ramen/japanese: i recommend RAMEN SANJI

RAMEN SANJI 麵家三士
at ATT4FUN
No. 12, Song Shou Road, 5FL 
台北市信義區松壽路 12號 5樓
(02) 7737-5188

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: ramensanji.com.tw 

$ (about NT$200/person)

Kid friendliness: lots of kids spotted, lots kid friendly menu options

Visit reviewed: 2/3/2012

When I saw that Ramen Sanji had lines out the door when I was window shopping for a place to eat, it definitely piqued my curiosity. Was it worth waiting in line for, or was it just another Taiwanese "we love to line up no matter what" place?

It looked promising, but I ended up at its neighbor San Yuan that night instead. So when I needed a place to eat after the Taipei Book Fair, I wandered over to ATT4Fun. It was a late lunch so there was no line- we just waited a few minutes for them to bus the table.

We ended up getting a nice corner seat with a window view of 101.

table spices and sauces

The menu unfortunately is only in Chinese and Japanese, but there are lot of bright looking pictures (that look all like the same bowl of ramen). I interrogated our server and the gist is basically- the first page is a shoyu pork bone broth that has varying pieces of grilled fatty pork, with options of 1 piece, 2 pieces, 4 pieces (the NO. 1 bowl at NT$250), or chopped up pieces; the second page has the more unique black sesame flavor, bonito flavor or spicy flavor pork bone broth; the third page (not pictured) has the noodles separate from the broth which is served in a smaller bowl for dipping and includes a garlic miso broth;

and the last page has the appetizers and additional topping choices. There's also sets available with Kirin Ichiban beer.

I end up getting the original broth with ramen 2 pieces of char siu (NT $190) and not too long later a steaming bowl comes to me. Being pork bone broth, it's slightly oilier and heavier than the miso broth I usually order (with the post meal thirstiness that you get sometimes). The ramen is nice and al dente and the portion is just right. The elements set it apart from the other chains I've eaten at before- I love the egg has the soft boiled, custardy yolk and the char siu pork is served hot with a nice chargrilled flavor. Even though it's a tad fatty, I end up eating it all anyways.

My friend's screaming red bowl of spicy ramen looks good too. One small spoonful of her broth into mine gives my bowl a nice punch, but there's no way I could drink her whole bowl.

The fried chicken (NT$120) here is also heavily seasoned. Good, but the batter is a bit thick and I preferred the version I had other ramen places.

Even at 1:30PM, Sanji is packed with ramen slurping customers. There aren't a ton of ramen options in the Xinyi area and the ones I can think of are all in food courts, like Ajisen ramen at Xinyi Eslite or Ramen Kagetsu ramen in Vieshow food court. Sanji has a nice noodle shop feel without being too expensive.

And after we pay the bill, Sanji's regular line has formed at the door with ten or so people in the middle of the afternoon. I'd definitely come back, especially if I spotted there was no line.

italian: i strongly recommend TUTTO BELLO

TUTTO BELLO
No. 15, Lane 25, Shuang Cheng St. 台北市中山區雙城街25巷15號
(02) 2592-3355

MRT: ZhongShan Elementary School

website: tuttobello.com.tw Flash only

hours: 12PM- 2:30PM; 6PM- 10:30PM

$$$$ (NT$2500+/person)

kid friendliness: for gourmet kids

visit reviewed: 11/22/2011

When my friend declared that Tutto Bello was her favorite restaurant in Taipei and that I must try it, I knew that I would be in for a treat. After all, it was the winner as "Best Italian" in the Best of Taipei 2008 HungryInTaipei.com Readers' Choice Poll. I also loved Abu, and knew that Chef Abu had worked at Tutto Bello for many years before starting his own restaurant. With Stephanie and Erin's company, we had a lovely lunch with the menu chosen by the owner Samson.

Tutto Bello should definitely be an option for a luxe meal to wine and dine in Taipei. For all the dishes that we had, the elements seemed simple, but they were composed and layered together in such a way that had me devouring the dish and the sauces. And the service matched the atmosphere- it was attentive with personal touches. An extensive wine list of wines from Napa, France and Italy is available too.

The scrambled egg with chicken jus and truffles or the uova strapazzate was creamy and silky, with truffles shaved for each person tableside.

The flavors melded together and the scrambled egg seemed to melt in my mouth. The colorful beet polka dots on the plate were edible, but mostly decorative.

I'm always happy to see foie gras being served especially when it's a sizeable piece. Loved the contrasting textures of the creaminess and crunch of the Pan-Fried Duck Liver Escalope with Crispy Risotto Cake and Mushroom Cream Sauce. My only complaint about this dish was that it was warm instead of hot when I was eating it, but it's possible it's because I was taking photos and waiting for my friend's dishes to come before I dug in. The sauces again were divine.

