (媽媽鍋子)
Address: 12, Ln 112, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市安和路一段112巷12號) Telephone: (02) 2709-6636 Mamm Goz sets the standard for crepes in Taipei by following the fine culinary tradition from Brittany, France, where locals go to creperies, or crepe bistros, for a bite of sweetened and savory pancakes as well as a slurp of fresh cider. With a chef from the crepe capital of the world, the cozy establishment prides itself on the signature galettes filled with a wide choice of fillings including homemade chocolate sauce, roasted almonds, vanilla ice cream, fruits, honey and caramel. In the comfy bistro setting, some of the must-tries are the celebrated selections of ciders, spirits and beers including, chouchen and pommeau, the region's special nectars. |  PHOTO: HO YI, TAIPEI TIMES |
| Chuan Yang Yu Fang Restaurant (川揚郁坊小館)
Address: 2, Lane 163, Yanping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市延平南路163巷2號) Telephone: (02) 2331-1117 This inconspicuous restaurant makes it onto the reviewer's "return-to" list with its praise-worthy Yangzhou cuisine and bargain prices. Though homely looking with plainly presented food, the establishment has been a sought-after spot among food connoisseurs. A mouthful of the restaurant's famed cold appetizers, such as dried shredded chicken with brawn jelly flavored with ginger slices and Zhenjiang vinegar, proves the point. Bloggers seem to agree on the overall quality of each and every dish served. Must-try specialties include the steamed dumpling assortment and the juicy stewed lion's head meatballs served in a bowl of cabbage-base soup, a Yangzhou cuisine staple. A number of signature dishes require two days of preparation, so it is advisable to check out the menu first and order ahead. | |
| Ichi Japanese Cuisine & Bar
Address: 40, Anhe Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市安和路二段40號) Telephone: (02) 2704-8195 The first floor of Ichi Japanese Cuisine & Bar on Anhe Road resembles a traditional Japanese sushi bar, though darker, more upscale and intimate, while the second floor features large plush sofas that lounge lizards can while away the evening on. The lighting is subdued with six large fire-red Chinese lanterns bathing the entire space in dusky crimson hues. Along with sashimi, toubanyaki and roasted items, the menu also offers a variety of Asian fusion dishes. The almond fried sea eel with Thai-style spicy and sour sauce (NT$300) was a revelation. The crunchy sliced almonds on the outside provide a contrasting texture to the moist eel and zesty sour and spicy sauce. Equally tasty is the fillet with fresh fruit combo sauce (NT$300). Chunks of New Zealand beef are seared and served with chunks of apple in a marinade made from fruit. The showstopper, however, was the buri chin and daikon boiled in Japanese soy sauce (NT$260). Delicately presented on a bed of daikon radish, the fish was moist and tender and the sauce surprisingly light. The restaurant has a broad range of cocktails, sake, whiskey and Japanese beer to compliment the menu.
| |
| Jinjiang Tea Room (晉江茶堂)
Address: 1 Jinjiang St, Taipei City (台北市晉江街1號) Telephone: (02) 8369-1785 This warmly unassuming Hakka restaurant was named one of the city's best by critics in the recent food issue of Fountain, the National Cultural Association's biannual English-language glossy. You can't go wrong with the salty pork (客家鹹豬肉) and green tea noodles (綠茶麵線), polished off with a bowl of pounded tea (擂茶). | |
| Qunxiangpin (群香品)
Address: 9 Yongkang St, Taipei City (台北市永康街9號) Telephone: (02) 2393-2333 Connoisseurs say there are two ways to assess the quality of steamed dumplings and Qunxiangpin more than passes muster on both counts. Crimping stretches the dumpling and makes the skin at the bottom thinner, revealing the juice released from the pork filling during steaming. This requires the use of a good-quality flour to produce a skin that will hold this succulent filling without tearing. With Qunxiangpin's regular pork dumplings (NT$120) and shrimp dumplings (NT$180) I counted a consistent 13 crimps, and for the drier vegetable dumpling (NT$150) I counted nine, all within the acceptable range expected by the experts - my Taiwanese dining companions.
