A-Plus Dining Sake Bar’s selling points are an encyclopedic menu of premium sake and its swanky lounge atmosphere. But before you get too carried away with the sake martinis or carafes of infused sake, make sure to take some time to savor A-Plus’ neo-style sushi.
A-Plus’ menu ranges from sashimi to grilled meats, but the standouts are its appetizers. We ordered DIY spicy tuna sided with homemade chips (辣鮪魚DIY, NT$280) and rare beef sided with citrus sauce (抽香生牛肉, NT$320).
The thin slices of rare beef dunked in the citrus sauce (the flavor is a bit more savory and less tart and fruity than the description suggests) were delicious, but I think even red-meat lovers will agree that it is blown away by the sheer addictiveness of the DIY spicy tuna with chips. The dish consists of tuna tartar served on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes with a side of spicy sauce and small pile of fresh waffle fries. Your server ceremoniously pours the light orange-colored sauce onto the tuna tartar and then carefully mixes it with two dainty silver spoons before spreading the mixture onto each waffle chip. The high-low pairing of tuna sashimi and French fries presents a satisfying combination of flavors and textures: the freshness of the tartar, creamy bite of the spicy sauce and crispiness of the chip. The lettuce leaves are not just for garnish — our waitress suggested that we finish off the last bits of tartar by eating the salad.
Our appetizers were followed by a serving each of pan-fried salmon roll (香煎鮭魚卷, NT$240) and rainbow roll (彩虹卷, NT$280). The latter is the usual California roll wrapped in a variety of sashimi slices, but the right balance of crabmeat filling and avocado and the freshness of the fish make this sushi staple worth ordering. We were simultaneously over- and underwhelmed with the salmon roll, which consists of grilled salmon wrapped in a roll of rice that is lightly seared on the side, topped with ikura roe and served with a light dipping sauce. The dish is heartier than other sushi rolls, but we felt that the simplicity of the flavor combinations makes it pale in comparison.
On the other hand, the salmon roll girded us for the two artisan-glass carafes (NT$360 each) of sake we ordered. Our first round, the chrysanthemum-infused sake (雛菊), has a slight floral hint that compliments the sweetness of the liquor. After downing half the carafe, I felt as if I were drinking a handful of chrysanthemum petals floating down a clear spring in the middle of winter. At the end of the evening, we skipped dessert and ordered a sake cocktail, the intriguingly named Sob of Swallows (春啼). I felt the mixture of fruit juice it was made with was cloyingly sweet and overwhelmed the sake, but my dining companion thought it was a refreshing end to our meal.
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
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