australian/western: i strongly recommend CANVAS

CANVAS

No. 11號, Alley 5, Lane 107, Section 1, Fuxing S Rd
Da’an District
(02) 2711-6336

MRT: Zhongxiao /Fuxing

IG: @canvas.taiwan

hours: 6 PM-10:30PM, closed 

price: $$ (NT$800-1600) 

kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted, but should be okay for foodie kids during an early dinner
Visit reviewed: 6/19/2024

Dear Gentle Readers, 

or hungry readers I should say. Hahah. Is anyone else watching Bridgerton? 

I haven't written in awhile, but I was feeling nostalgic (eek, the blog turns 19 in a few days) and I really enjoyed this meal and I thought I'd put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, I should say. And maybe more to come?

If you haven't yet been to or heard of Canvas, it's a casual modern Australian restaurant headed up by chef Kai Ward, who was one of the founding partners of Mume and also the chef at Little Creatures, a more casual Australian restaurant with a photogenic center bar, just across the lane from Canvas. Canvas is modern without being fussy, and just last month changed its tasting menu into a la carte, bringing back some favorites from its early days. So it makes it perfect for gathering a few good friends and sharing most of the menu. The vibe and philosophy there I feel is they just want you to have a good meal and a good time. It's really under the radar as a restaurant, and one of those places I tell people to go to if they are looking for a date night spot or place to go with friends that is good food that isn't too expensive. They also have a private room tucked in the back that can sit up to 10-12. 

I made it just in time to catch the last night of the first month's menu, and already Kai is changing up some of the dishes and all of the desserts. So here is everything we tried last night, apologies in advance if it's not on the menu when you go (maybe if enough people want it, Kai will bring it back around?). Three things we didn't get to try that I wish we did were the grilled octopus, the clams and the squid ink barley (classic), but we already had a table full for only 2 people! Like I usually LOVE their sourdough with butter, but I knew we had to save room for all the other food so we didn't order it.

Potato cakes with smoked fish cream, chicken skin and salmon roe (NT$290) - this was my favorite appetizer of the night and a must order if you come to Canvas. Served hot and crispy, you DIY top the smoked fish cream dip onto the fritter and try not to eat them all. I kept going back to this one since it was a lot for 2 people, but it would disappear quickly if you had 4 people sharing. 

Chicken Liver Pate with Sauternes Jelly (NT$250) I think the jelly is being changed to Shaoxing wine for the next menu. I love chicken liver ever since having it at Mume all those years ago, and this tiny bowl packs a punch. 

Chicken Wing with scallop mousse, xo buffalo sauce and pickles  (NT$110 per piece)  I think this is coming off the menu, but I remember this from the tasting menu. The good thing about per piece, is that you can order as many or little as you want. 

Scallop with tomato butter, lardo and kombu (NT$130/piece) I usually love Canvas' scallops but I wasn't a huge fan of this sauce. I probably would order the octopus or clams or crudo instead next time.

Kangaroo snag (black garlic aioli, beer onions and mustard greens) (NT$140 each) So the first time I had kangaroo was my last time at Canvas when Kai brought over kangaroo skewers over, thinly cut and grilled. I was actually surprised that it was tasty (because I usually cannot eat cute animals, so you just have to not think about it). The same here, these sausages on the toast (with cut off crusts) folded up and three very enjoyable bites. 

Smoked Mussel taglietelle, bone marrow, and mushroom (NT$440) Happy we caught the last night of this house made pasta coated in the marrow sauce. I love mussels and mushrooms.

Lamb rump, carrot puree, lovage, brown butter vinaigrette (NT$820) Yum, Slide the lamb around in the puree for the extra layer of sweetness. High CP

Wagyu rump cap "bordelaise sauce", geraldton wax (NT$1250) (Australian truffle add on charge)

Wow! When the chef brings a truffle, in this case Australian truffle, to the table and shaves it all over the steak, you just stop and smell the truffle. (and make sure you get the video) hahaha. We were getting so full, but I had a couple bites and was lucky enough to pack the rest to take home. 

Mango Coconut Bar (NT$140) pineapple jam, meringue Yum! This was so good!! Sad it was the last night on the menu. We snapped it in half to share (easier than cutting) and I love anything with meringue.

