A Cut

Taipei:

The entrance, walk down to the B1.

Not yet dinner time, so stopped at the café next to the lobby to have an apperitif.

A small garden area outside of the café.

Ordered a glass of Monte Sauvignon Blanc, awful!

You don't even want to take a second sip.

Working on the computer a little bit.

People started to order dinner.

The ventilation seems bad,

the whole place smelled like smoke from cooking.

***

A Cut:

Ordered an Oregan Pinot Noir and a glass of Lanson Champagne,

acceptable but not great.

Terrine of smoked salmon.

Avocado Salad was pretty good,

served with a piece of endive and some grapefruit, good combination,

refreshing!

The dressing was also light.

The famous trumpet player finally finished performing and joined me for dinner.

Four kinds of salt, left to right:

Bamboo salt, Rose salt, Himalaya rock salt and Fleur de Sel.

My "A Cut" steak.

Garlic.

Baked potato.

Grilled prawn sur le lit de spinach purée.

The prawns were a bit over cooked and could be fresher.

Both desserts are good, somthing with chocolate and hazelnut,

and an almond cake with fresh blueberries and cranberries.

Ended with a mint tea.

The Cellar.

The restaurant carries a wine spectator award,

but the selection seems a bit messy and the wine service didn't quite fit the standard, either.

The hotel lobby is nice, but both Café and the steak house smelled like cooking once in a while,

which wasn't very pleasant.

The ceiling was low and the whole place was dark,

so you don't feel like to stay to chat and have some digestif at all.

Food was good overall, the desserts were much more interesting than the Prime168,

But the ambiance and the outdoor area in Prime168 is great.

the service there was also better.

*****

Xinzhu:

The Ambassador Hotel in Xinzhu is located in the same building of a department store.

The buffet restaurant below has a very nice skylight dinning area.

The bar has picture windows and a view,

but smelled like smoke even though there was no client at this hour.

Wine selection is very poor, not much choice at all.

Lobby

This Chinese restaurant is at 9F, same as  the A Cut here.

Haven't tried the food but the decoration is nice.

Pol Roger or Duval?

Anyway, the Champagne was good,

much better than the Lanson which I ordered in Taipei. 

Bread was good in both Taipei and Xinzhu A Cut.

Pan fried fois gras with caramelized orange, quince jam, great match.

Take a look at a perfect bite.

Salad with Berreta cheese.

Grapefruit sorbet to clean the palate, a bit too crunchy.

A Cut steak and 9+ Australian Wagyu New York steak, garlic.

With the same four kinds of salt.

Ordered a Santa Cruz red to pair with the steak,

the wine was smooth and balanced, a bit of a spicy hint, nice match.

They don't serve baked potato here so I got this instead:

The desserts were very good:

Chocolate lava cake, warm and creamy inside.

Crème brûlèe

Chocolate soufflé

Cheese cake

A very earthy Whisky and a nice silky Cognac.

Powerful espresso

Dinning area.

Bar area.

Private room available.

***

Overall, the ambiance, service and wine selection are pretty good, much better than the Taipei one.