Wendal's

Dan played here for quite a while when it first opened. Menu never changed much, but the food here is always pretty good, though simple.

Novotel Taoyuan(桃園)

A while ago, we were invited by a friend (who's the manager of this hotel) to his Franco-Chinese party, that was our first time here. It was a quite impressive soirée started with canapé, wines, Kir (White or sparkling wines mix with berry liquor), then followed with Chinese banquet cuisine with a hint of French taste such as fois gras, paired with mostly Burgundy reds and whites.

This time Dan had a gig here, so we tried the new "Bon pour la santé" menu in the same Chinese restaurant.

Entrance

Red and black theme.

New Australia black truffle menu.

They did a pretty good job on this summer's new dishes. Benoit was on vacation, but Kenny did very well as a sommelier!

Here are some dishes from the new Aussie black truffle menu, not very complicated but quite tasty!

Black truffle menu:

Kenny showed us the whole Aussie black truffle,

a quite different aroma than the French one or Alba white truffle.

He said it's even more pricey than the French one.

HUTONG Grill

This new HUTONG in the Neo19 building, Xing-Yi district has an outdoor patio, big picture window behind the cocktail bar, so it's considered pretty bright inside, acceptable for me.

Entrance

Robuchon Wine dinner and W Hotel Wet Bar

Dan's birthday, but he didn't sleep well last night, so finally when we decided to go out, it was already around eight in the evening. (After calling several times to cancel and confirm the reservation!)

BLANC DE NOIRS GRAND CRU "AMBONNAY", Paul Dethune

An all Pinot Noir Champagne(that's what "blanc de noir" means). 

Sitting at the bar is more interesting,

you can observe what's going on in the kitchen and chat with everybody.

Jing Mei (景美)Japanese Grill Bar "味自慢"

This place's been here for more than a decade already, a homey, friendly restaurant with excellent food.

It's one of our favorite places to take our friends or relatives coming back to visit from outside of Taiwan.

The entrance on Jing Xing Rd (景興路) is a bit hard to find.

Bella Vita a3, June 2011

Since a long time I didn't dine here. There's a movie festival going on nearby, and this is a convenient spot to stop and have a nice meal between movies, so here I am again!

Breads seemed to be better than before.

Amuse-Bouche:

Clockwise:

tuna, ham with melon, fried oyster.

D+N innovación+

During my visits to Spain when Dan was living there, we rarely ate out in the restaurants because he assured me nothing was good enough and usually everything was too salty. I did enjoy hopping around small eateries or cafes and try different tapas with glasses of wine or beer, or follow him to local markets, look around all those interesting cheeses, vegetables etc., and try to guess how he's going to combine them and surprise me with a simple, but healthy and very tasty dinner! (It was very nice to have dinner at his small balcony with a candle while looking at the passing trains in the distance. I miss it a lot!)  But overall, Spain back then(about two decades ago) never got a reputation of a great kingdom of gastronomy.

Things have probably changed. Spanish wines did improve a lot. Even in Taipei there are a few Spanish style restaurants. Tried one a couple years ago, food was OK, not quite authentic and tended to be a bit too pricey for the quality. This one right next door to Brown Sugar advertises themselves as "creative" Spanish cuisine kind of drawing my curiosity, come with me and give it a try!

The Entrance

The most private table by the window.

Osteria by Angie

Invited my sister to try this Italian restaurant which the service manager at Marco Polo restaurant ( the Italian restaurant at the Far Eastern Hotel) recommended.  The business was good at a weekday lunch time, and the building itself probably was echoing whatever the sound there was, so it was pretty noisy during the whole meal. Wine and beer selections tend to be a bit boring. However, the food and the service was quite good.

Wine Tasting Dinner

It was really windy and pouring rain because of the number two typhoon this year, plus nobody had time to accompany me. But curiosity overcame everything, I just called a cab and went alone.

I am pretty familiar with the French wines they offered tonight, including Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux. Therefore, I was more curious about the place than the wines.

The restaurant is located in the Dwen Hua (敦化) SOGO, B1

The Entrance

Displaying various truffle products.

In the main salon, they put a "tree" in the middle,

tables and chairs scattered around, represented truffles which grow under the tree.

Haleakala

They have a very nice balcony, but it was a bit stuffy today, and my sister never wants to sit outside anyway. Too bad for me.

