There are many things that one may find attractive about Chang Ju Cantonese Cuisine (常聚), an establishment nestled in the basement of a luxury office building on Taipei’s Renai Road (仁愛路). Its large menu includes banquet-style dishes and dim sum classics, inspired by its culinary heritage and contemporary trends. The food here is arguably as tasty as that served at high-end restaurants in international hotels, but costing less. Reservations are strongly advised.
On a recent weekend at the packed restaurant, our party began with duck tongue cooked in Shaoxing rice wine (醉香鴨舌, NT$150). Served deboned, the dish is not as scary as its name suggests, and the long-lasting aroma of the spirit adds a robust finish. Chang Ju’s rendition of the soy-marinated goose meat (潮州滷水鵝, NT$480) was spot on, with the meat firm yet tender.
Apart from fancy seafood banquet dishes such as Cantonese superior abalone (蠔皇一品原隻鮑, NT$1,180 per person), the restaurant sports a variety of finely prepared oceanic delights (note to conservationists: shark fin soup is sold here at premium prices). The shrimp salad with onions (卡夫醬拌明蝦球, NT$280 per person), for example, earned praised for its succulent crustacean and creamy sauce made from salted egg yolk and sea urchin.
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Crab dishes are usually on offer, depending on the season and ingredients at hand. One of our party, a crab enthusiast, picked the garlic-flavored crab with sticky rice (香蒜荷葉糯米蟹飯, NT$90 or 100 per liang (兩); one liang equals to 37.5 grams), which was one of four choices available on the day we visited. It was a pleasant surprise to discover how the fresh, plump decapod and a bowl of stick rice and peanuts could make such a soothing combo.
A visit to Chang Ju would not be complete without tasting its signature crispy barbecued pork (脆皮叉燒, NT$420). The reason behind the hype is the restaurant’s chef, Yang Hua-chih (楊華志). A younger brother of the inventor of the famous dish, Yang is said to have mastered the recipe, which involves repeatedly applying cane sugar to the thin layer of fat and roasting the pork until its skin becomes caramelized and crisp. The result is a delightful combination of textures, accented by a sweet and savory flavor. Some claim Chang Ju’s crisp pork is as good as that served at the Sheraton Hotel’s (喜來登飯店) The Dragon (辰園), where the delicacy was first introduced.
Other popular offerings on the menu include fried grouper with black truffles (黑松露油泡星斑球, NT$780), sweet and sour pork with pineapple (菠蘿水晶咕咾肉, NT$420) and steak (特選稻草西施牛, NT$1,080). Do not let the simple English name of the latter fool you. The time-consuming dish involves wrapping prime rib in straw and stewing the whole package in a homemade sauce for four hours until the meat reaches a melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
The restaurant’s dim sum section is equally strong. The pan-fried turnip cakes (蘿蔔千絲酥, NT$120) were well-season, crispy and golden brown on the outside, while the juicy shreds of turnip retained a lovely flavor on the inside.
Chang Ju’s dessert menu is also worth checking out. One of my perennial favorites is the classic Hong Kong liushabao, known here as golden lava bao (鳳凰流沙包, NT$120). One bite into the steamed bun brings forth a custard made from egg yolk, which is as silky smooth and rich as a good liushabao should be.
Service is attentive and neighborly, especially by chef Yang, who is always seen gliding through the dining room, greeting and chatting with customers, while sometimes recommending dishes and taking orders himself.
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
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