modern/european: I strongly recommend MUME summer 2016

 

MUME 

No. 28, Siwei Rd 

四維路28號 

(02) 2700-0901 

MRT: DaAn or XinYi/AnHe 

website: Mume's FB page

Hours: 6PM -12AM (last order at 10PM). Closed Mondays

$$$-$$$$ (about NT$2000-3000 per person) 

kid friendliness: can't say that i've ever seen kids eat here. maybe if your kid is a gourmet baby and you get an early reservation.

Visit reviewed: 6/18/2016
previous visits reviewed: 8/2015 and 12/15/2015

SINCE MUME HAS OPENED ITS DOORS IN 2014, I've learned more about New Nordic cuisine and Noma*-- both things that influence Mume, and so I think I've come to understand Mume a little better. Watching Noma's Chef Rene Redzepi's fervor and dedication to creating a sense of "time and place" on the plate helps explain what New Nordic cuisine is- using ingredients that are in season, local while combining old techniques like smoking and curing with the new. The first time I ate at Mume, I don't think I had ever eaten anything like it before- it wasn't French, it wasn't fine dining, it wasn't completely gastronomy,  it wasn't Taiwanese, but used some Taiwanese ingredients- but I knew I wanted more. Since my first meal there, I've been a number of times, each time admiring the creativity by the chefs at Mume, but also the taste- loving the unexpected flavor combinations, beautiful presentation and when I got it, the stories behind the ingredients or the dishes. For me, dining at Mume is an adventure- it made me think about the food, it made me ask questions, it made me remember what I ate a few days later. I don't think Mume is for everyone- I've heard negative reviews from friends of friends even before I visited, but if the photos and menu intrigues you then you should definitely give it a try.  *(Thanks in part to Netflix's Chef's Table and the Noma documentary, My Perfect Storm, both recommended watching to those obsessed with food)

Mume's menu is in English only and is divided into Snacks, Smaller, Bigger and Sweets. Dishes range from NT$300-900, so I think it's priced quite reasonably for the portions, especially when I think about similar modern restaurants and menus in LA, HK or even pop ups that come to Taipei. For your first time, I recommend coming to Mume for their regular menu, not a special set menu or guest chef pop up, which will be more expensive (usually in NT$2800+ range) and has smaller tasting menu portions. Personally, I think the best way to enjoy Mume is to go with two to four people and share as much as you can on the menu. If you don't have the budget to try everything, then opt for a majority of "Smaller" plates rather than ordering a "Bigger" main dish per person. The "Smaller" plates are more unique and much less expensive and you'll get to try more things to know what to reorder for the next visit. Since I can eat, I've tried most of Mume's menu over the past few years, so I was excited to try the latest dishes that Mume was offering for the summer. 

This is Mume's menu as of summer 2016. The menu has evolved quite a bit since they opened, which at first was set menu only. I want to write another post featuring dishes on older menu vs current menu, but this post will spotlight almost all the dishes on the SMALLER section of the menu, since I ordered all but one on my last visit.

My cocktail of the evening- Pomme Pomme, yummy Apple cocktail

SMALLER

Scallop ceviche- shaved daikon, shiso vinaigrette, ginger, wild pepper (NT$380)

Gorgeousness and deliciousness. Are those real words? I don't care. 

Cobia Crudo- 'ajo bianco', black buddha hand, black pepper oil (NT$380)

We take turns dipping each "petal" of cobia sashimi into the sauce, (made of cucumber juice and chinese almonds according to @little_meg_siu_meg, and inspired by Spanish ajo blanco soup), before eating it. Would have never thought to pair raw fish with thinly sliced grapes, but Google also says grapes are usually an ingredient in ajo blanco, and it unexpectedly works well all together. 

Waygu Tartare- clam mayo, confit egg, preserved daikon (NT$420+NT$80)

One of my favorite dishes of Mume's menu is the waygu beef tartare with grilled toast. It was my first time trying beef tartare or any kind of raw beef so it surprised me how much I liked it. Mixed with the clam mayo, confit egg yolk and Taiwanese pickled daikon, it did taste just like steak with the texture of sashimi which paired perfectly with the buttery crispy thin toast slices. The only complaint I have is that there used to be toast included with the dish, and now it's separate because many people didn't eat the toast. Ideally, Mume could ask if people want it so they can opt out rather than take it away from the dish. 

Burnt cabbage- roasted hazelnut, smoked salmon roe (NT$320)

Burnt cabbage never looked so pretty. The cabbage's texture is nearly melt in your mouth- like the silkiness of cabbage that's been cooked in hotpot for a long time- except the flavor is caramelized instead of lost, and each bite is peppered with bursts of salty salmon roe and crunchy hazelnuts. Love the pop of color from the bright blue peaflower.

