The understated facade of Toutouan (燈燈庵), a new kaiseki (懷石料理) restaurant that opened off Taipei’s swank Anhe Road last week, conceals some very considerable ambitions.
This is the first venture of the Tokyo restaurant of the same name outside of Japan, and is the result of a collaboration between Toutouan and the Hong Kong-based Inno Hospitality Company (香港宜諾管理顧問公司).
With its unique mixture of contemporary design, ritual and fine cuisine, Taipei’s Toutouan has aspirations in food and service that exceed five-star standards.
Photo: Ian Bartholomew, Taipei Times
Kaiseki usually refers to a multi-course Japanese meal, one that seeks to present exceptionally fine ingredients in dishes that thoughtfully combine flavors and exquisite visual appeal, with a formal style of service.
Despite its location and unexciting minimalist design, Toutouan generally achieves its ambitions. There is no a la carte menu, only a selection of four set menus for lunch (from NT$800 to NT$1,800 per person) and four for dinner (from NT$1,800 to NT$3,000). Currently the restaurant is also offering a number of wine pairing menus starting at NT$550.
The concept behind Toutouan is to provide a total dining experience designed by experts to maximize diners’ enjoyment.
Photo: Ian Bartholomew, Taipei Times
According to Jennifer Wang (王玨驎), a wine consultant at Inno, great effort was made to find wines that are not normally found in Taipei.
Toutouan places heavy emphasis on using local ingredients, though the owners of the parent restaurant decided not to compromise with fundamentals such as soy sauce, miso seasoning, vinegar and salt, which are all imported.
As some of the food is extraordinarily simple, the quality of these ingredients is critical.
A dish such as the crab meat bun (蟹肉饅頭) is a case in point: it is actually a light crab meat dumpling (shaped like a steamed bun) in a light stock. The soup, light and clear, is so refined and fresh that it shocks the palette into self-awareness — a Zen-like experience. The crab dumpling looks like a heavy white lump, but bite into it and you discover an airy mousse-like consistency. The whole dish is an astonishing balancing act. This is just one of many dishes that manage to express a deeply felt conceptual element that is integral to many of the creations at Toutouan.
The food at Toutouan is inspired by the formality of the Japanese tea ceremony. A dish such as smoked duck breast with figs poached in red wine is served at the table, the ingredients being presented to the guest before the chef plates the food. The meat is carved in front of the diner, and then the chef creates a small, transient work of art.
The antipasti dish is a masterwork, using simple, even rustic, ingredients, but presenting them in such a ceremonious fashion that you cannot help but take notice.
Simplicity at Toutouan is the result of great attention to detail, and a similar attention to detail is required by the diner to get the most out of the experience.
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