This pasta dish is the must order of my friend- Hand-Made Linguine Pasta with Pancetta∕Porcini Mushrooms∕Pine Nuts∕“Les Blanc” Almond Oil∕Jabugo Ham Jus (NT$850). The texture and flavors are tumbled together and worked perfectly. Even though the elements appeared to be simple, the taste was memorable.

And then dessert! The chocolate sphere was brought to our table... 

then slathered in warm chocolate sauce...

Molten on the outside and DELICIOUS.  I think I heard truffle ice cream was on the inside, but I was too busy devouring.

Often times, I've been to "nice" restaurants that had expensive menus, but with passable food and even less impressive service. Tutto Bello stands out with its exceptional food and experience, that makes it worth splurging on, maybe even for a post-Valentine's day night out.

CLOSED! chinese/dessert: i strongly recommend SAN YUAN CHINESE CUISINE

SAN YUAN CHINESE CUISINE 三源
(closed and moved to Neihu, renamed Dancing Chili)
at ATT4FUN
No. 12, Song Shou Rd, 5FL
台北市松壽路12號4F
(02) 7737-5088

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: www.ace168.com.tw (Chinese only)

hours: 11 AM - 11 PM

$$ (about NT$400/person)

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kid dinnerware available. lots of kid friendly items on menu

Visit reviewed: 1/29/2012

Whenever I feel like eating out last minute on a weekend, it's kind of a pain. Most places are booked in advance or have crazy lines not worth waiting in. So on a recent weekend, my friends and I figured we'd head to ATT4Fun and walk around until we saw something without too long of a wait. On the 5th floor there's plenty to choose from and we picked the first one that could seat 8 people without a wait. A few doors down, the ramen place had a line of at least ten people, so we vowed to come back to try it out at a less busy time.

With the modern purple touch, Sanjin looks like it might be too fancy or expensive to eat at, but their menu of xiao long bao, dumplings, noodles and other Chinese food are affordable and surprisingly tasty. I'd previously spotted another branch at Bellavita's food court and heard about their chocolate dumplings. Yep, you heard me say CHOCOLATE!

dinner with a view of Taipei 101

Menus is both in English and Chinese thankfully, though a few descriptions still need further explanations. There are a few unique items besides the chocolate dumplings, like spicy oil fried hand cut noodles, or rice cake with kimchi, or handmade steamed buns that look like porcupines. San Yuan's house specialties are marked with a gold character on the left of the items on the menu, and we ended up ordering quite a few of them.

super hot xiao long bao anyone?

The waiter brings appetizer dishes for us to choose from- I think the group settled on edamame, taro and fried tiny fish.

The kitchen works fairly quickly and dishes start arriving- stir fried cabbage...

ketchup fried rice (NT$ which seemed to be more popular with the adults than the kids, contrary to expectations with the sweet tang...

squishy stir fried rice cakes, cooked to the right chewy-ness...

The steamed pork xiao long baos(NT$160) arrive and disappear quickly, one per person with 8 in a basket, so we end up having to add a few baskets... Hot and juicy, it is a crowd pleaser as much as Din Tai Fung.

We also try the house specialty Lee Xue mild spicy xiao long bao (NT$320), but they look exactly the same on the outside as the regular ones. On the inside, the pork is dotted with what seems like super finely diced chilies and a nice kick. There's a "super hot" one with three chilies pictures as well as a "superb xiao long bao" at NT$520.

The other dumplings are just as good... steamed vegetable and pork (NT$160)...

shrimp and pork shumai (NT$180) which floats a shrimp above a juicy pork dumpling (unlike the ones filled with sticky rice at Din Tai Fung)...

Don't miss the handmade steamed small bun (NT$90 for 3), which doesn't describe how adorable these buns are. 

Up close, I admire the handiwork and wonder how they make all the little spikes.

We weren't full, so we ended up adding the Lee Xue spicy oil fried handmade noodle(NT$200). The pan fried knife cut noodles were thick and chewy and had a nice flavor. A bowl for one would make a nice meal.

Be sure to order the steamed chocolate bun (NT$220 for 5) ahead of time and save room. Bite sized, these are like fat mochi dumplings filled with warm, melted chocolate. Try not to fight over them, or order extra.

chocolate + dumpling = mmmmmm

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by San Yuan. Even though we ordered some of the pricier things on the menu, sharing it allowed everyone a taste and it ended up being affordable at about NT$400 a person. IS a good family style restaurant with speedy service and a nice setting, and most importantly, delicious enough to make a mental bookmark to consider another trip back, before it's as packed as the other restaurants in the area.

OTHER LOCATION

Bellavita, B2
28 Songren Rd
台北市松仁路28號B2
(02) 8729-2739