Beef tongue- oyster emulsion, brussel sprouts, grilled pineapple, pistachio (NT$420)

Love love love the new dish -super tender tongue brightened up by the sweetness of the pineapple, green of the brussels sprouts and crunch of the puffed rice. If you've never had tongue before, don't let it scare you, it's so good. 

(Coincidentally, beef tongue is also on RAW's summer 2016 menu and their rendition of the beef tongue cracker is one of my favorite bites ever from RAW. )

Blush shrimp, shrimp brains sauce, shaved yam bean (aka jicama) cooked in honey, and liquid nitrogen'd ricotta cheese snow (comped)

This dish isn't on the menu yet, but luckily I got a sneak peek. I LOVED the intensity of the shrimp brains and the sweetness of the shrimp combined w the crunchy curls of yam bean and icy cold ricotta melting in your mouth. We used the bread to wipe up the remaining sauce on the plate. This dish is made for people (like me) who like to suck the brains out of the shrimp, but without getting your hands dirty. This dish was freaking AMAZING. Please put it on the menu ASAP @richie_lin.

Crispy amadai- roasted red pepper, tomato raisin, toasted almond (NT$980)

Crispy amadai isn't new on the modern european scene in Taipei-- had it at at least 4 other restaurants in Taipei (Robuchon was my first, then Ducky, C'est La Vie and at a sushi bar) with the slicked up rows of crunchy scales- but paired with my love for sweet roasted red pepper, I devoured this dish despite being full already. The buttery red pepper sauce, toasted almonds, crispy Taiwanese bacon bits and subtle touch of spice complimented the velvety flesh of the amadai. 

Lovage porridge- slow cooked egg, sweet peas, sunflower seeds (NT$540) 

Another new summer menu item with a new approach for their porridge. Lovage instead of mushroom for the porridge, the slow cooked egg in a bed of sweet peas makes it feel like springtime. Chef Kai said they wanted to make it like risotto without Parmesan cheese, so they used a dehydrated fermented tofu. Feels more like a spring dish than summer, but I still enjoyed it. It's less heavy than the mushroom porridge. 

SWEETER

Cocoa crisps- smoked vanilla ice cream, roasted white chocolate, orange (NT$300)

Dense chocolate mousse hides underneath a roof of sugar and chocolate tiles- the way that each pieces melted on our tongue is a fun sensation.

Peaches and cream- Lala Mountain Peach, Osmanthus, Whey (NT$300)

If I had to pick one dessert from Mume's menu as my favorite, I would pick this one. Bite sized pieces of icy Taiwanese peach hiding underneath a layer of snowy cream. Almost like an upscale modern version of the popular Taiwanese snowflake shaved ice.

Busy busy kitchen with Chefs Kai Ward and Richie Lin plating up for a full house. Advance reservations recommended for Mume. If you have a larger party, you'll get seated in the room downstairs with a mandatory set menu, but I prefer to order off their menu a la carte for the best experience. Mume will do a collaboration/pop up with chef Zaiyu Hasegawa from Den, winner of the One to Watch award, later this month-- it's too bad I won't be in Taipei to check it out. 

news: Happy 11 years to hungryintaipei

MY BLOG TURNS ELEVEN TODAY. Keeping my blog alive all these years has been like raising a child-- I've spent many sleepless nights trying to put it to bed, I've run out of memory on my phone with the countless photos, I've spent more money than I've expected, I'm proud of its growth and I've learned so much from the process, about myself and the world. 

So it's fitting that this year I got my first trophy award for the blog. I've gotten voted best blog in Taipei over the years, but this was the first time holding something tangible and golden and engraved with my name!! And a golden xiao long bao, no less!! 

Thanks Netflix, Netfli Asia and Netflix Taiwan for recognizing my love for food. I do love it! I'm OBSESSED! 

When I first got an email from @netflixasia, I wondered, what did they want to help promote their new season of Chef's Table? No commitment, just some goodies for you, they said. Sure, why not, I thought. I was a long time fan of @chefstablenetflix and an even longer fan of @Netflix. When they first launched, I would eagerly organize my DVD queue and await the thin, flat red DVD envelopes in the mail, rip them open like Christmas presents even though I already knew what was inside. I was always amazed that once I sent off the dvd, there another one would promptly arrive a few days later. Then they started to stream movies, then had must binge watch TV House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, both of which I binged.

