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.
Picked a special Rosé Champagne for our first lunch meeting of Rabbit Year.
This Rosé Sauvage is darker than usual,
more like a light ruby color,
goes especially well with raw oysters.
Set Menu
à la carte menu
Wine list
Small but good selection.
The best part was, if you order certain wines to match the menu, you got a good deal.
(Especially the Champagne!)
Red wine by the glass.
Whites by the glass.
That was a smart choice by putting Colombia Crest on the list.
That's usually a very good valued one.
Also easy to pair with food.
The salad was quite boring, too much dressing.
The color of the plate was way too complicated,
distracted you from the real color of the food.
The bread had a rather nice flavor.
Good ingredients.
A bit sticky ,though.
Porcini Cappuccino Soup
Onion Soup
Soups were acceptable but "pas génial".
Lamb Shank, White Beans Vegetable Sauce NT$1100
You pay for the set menu according to the main course price,
get 1 choice of appetizer, 1 choice of soup, 1 main course, dessert, tea or coffee.
The lamb was a bit old or something, had an unpleasant taste.
Couldn't find any white beans.
The waitress said it was all blended in the sauce,
but still I couldn't taste it.
Spring Chicken Pot Pie NT$750
Look good? Just wait!
It's way too watery.
What were they thinking? A Cantonese style Pot Soup?
Red Wine Braised Osso Buco NT$750
Flavor OK, but the sauce was also very watery.
Ordered 2 glasses to pair with lamb and osso buco.
Linguine, mushroom, crabmeat, truffle oil NT$420
Noodle was good, but too oily.
We all tried a little bit of each other's main course, and they tasted almost the same except for the Linguine.
Chocolate cookie with some sort of mousse underneath, nothing special.
Tea was freakingly weak and Espresso tasted like some regular American coffee.
Simply, I just feel that the boss really did a great job promoting this place, bravo!
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