This is a great place to come when the weather cooperates: breezy and partially sunny. Light menu with a glass of wine or beer, you could spend a whole afternoon with friends or just bring a book and read alone.

Menu

NT$480

Includes assorted appetizers, a soup, one main course and coffee or tea.

Personally, I prefer their old menu which included also a glass of Champagne, wine or beer.

The knife is quite interesting, you have to balance it just like the way it shows in the picture. 

The indoor part was actually pretty nice, too. 

"Kanpai" series

Although it's been very popular recently, Japanese style grill's never been my favorite until I found " Kanpai Classic" in the A9 (One of the department store buildings in Xing-I area, Taipei). Most of these types of restaurants are usually dark inside, sometimes even smoky and greasy. This one is completely different, it's bright and joyful, the staff are well trained,  friendly and willing to chat with you. (Most of the same type of places do have this kind of atmosphere, though.)

There are tables, private rooms as well, but the most comfortable and interesting area is the bar. They prepare everything for you and the air circulates better there. (In the table or private room area you still have to grill your food yourselves when they are too busy. Unless you are one of the clients who prefer to do it yourself.)

The beef quality is pretty good here, I recommend the thin sliced type, it's better and cheaper than the steak. (Although they pull a cart and have a Japanese chef slice it beside your table, it's more a show than the real quality.)

To pair with your meal, they have really good draft beer, both dark and light, Sake's not bad either but more pricey. Serve wines as well.

Smokey Joe's, Cana Garden Restaurant and Howard Plaza

Our Kenting trips?

Yes, we went so many times, for the air, the ocean breeze,(although sometimes it could be so strong that you can hardly call it a "breeze") the only tropical atmosphere in Taiwan, for a while the surfing, and recently the only place that serves the very good chicken burritos and Margaritas.

Our daily routines?

Swimming, doing yoga for about 3 hours by the excellent Olympic size pool overlooking the ocean before brunch, resting, reading, practicing trumpet(Dan), playing with the rabbits in the afternoon and repeat the swimming, yoga routine while watching sunset before dinner. Sounds therapeutic and healthy? Yes, very. Then, it's time to reward ourselves: go to dinner and get drunk!!!

The Marco Polo Lounge, Chef Antonio Tardi and Sous Chef Micheal Lin

 Ouverture:


Brought a book with me, waiting for my nephew to finish his violin lesson, although it was probably the coldest and the most rainy day of the whole winter, sitting in the hotel's 38F lounge, enjoying a glass of light Italian white, some appetizers and the misty view of Taipei, could be still pretty romantic.

Verdicchio White Wine

You got picture windows all around.

Foggy today, quite suitable for James Joyce.

Cava Sparkling Wine Tasting Diner

Kimi called to inform me about this event. Spanish wines have improved a lot this recent decade and

I've never tried the house chef David Gaveau's cuisine, so this was a chance to satisfy my curiosity.

Lables are quite interesting.

Amuse Bouche:

Gillardeau Oyster

Smaller than usual but was fresh and had a more intense flavor than those big fat ones.

Chilled Oscietra Caviar, Sea Urchin and Cauliflower "Soufflé"

Served with Créme Fraiche and Blinis

Not a bad dish but I couldn't taste the sea urchin at all.

The pairing wine was PAGO DE THARSYS BRUT NATURE

80% Macabeo and 20% CHARDONNAY

Golden colored, flora, orange and dried fruit aroma, fine bubbles, creamy finish.

My favorite tonight.

Lawry's The Prime Rib

Got a bit more brave to try steak houses after the nice experience at Prime 168, since I'm around Xin Yi area (信義區) a lot, and there's one newly opened in the Song Ren(松仁)105 building, decided to give it a try.

Although it's located in B1, there's a very nice outdoor area, indoor part has very high ceiling. They could have make the whole place splendid, but unfortunately, the colors they used were all wrongly matched and the way tables were arranged were quilte wierd, too.

Dining experience? A lot of performing but the food wasn't good. And honestly, I've nener tasted any steak which was worse than this. The wines in the list were all the cheapest you can find to buy(although sometime it's great to do this if you can find good value wines and sell them at reasonable prices, then it's good for both the restaurant and the clients, but this was certainly not the case) and they weren't that good. Overall, the diner wasn't worth the price at all.

Le Blé D'or

This was one of the two Taiwanese brewery restaurants I've tried. Using imported ingredients to make the beer, they actually did a pretty good job, especially the honey flavor one.Quite interesting decorations in the restaurant, too.

