TOSCANA
at Sherwood Hotel, 1 FL
No. 111, MinSheng E Road, Sec. 3
(02) 2718-1188
website: sherwood.com.tw
hours: 11:30 AM - 10:30 PM
$$-$$$
Kid friendliness: high chairs available. lots of finger foods available in salad/antipasti and dessert bar.
Visit reviewed: 3/8/2008
Toscana offers fine Italian dining and steaks in an upscale European setting. Make sure you don't miss the sprawling salad and antipasti bar, (which runs over NT$700 just by itself) as well as the dessert bar hiding in the back. The salad bar had a lot of build your own salad components, as well as freshly made Caesar salad, cheese platters (yum, Brie!) and lots of filling antipasto.
Our friend who chose the restaurant proclaimed that the grilled dry aged Smith and Wollensky New York cut steak was his favorite and that Toscana was the only restaurant here in Taipei that had chefs trained to prepare them.
I'm not a steak expert, I just like to eat them. Sometimes I can barely remember what kind of cut I like best. I tend to like my steaks juicy (probably = fatty) so I tend to lean toward the ribeye. Is that the right cut for me?
I got the set menu which included a soup, salad/antipasto bar, pasta, steak and dessert bar.
I have a faint recollection that our set menu was under NT$2000, but my friend was treating a group of us and I didn't take a picture of the menu, so I'm not sure. Currently, Toscana's set dinner menus run about NT$2650. Toscana is definitely a place to splurge, impress your date or use the corporate card.
I think I remember liking everything, but not being blown away. For an expensive dinner, personally I think you should definitely be gasping in delight over something, otherwise, why pay the higher price. But maybe the steak experts out there can divulge- is dry aged steak all that? Or maybe it's more appreciated when paired with the right wine?
So I'm slowly working through my list of backlogged posts. This one was for you, dessertobsessed!
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7 comments:
dry aged steak is really good, done properly, the extra juices will dry out, but the meat will be tender when you grill it.
I went here last summer. My uncle was raving about the ribeye. I thought it was just okay. Not nearly as good as the nice steakhouses here in the US...but I loved the salad and dessert bar!
Hey I love your blog, I'm from San Diego and come here often and have kept track of a few places (sharing soon). Since I don't speak Chinese I take pictures of the menu items I like too :)
I'm still on the look for a really good steak house here, so I'll try the sherwood after I try the Cosmopolitan Steak & Grill which is supposed to be having a two for one ($1 dollar second dinner)
Great blog, keep it up!
http://www.cosmo.com.tw/assets/menu/cosmo-menu-small.pdf
I LOVE your website, but had one little quibble: your pricing scheme of "$-$$$" doesn't give much clarity to the reader. I'm pretty sure that at $100/person, Toscana should be as high up on your scale as it goes (unless there's some $500/person restaurants here in TPE). Can you clarify this please? It'd help a lot!
Keep up the great work!
koji: i think i like my steaks juicy
kirbi: yes, the salad and dessert bar are what you remember, right?
fabio: i heard A-Cut steakhouse is really good. you can also try Robin's Grill or Ruth Chris.
anonymous: no prob. thanks for the feedback. the $-$$$ has changed over the years, and is a bit subjective and I try to name prices of dishes or pics of menus so people can get an idea of how much things cost. in general, in my mind, $ is something under US$5 or NT$200, $$ is around US$10-$20 or NT$300-650 depending on what you order it could be more. $$$ is over US$40/person but i probably need to have a $$$$ for really expensive places.
the reason i priced toscana at $$-$$$ is because the set menu is US$100, but you could totally order off the menu and get a pasta for around US$20 dinner. some places only give you set menu option, but toscana doesn't.
omg i just saw this! yay you wen't to the sherwood hotel! definitely looks like a splurge! at least its all you can eat, right? the dessert bar must be wonderful!
The main reason to dry age steak is to allow its juices to dry out and intensify its flavors. It doesnt necessarily tenderize the beef, instead, it gives it a pleasant chew - which is why its best served medium rare.
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