Signs of the global economic downturn were nowhere to be seen on a recent Sunday morning at W Taipei, where well-to-do travelers waited in a long queue to check in at the swankily designed hotel in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義區). Soon after the clock struck noon, an even bigger crowd flooded in for the brunch buffet that is served every Sunday.
I was among the brunch crowd, there to sample the hotel’s Bubblisimo Sunday Brunch special, which began earlier this month and runs through March next year at The Kitchen Table and the adjacent Woobar on W’s 10th floor.
As the brunch’s name implies, Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine produced in Veneto Province, plays a major role in the buffet.
Photo courtesy of W Taipei
To complement the fruity drink, the menu includes several salads and antipasti, and hence will set you back more than the weekday luncheon does. An all-you-can-drink supply of the sparkling wine costs NT$1,900, while the charge is NT$1,500 without the alcoholic drink.
The spread spilled out of the brightly colored, summery Kitchen Table and into the stylish Woobar, which becomes a lounge bar at night, and with a palette of cherry, silver and brown is a study in playful sophistication.
Aside from the design-savvy surroundings, the hotel has done a good job in providing some culinary gimmickry.
Photo courtesy of W Taipei
A hotdog stand offers unusual toppings, such as spicy chocolate sauce, truffle mayonnaise and bonito flakes. Standing next to the hot dog vendor is a popcorn machine with flavors including Japanese seaweed and togarashi, a type of Japanese chili pepper.
For more traditional combinations, the crispy wine gets on well with the seafood section, which includes oysters, roasted mussels and cheddar souffles with crab meat and spinach.
Risottos and waffles are freshly prepared on-site, as is spumoni ice cream.
As far as frozen desserts are concerned, the restaurant’s homemade sorbet is worthy of acclaim. The treat has a very smooth and refined texture and exactly captures its ingredients’ flavors, including pineapple, basil, grapefruit, honeydew melon and mixed berries.
A hotel staff member suggested putting one or more scoops of sorbet into a glass of Prosecco. The end result was a delightful adult’s version of an ice cream float.
As with the lunch offerings at The Kitchen Table [see the Taipei Time’s review on June 24, 2011], hot entrees on the brunch table are hit and miss. But with the piped lounge music, sleek environment and free-flowing wine, the food may not be everyone’s top priority.
Seats for the brunch special are already fully booked until January. It is advised to make reservations one month ahead. For further inquiries, call (02) 7703-8887 or send an e-mail to bf.taipei@whotels.com.
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
RSS