Eslite bookstore B1

Outside view of the restaurant

Korean Barbecue and roast chicken

This is an old family favorite we've been going to for more than 40 years, a korean barbecue restaurant which is among the first ones existing in Taipei. Back then, during some period of time there were a lot of them here, just like beer houses 20 years ago, Japanese style barbecue nowadays and so on, sort of a Taiwanese fashion, everything's hot for a while and then it's finished, unlike in Europe, you can find the same things you like even centuries later, food, drinks, clothings, etc,......

This was considered a chic place to go when we were little, and ladies who served there were always pretty and elegant, probably this was one of the reasons my dad loved to take us there, so he could have the pleasure to chat with them.

When we were older, my siblings and classmates went all over the world to study and work, some of them even settled down outside of the country, but this restaurant remained a "must go" for all of us when we were back here visiting, although it was never an authentique Korean style.

Today it's changed a bit, no more beauties to flirt with, service became a little careless, and the price remained almost the same as several decades ago, but food here is still very good, along with so many year's memories during the time when we were growing up.

"Tea Room" and "Library"

Dan had a rehearsal at BS, dropped me off at Eslite. Wanted to get a new French dictionary and check out some "new arrivals"(books, magazines etc...)

Often forgot about the time until my legs started to feel something. They do have nice sitting benches and the like but I'm usually more used to just walking about and reading whatever there is in sight before choosing anything. Plus the music is pretty interesting most of the time. It was some very perfectly performed piccolo trumpet music that afternoon.

Stopped at the 3rd Floor Tea Room 2 hours after to rest and have a before dinner drink.

Always nice to have a view.

It was a rather cold afternoon,

so I ordered a "Matured Beer" from Austria.

It had a sweet aroma but didn't taste sweet.

They offered me a piece of dark orange chocolate to pair with it,

but it wasn't quite a good match because they were both kind of sweet.

It was tempting to get some appetizers to go with the beer,

but they only serve sandwiches which were too filling,

or otherwise desserts.

The alcohol percentage was quite high,

(Although the strongest one I've tried was 18%)

ABU's Brasserie

This was our "Spring Wine Celebration"(春酒) for the Tuesday lunch meeting, happy to see each other after the Chinese New Year vacation, but the restaurant didn't really fit my expectation.

The table they gave us in the corner was one of the two which were separated by a long counter, convenient for putting several bottles, ice buckets, wine glasses and so on, and that was exactly what we were doing. (Our Champagne comme l'habitude, and the big group next to us were kind of doing a wine tasting.) This part was quite nice. But the area we were sitting was also just next to the kitchen separated by a wall, which made it really noisy, almost hard to talk.

Other than that, several dishes which we were interested in were all sold out, so we got some other ones instead, but honestly, they sounded much better on the menu than when you actually tasted them, they weren't authentic at all, just like the experience of ordering some Taiwanese snacks in New York or somewhere in  the States, the names looked quite right but when they were served,  they were usually not what you were imagining.

The chef is from Hongkong, His first restaurant got pretty famous (ABU Authentic Cuisine), supposed to be more of a fine dinning thing, hopefully it's really more authentic, but with the shark fin on the menu, I'm not sure about it. Of course you could be creative, but if you name your dishes certain ways, you should prepare them according to certain rules, otherwise it's a bit like announcing Bach on the program and playing Chopin instead, quite confusing for your audience.

Gauguin Expo, Taipei Story House and Flora Expo

Used to go to museums a lot when we were in Paris, but rarely after we came back to Taipei. Of course there was a lot more choice there in Paris, but also when you are an étranger, you always have much more intention to explore. I had a French girl friend who's been all over the world but never been to Versaille until she was 32.

Seems like they didn't get very many of Gauguin's works this time, it only took us about an hour and half to go through the whole thing in detail. In Paris, this kind of expo usually will take a couple days or more to roughly see everything, you need time to rest and take some refreshment every 1 or 2 hours in the nice gardens of the museums. But it was still a pretty interesting expo about Gauguin's life and works in Martinique and Tahiti.

It was about dinner time when we walked out of the gallery. There's a nice café with picture windows all around next to the nearby historical building "Taipei History House", although it was already dark, you can still see the colorful lights on the plants of the Flora Expo, so we decided to stay and have a simple supper.