| |
| Ocean Blue
Address: 180, Da-an Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市大安路一段180號) Telephone: (02) 2704-7561 A large aquarium, replete with reef fish and live coral, establishes the seaside theme at Ocean Blue, a restaurant-cum-lounge bar on the fringe of the trendy Dinghao (頂好) district that opened in the second half of this year. The food at Ocean Blue is an unusual fusion of Thai and Italian cuisines designed by head chef Gilbert Chua (蔡文要). With dishes such as Thai beef carpaccio (NT$320) and mango pumpkin soup (NT$200), the menu is intended to surprise, and the bar, with its emphasis on well-made drinks, rather than gimmickry, is a welcome addition to Taipei's nightlife scene. In the downstairs lounge area, feeding the sharks is part of the late night entertainment. | |
| La Casita (愛咪媽美食坊)
Address: 7, Ln 64, Songjiang Rd, Taipei City (台北市松江路64巷7號) Telephone: (02) 2531-9246 If it's Mexican food you crave then there's only one place to go - La Casita. Established in 1988, it has moved five times and currently occupies a small storefront off Songjiang Road (松江路) decorated by Frida Kahlo posters and customers' graffiti. The owners treat repeat customers like old friends and have been known to stay late or open early to accommodate them. | |
| Lvsang Canteen (呂桑食堂)
Address: 12-5 Yongkang St, Taipei City (台北市永康街12-5號) Telephone: (02) 2351-3323 Much is made of the delights of Taiwan's snack foods - its little eats (小吃) - but the unfortunate truth is that there are only a relatively few places where the true potential of these dishes is realized. One of these establishments, which specializes in food from Ilan County, is Lvsang Canteen. Simple dishes such as ang chow pork (紅糟肉), a pork cutlet marinated in red yeast rice, smoked shark (鯊魚煙), or cold cut chicken (白斬雞), show Lvsang's quality immediately. These, among many other dishes are presented at a glass-fronted counter just inside the door, where guests are encouraged to place their orders; more complex dishes are prepared behind the scenes. Most dishes are between NT$120 and NT$180, with a small number of exceptions (the steamed fish is NT$250). Portions are small and two people can easily handle four or five dishes. Excellent kumquat tea is available for free.
| |
| Splendor Restaurant (京彩飯店)
Address: 1F, 207 Beixin Rd Sec 3, Xindian City, Taipei City (台北縣新店市北新路三段207號1樓) Telephone: (02) 8913-2222 Open: 11:30am to 9:30pm Splendor is a somewhat classy and highly recommended buffet restaurant. The designers of the restaurant clearly understood the distraction that a wide variety of food causes diners, and as a result there is plenty of space to move about when going up for a fourth or fifth helping. The buffet runs the gamet of southeast Asian cuisine - including Thai salads, Japanese sushi and sashimi, Korean kimchi and Cantonese dim sum - with a little American-style prime rib and roast ham thrown in for good measure. There is also an impressive salad bar. If you can fit dessert in, there are eight varieties of Haagen-Dazs ice cream and a staggering variety of sweets. The restaurant offers bottomless beer and cheap red and white wine. The Taipei Times reminds patrons to drink responsibly. | |
May 26 to June 1 When the Qing Dynasty first took control over many parts of Taiwan in 1684, it roughly continued the Kingdom of Tungning’s administrative borders (see below), setting up one prefecture and three counties. The actual area of control covered today’s Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The administrative center was in Taiwan Prefecture, in today’s Tainan. But as Han settlement expanded and due to rebellions and other international incidents, the administrative units became more complex. By the time Taiwan became a province of the Qing in 1887, there were three prefectures, eleven counties, three subprefectures and one directly-administered prefecture, with
It’s an enormous dome of colorful glass, something between the Sistine Chapel and a Marc Chagall fresco. And yet, it’s just a subway station. Formosa Boulevard is the heart of Kaohsiung’s mass transit system. In metro terms, it’s modest: the only transfer station in a network with just two lines. But it’s a landmark nonetheless: a civic space that serves as much more than a point of transit. On a hot Sunday, the corridors and vast halls are filled with a market selling everything from second-hand clothes to toys and house decorations. It’s just one of the many events the station hosts,
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world
RSS