Happy New Year!

Been lazy for quite a long while.

First day of 2012, decided to write something since I am on line. Really miss the days we were "writing" with a real pen sometimes,  feel the surface of different kinds of paper, sniff the aroma and so on.....

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.