Easy House Vegetarian Restaurant

Went with my mom(She's vegetarian) and my brother's family to dinner before my nephew's concert at TAS. Pretty nice settings and atmosphere, the presentation of food was good, too.

三井Mitsui Cuisine M

Went out with 2 of my old friends from university. I only see them once or twice a year, so we need to find a place which serves good food and wine, and is quiet enough so we can have a nice long talk. One of my friends was in the mood for some sushi, so I decided to take them here. Although this was my first time here too, I tried 2 other ones under the same name, the food and service were usually pretty good.

This one is located in Xinyi area (信義區) , right across the street from Eslite bookstore. They serve Japanese style sushi, raw and cooked seafood , beef, and their signature dish: Taiwanese and Japanese crabs. (Really big ones.) Have a good selection of wines and Sakes as well. The restaurant is on the first floor of City Bank building, the entrance is very private, behind a curtain, almost hard to find, but there's always someone waiting there to take you to your table.  As soon as you walk in, there's a glassed wine cellar hanging above, crystal chandelier, and soft jazz music. We got a table right by the picture window overlooking the outdoor garden. Although it's a bit dark inside,  the colorful lights of the garden and modern buildings make a pretty good contrast.

Starter: Fugu skin salad

(Fugu is a kind of poisonous fish, you need a special license to serve it.) 

168 Prime steak house, Victoria Hotel, 2011, Jan.

Haven't gone to any steak house in Taipei for more than probably 10 years. Most of them used to be expensive and not good at all. Recently, it seems like enjoying top quality beef is becoming a new Taiwanese fashion, and there are suddenly a lot of them imported from US, Japan and Australia, so I decided to give it a try again.

Dan was performing in the Victoria Hotel for an end of the year dancer's party, so I went with him to try the recently very hot "168 Prime" in the same hotel. Turned out to be pretty nice.

林園粗食(Means "simple food in a garden". Dont think they have an English name)

"便當"(bian-dang)is some kind of lunch or dinner box really popular in Taiwan and Japan. I actually really like them, not only because of the convenience, but because some of them could be really good.

In Japan, my favorite place to enjoy it is in some garden of  a temple, under the spring or autumn time sunlight, with perhaps a small jar of Sake. (Chilled or warmed, depends on the weather.)

I also love to have it on a train, bring along a Perrier and a bit of wine to go with it, but unfortunately, the kind of stuff they serve nowadays in Taiwan isn't good at all.

In Taipei, however, if you've got a bit more time than a rushed at work lunch, and you happen to be somewhere near 師大路(Shi-Da road) area, you can consider to give this restaurant a try.

This place used to be a small, crowded, noisy and greasy eatery also selling take-out lunch box, a few years ago the boss decided to dress the place up, although still selling the same type of food, but the ambiance is totally  changed, turned out to be a brilliant idea.

Now, you can sit down at a quiet corner next to the window, listening to classical music, and enjoy your dessert(although the portion is very small, but it comes with the menu, you can't beat the price, only around NT160 per set menu, including soup, main course, dessert and one beverage) with a cup of coffee.  

Entrance decoration designed to match their theme: simple dinning in a bamboo garden.

2010 Summer, North Fork, Long Island, NY

Longing to visit this newly developed wine country since a while. North and south forks of Long Island are the closest US wine regions across the ocean from France, used to be just farmland full of potatoes and cauliflowers, and a few wine makers trying to copy the Bordeaux style. Today, there's about 46 wineries in North Fork area and 4 wineries in South Fork.(The famous Hamptons, with it's sandy beaches and trendy stores, land here is way more expensive.) Wine makers started to learn the local "terroir" and try to develop their own styles. With the rich resources of seafood from nearby harbours, fresh vegetables, fruits from the region, and cheeses, ducks, fois gras, etc, this area attracted lots of Manhattan famous chefs moving here, some even settled down, opening  restaurants with their own farms and very stylish B&Bs. These newly developed wineries are not as big or famous as Californian ones yet, but therefore are way less commercialized (especially North fork ones), a bit rustic but homey, quiet and laid back.

Went straight without stopping from my sister's Manhasset home to Shinn Estate, Mattituck, North Fork. We were running late because we visited an aviation museum first. This museum wasn't a tourist trap, so there weren't very many people, but it was extremely educational, full of historical information, very suitable for you if you are travelling with some smart and curious kids.