Chocolate Torte (NT$280) smoked coffee grounds cream, wattle seed This was melt in your mouth, but if you can only pick one dessert, I would have to pick the next one... scroll down

Vegemite sandwich (NT$280) in the form of a sundae Lol. I think this menu is also making sure that we are paying attention. You can't get more Australian than vegemite and chef Kai has made it into this amazing sundae. There's sourdough ice cream, brown butter ice cream, vegemite caramel, roasted almonds, chocolate sheet, dried milk sheet and sourdough crust cookie. What! Wow! I LOVED this and all the crunchy layers with the creamy ice cream and you should do a sundae on every menu! 

Chef Kai said to just smash down the layers to eat.

Before dinner started, I wanted to make sure I got some kitchen action shots before I got busy eating, so I told Kai that my goal of the night was to get a good photo of him. haha! So I have to share a few and you guys can comment below which one is your favorite. 

Kai has been in Taiwan for ten years this year! He's been here since August 2014 and Mume opened in December 2014. A bit of a backstory, Kai has been cooking since he was 16 and was 19 when he met Richie Lin when they were both in Sydney, and Richie ended up joining him at Quay. Years later, when Richie was planning to open Mume in Taipei, after working at Noma and opening Nur in Hong Kong, he circled back to Kai and brought in Long Xiong together to open Mume. And while they are the heads of each of their own enterprises now, I'll always remember fondly those early days at Mume and all the people and experiences and restaurants that have rippled out since those days. 

Thank you Canvas, Kai and Ashley for always your warm hospitality and good food. 

Until the next time, hungry readers! 

Lady Hungry, ahem, I mean hungry girl

american/burgers: FORKERS

FORKERS
No. 8, Alley 10, Lane 223, Zhong Xiao E Road, Sec 4
(02) 2771-9285

website: forkers.com.tw English only

hours: Sun- Thurs 12noon to 11pm; Fri- Sat 12noon- 12am


$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs or boosters, booth seating

Visit reviewed: 3/11/2008

You may or may not have heard of Forkers- the new burger place that opened up a few months ago that features over 40 (yup FORTY) kinds of burgers, along with fries, chicken wraps, spinach/artichoke dip and pie of the day, along with an assortment of other things. I was pretty excited to try it since I always like a good burger and fries and there is a lot to choose from.

The place is lots of wooden seating, some booths, a patio outside. The owner pops around the different tables- on this day, we didn't have to wait as there were about 4 other tables occupied when we were seated on a weekday lunch. I can't imagine if it was fully packed, it might be quite slow as the service was fairly casual. There are separate English and Chinese menus (with some pictures) that you can find on their website as well.

They have the classic burger variations, as well as regional-inspired burgers (Greek, French, Canadian, Mexican, Californian, Alpine, Italian, Australian), Asian burgers, and the "Forkers"- open faced burgers so huge or messy you have to eat them with a fork (all NT$190- NT$290) since they are topped with gravy, chili or spaghetti sauce.



With each burger, you get the choice of two sides such as salad, fries (cajun, curry, garlic, plain), hawaiian pasta or potato salad, or upgrade to chili cheese, tex mex or poutine fries for extra NT$40. You can choose the burger patty as beef, chicken, Kobe beef or vegetarian.

We chose the warm spinach artichoke dip (NT$140) over the hummus (NT$120)- and it was VERY cheesy with a sprinkle of fries, pita bread and celery/carrot sticks. I would have liked to have eaten some chunks of artichoke or spinach, but we didn't find any swimming in the cheese unless it was pureed in. It was still tasty, but we could have used a few more chips to dip.



I was torn between a lot of the different burgers (Mexican, Greek, Californian) and ended up choosing the Alpine Burger, which comes with mushrooms, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing.


the Alpine Burger with garlic fries. are there shiitake mushrooms in Switzerland?

My friends got the Hack Burger (topped with chicken fingers(!), cheese, bacon, honey mustard) and the Mushroom Cheese burger (which comes with cheddar instead of swiss).

the Hack Burger with Hawaiian Pasta Salad

I don't know if I ate too many chips, but the burger was just okay. There were certain things that I personally didn't like- the bun was slightly sweet (and not toasted) which did not mesh with the flavors of the Alpine. I didn't expect shiitake mushrooms which tasted a little weird with the swiss cheese- I would have preferred regular white mushrooms especially since the menu doesn't say "shiitake," it says "sauteed mushrooms". The burger's texture was a bit soft- I don't know how to describe it other than its was more like a meatloaf burger than a grilled burger. My tomato was tiny since I like tomatoes on my burgers. Were my tastebuds being nitpicky that day? I ate about two thirds of the burger.

