A great question emailed to me by reader Joe W.- where to find a good thanksgiving dinner in Taipei? For many Americans, that's probably a top question on our minds since it's already November and it's not really a Taiwanese holiday!
If you are doing turkey day at home, you can do the slave over a hot stove all day thing or you could order a package from a restaurant. I spotted an ad last year from Post Home for a turkey with all the sides package that I was seriously considering for this year. I also spotted a pre-cooked turkey by a chef at the Grand Hyatt sold in limited editions at Costco in the previous years- don't know if that happens every year.
If you are looking for a sit-down turkey dinner, where to go? Honestly, I have no idea, but I'm sure MUST be some good places to go. Can you just drop in or do you have to make reservations? Will there be candied yams and stuffing (my personal favorites)?
Or do you just have Chinese food like any other day here?
Let us know!
13 comments:
I haven't tried it but supposedly Grandma Nitti's in the Shida area is good. I've tried their other stuff, and their food is very authentic Western food. Prices won't be cheap though.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at Dan Ryan's last year and found it so-so at best. The idea of having a pre-plated meal (no second or third helpings!) for Thanksgiving is counterintuitive enough as it is, and the food here was mediocre and overpriced, really. Not horrible, but utterly forgettable.
On the plus side, we were able to secure a reservation fairly last minute. That's about the only plus I can think of, though.
The hotel packages seem like they would be decent, but don't most of them cost upwards of NT$3,000? That's just obscene.
This year I think we'll be doing Thanksgiving at home (and on a Saturday to boot!). No turkey, but maybe as large a chicken as we can manage to fit in our tiny oven, and whatever semi-authentic sides we can come up with.
My mom once ordered a turkey from Jimmy's (or jen-may in chinese) (can't recall the exact name but it's located near Ren-Ai road, section 4 and the Ren-Ai Roundabout). it came with a cooked, mid-size turkey, gravy (reeaally yum) and cranberry sauce. i can't remember whether they offer any side dishes. good luck!
joy: hi! thanks for the info.. haven't been to grandma nitti's yet but have been hearing a lot about them.
abstractpoet: hi! haven't been to Dan Ryan's, but sounds disappointing. I've heard about a buffet at the Tavern and a package from Far Eastern Regent and a dinner at Jake's Country cafe..
anonymous: thanks! haven't heard of Jimmy's.. the sides are so important!!
I have no idea being that it's not a holiday that you guys celebrate from where your at.
You many find Thanksgiving themed dinners at hotel since they cater to foreigners. Maybe the Ritz has something. I was there for Christmas/ New Year dinner before and it was a great experience(reflected in the bill).
All I have to say is you're awesome! And I'm so happy I found this blog.
Ok I'm making a bookmark of your blog and whatever you guys find we wanna know cause we have been looking every year and have not found anything close to what it should be!
My classmates and profs are going to celebrate a day beforehand. We ordered a turkey from Caesar Park Hotel http://www.caesarpark.com.tw/en/taipei/news2.php?no=567
I can tell you if it is worth a try tomorrow. Apparently it's too late already lol Maybe by next year you'll find the place with good Turkey.
ilovepearly: i know! it's a very interesting holiday which everyone has their own twist on the traditions
jonast: yeah it's hard to know if it's good or not unless other people have tried it before
not just dreamers: thanks! you've made my day!
jeff: this is my first year not taking it on, on our own, hopefully i can find out for you! where have you tried before?
lili: cool! definitely let us know please!! and if there are any side dishes included?
The Caesar Park turkey was mmm mmm good! Quite juicy. But as I'm not an American, I dunno for sure what an authentic taste would be like. The whole Thanksgiving basket came alone with a 9” pumpkin pie,a loaf of garlic bread, raspberry sauce, gravy, honey sweet potatoes, marinated cabbage, and turkey stuffing. Their pumpkin pie rocks!3000 for all these.!
lili: thanks!! i will include this in my wrap up! good to know it came with sides. did you like the sweet potatoes and did you have any american classmates who had an opinion?
You can try Shaffer's Kitchen on Yixian Road (next to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial). They will be serving Thanksgiving dinner for four (4) nights (Thu - Sun). Dinner will include fresh, local grown turkeys (not frozen) with all the trimmings... stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, corn on the cob, green beans, potato rolls, pumpkin pie and spicy apple cider. Everything is made from scratch.
Service is "family style" which means (among other things) you can have seconds. Call for reservations: (02) 8789-4088
Here is a link to a TVBS report on Shaffer's Kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKALiTuZNg
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