Moments after sitting down at Jupin (聚品), which recently opened in a lane off Shida Road (師大路), our party of two realized that we should have heeded the first character, ju (聚), of the restaurant’s name. Meaning “to gather” or “to assemble,” the name hints at the fact the eatery is more suited to large parties than a lunch or dinner date.
We looked somewhat out of place with a three-generation family of nine chatting animatedly behind us and an office party of a dozen loudly guffawing in the semi-private back room. The menu features a number of reasonably priced set menus for large groups that averages out to roughly NT$300 per person.
For parties of fewer than four, Jupin has an extensive a la carte menu of cuisine hailing from Jiangsu Province (soft textures and light flavors) and Shanghai (stronger flavors and lots of sugar and alcohol).
Photo: Noah Buchan, Taipei Times
Our on-the-house starter of celery marinated in rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and red chili peppers produced a tingling sensation on the taste buds and set a precedent for the interesting textures that were to follow. The Chinese kale stir-fry (芥藍菜, NT$150) was cooked in a delicious, light sauce, with generous portions of ginger and garlic offsetting the usual bitterness of the broccoli-like vegetable.
Diners who choose the stewed crab roe with soft tofu (蟹黃豆腐, NT$260) will not be disappointed. The large chunks of tofu are lightly seared before being added to the subtle crab roe stew. The side of rice I ordered specifically for this dish was not necessary, though I still added spoonfuls of the delicious stew to it anyway.
For those who like something a little spicy but don’t want to be too daring, the kungpao chicken (宮保雞丁, NT$260) is worth a try — its taste makes up for the small portion. Chunks of chicken, ginger, dried red chilies, peanuts and slices of leek aren’t so much cooked in a tasty XO sauce as they are caramelized in it.
The Shanghai-style soup dumplings (上海湯包, NT$120) were a little disappointing compared with those I’ve tried elsewhere. The filling consisted of pork and a little garlic. But rather than being savory, they were slightly sweet, and the flavor of the pork was a little too robust. Though perhaps an authentic Shanghai-style version of the dish, it could have used a little leek or cabbage. We should have listened to our server, who recommended the crab roe dumplings (蟹黃湯包, NT$160), which were sure to have been a hit if they are as delicious as the crab roe with soft tofu.
If you plan to visit Jupin, do so for dinner to best appreciate its artistically lit dining room. Black faux-lacquer walls and hanging lanterns with metal latticework designs lend the restaurant a traditional Chinese atmosphere.
War in the Taiwan Strait is currently a sexy topic, but it is not the only potential Chinese target. Taking the Russian Far East would alleviate or even solve a lot of China’s problems, including critical dependencies on fuel, key minerals, food, and most crucially, water. In a previous column (“Targeting Russian Asia,” Dec. 28, 2024, page 12) I noted that having following this topic for years, I consistently came to this conclusion: “It would simply be easier to buy what they need from the Russians, who also are nuclear-armed and useful partners in helping destabilize the American-led world order.
If you’ve lately been feeling that the “Jurassic Park” franchise has jumped an even more ancient creature — the shark — hold off any thoughts of extinction. Judging from the latest entry, there’s still life in this old dino series. Jurassic World Rebirth captures the awe and majesty of the overgrown lizards that’s been lacking for so many of the movies, which became just an endless cat-and-mouse in the dark between scared humans against T-Rexes or raptors. Jurassic World Rebirth lets in the daylight. Credit goes to screenwriter David Koepp, who penned the original Jurassic Park, and director Gareth Edwards, who knows
Last Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) detected 41 sorties of Chinese aircraft and nine navy vessels around Taiwan over a 24-hour period. “Thirty out of 41 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern ADIZ (air defense identification zones),” it reported. Local media noted that the exercises coincided with the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taiwan. During the visit of then-US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, the largest number of sorties was on Aug. 5, “involving a total of 47 fighter aircraft and two supporting reconnaissance/patrol aircraft.
July 7 to July 13 Even though the Japanese colonizers declared Taiwan “pacified” on Nov. 18, 1895, unrest was still brewing in Pingtung County. The Japanese had completed their march of conquest down the west coast of Taiwan, stamping out local resistance. But in their haste to conquer the Republic of Formosa’s last stronghold of Tainan, they largely ignored the highly-militarized Liudui (六堆, six garrisons) Hakka living by the foothills in Kaohsiung and Pingtung. They were organized as their name suggested, and commanders such as Chiu Feng-hsiang (邱鳳祥) and Chung Fa-chun (鍾發春) still wanted to fight. Clashes broke out in today’s
RSS