Both my friends finished their burgers and said their burgers were fine, and I had a bite of the chicken finger which was quite good.

I guess I wanted to be blown away and I should have ordered one of their more unique burgers?

As for the sides, the garlic fries were soft rather than crispy and seemed to be a lot of short ends. The salad was basic. The Hawaiian Pasta has a kick to it, but we weren't crazy about it.

I wanted to try the peach almond pie, but again, it just wasn't to my liking. There is a layer of peaches on top and then some weird paste in the center. I thought it would be more like a peach pie with almond flavor or slivers, but I didn't get what was going on with the pie. The owner says that he usually eats it ala mode and warmed up and we opted it without ice cream- don't know if that makes a difference. Maybe their upside down apple tart would have been more up my alley.



I really wanted to love Forkers and I will probably give it another try, especially to try the chili cheese fries/poutine and other things on the menu. It's in the lane behind California Fitness on Zhong Xiao (near Yan Ji Jie) and there was a popular Chinese dessert place on the corner I want to check out. How would those of you that have eaten at Forkers compare it to other burger places like California Grill, Mary's Hamburgers (which I haven't been) or the Diner, Bongos or even Chili's/TGIF?

CLOSED western/australian: OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE
97, SongRen Rd, 1F
(across the street from Neo 19, near Brown Sugar)
(02) 2345-8818
CLOSED a/o 2015

website: www.outback.com.tw

Hours: Sun-Thu 11:30 am - 11 pm
Fri & Sat 11:30-12 am（last order 11 pm)

$$

Kid friendliness: Kids menu available with chicken fingers, cheeseburger, jr ribs and the like w/soda for under NT$200. high chairs available and coloring paper/crayons

Visit reviewed: 2/21/2008

What to say.. Outback is the latest Western chain restaurant to open in the Xinyi area. While they have had a restaurant location in Holiday Inn for quite a few years, their new digs which opened last December across the nearby Macaroni Grill and Chili's will be sure to draw some new customers.

The decor, menu and food is much the same as the Australian grill restaurant in the US, with a Chinese and English menu with pictures- red meat offerings like sirloin, rib eye, prime rib, NY Steak, lamb, baby back ribs, along with pasta, seafood, salads, appetizers and desserts.

We had to try the signature appetizer- Bloomin' Onion (NT$280)- although it is wayyy to big for only two people to share.. more like 5 plus. It was deep fried, crunchy and addictive, and sort of a mystery how they make an onion unfold into such a cohesive unity of onion pieces. They have other things like fried 'shrooms, Kookaburra (chicken wings), aussie cheese fries (boy was I tempted by this), and a combo plate.



We also ordered the sirloin against the server's recommendation of getting the more expensive filet which is more tender. The sirloin (NT$480) was pretty tough and chewy... Not the best steak I've had, but it was the cheapest one on the menu. I really enjoyed the baked sweet potato though! It had a bit of butter and cinnamon as well to bring out the natural sweetness. The steaks come with your choice of either a baked potato or sweet potato or two sides: aussie chips, fresh steamed vegetables, rice pilaf, or mashed potatoes. It kind of sucks that if you pick a baked sweet/potato that you don't get a 2nd side of veggies or something.

Lastly, the starter caesar (add NT$70) had a kick to it along with the pile of buttery croutons! It was either very peppery or had a bit of paprika or something in the dressing.

I wanted to show the difference in the pictures when you white balance in the camera-- the lighting in Outback is sort of pinkish-romantic (?) and after I white-balanced the food colors looked a lot more accurate. I don't have the time to photoshop my pics to crop, beautify or fix them, so I gotta get it when I get it in the camera.

AFTER:


BEFORE:


I've had their dessert before (which is huge)- which I would still pick Chili's warm chocolate cake still, but want to try their prime rib. I've been to Outback once in the states, where I was not that super impressed to return, but I think I would give Outback in Taipei another try. It seems like it could be a fun group dinner place or setting for a romantic couple's dinner. They have an extensive drinks menu and bar, and aren't SUPER crowded yet like Chili's can get. The service is definitely eager to please, constantly refilling our drinks and answering questions, although I have to note that our server was a bit confused by some of my questions in English, but we worked it out.

OTHER LOCATION:

OUTBACK
at Holiday Inn Taipei
100 Tun Hwa North Road,2nd Fl.,
(02) 8712-8818