And for years, I said, when is someone going to do a @Netflix for Asia? And they finally did it themselves- @Netflixtw, @Netflixasia, @netflixhg.. And through a creative marketing campaign, a group of people across Asia are getting recognized for their passion, vision & love of food with individualized golden trophies, but also connecting with each other through photos and #mychefstable. When my photos made the top 9 of #mychefstable, I browsed and admired and drooled over the passion of so many other people posting gorgeous photos of foods, foreign and familiar. 

I feel that same way watching @Gaggan talk about his failed restaurants and journey before executing his vision after an internship at El Bulli to share Indian food in such a striking way, or chef @grant_achatz talk about his obstacles before @alinearestaurant or watching an episode from Season 1 about @nnakarestaurant's chef Nakayama, which launched her modern kaiseki restaurant in LA into even more recognition. It's inspiring knowing that chefs of the world's best restaurants succeeded because they persisted, even when had doubts.

I doubt I'll be the lucky one to travel the world to dine and photograph all the restaurants in season 2, as AMAZING as that would be, but I'll have this xiao long bao trophy to remind me to keep working on #hungryintaipei to share the stories behind the food in #Taipei #🇹🇼 even when I have doubts. 

It's hard to keep writing sometimes when I used to get more feedback and comments and know who was "out there" reading, and now it's old fashioned to be blogging, much less commenting on blogs. Now it's quicker and more interactive to be on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and it's hard to not get caught up in the "likes" game- why do my photos not get as many likes as the next account or whatnot. I do get a lot of kind emails and comments from readers and I want you to know that's what keeps me posting and writing and sharing! I'm happy Taipei has been getting lots of love around the world, and I know I've played a small part in that by creating a resource for people visiting and living here. I still have lots of ideas and goals for hungryintaipei- just need more hours in the day! As always, thanks for being hungry in taipei with me! 

revisited/modern: i strongly recommend RAW SUMMER 2016

RAW 

No. 301, Lequn 3rd Road, Zhongshan District

台北市中山區樂群三路301號
(02) 8501-5800

MRT: Jianan Road

website: www.raw.com.tw

hours: Lunch: Wed- Sun / 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Dinner: Tues - Sat  / 6 PM - 10 PM
Closed Mondays, and Tues lunch

$$$$ (NT$1850/per person plus 10% service)

Kid friendliness: only set menus available so only probably only foodie kids will appreciate

Visit reviewed: 5/26/2016

previous visits: 4/2015 (spring 2015), 1/2016 (winter 2016)

WHEN I WATCHED THE GRANT ACHATZ EPISODE OF CHEF'S TABLE ON NETFLIX, I was reminded of (1) how much I love documentaries (2) how much work goes into a restaurant, each dish, by a team of people who strive to make inspired dining rather than something you could get anywhere else. I thought about my recent visit to RAW which has been featuring the summer menu for a few months now. There's a dish that Grant Achatz made when he was at French Laundry and Thomas Keller told him, "You know, this will be known as a Thomas Keller dish from now on. Are you okay with that?" And as much as we love or hate the dishes at RAW, we can give the credit to Andre Chiang, who is the face of the restaurant, but also acknowledge the partners and teamwork that make it happen. There are two other partners who conceptualize and execute the menu- Zor Tan, who is known as the "brains" coming up with the ideas for the menu and Alain Huang, "the hands," who makes the menu happen and runs RAW's kitchen on a day to day basis, are just as integral to the beef tongue cracker or the 27 vegetables that end up on your plate. The more that I eat at RAW and get to know the behind the scenes (and I'm sure this is true of many restaurants), the more that I appreciate the innovation that these new restaurants in Taipei strive for while making it taste good at the same time. We feed our eyes, our mouths, our stomaches, our minds, our cameras. It is still nearly impossible to get a table at RAW- I have only gone the last few times because of my friends' prowess in snagging a reservation. Thank you M!

Browsing Chef Andre's OCTAPHILOSOPHY while waiting. Was tempted to buy a copy as they had limited copies signed by Chef Andre and all the chefs at Restaurant Andre, but when was I ever going to make any of these dishes? (I'd rather eat there!)

I was drawn to this page "Unique. Pure. Texture. Memory. Salt. South. Artisan. Terroir. These are important words in Restaurant Andre. They are the backbone.. Octaphilosophy is our method of encouraging and managing... and a principle to live by."

The Anatomy of Bistronomy- love, affordable prices, freedom, spirit, sharing, multiple courses, phenomal produce, no bullshit and terroir.

Summer 2016 menu
(instagram @raw_taipei added to the bottom. hehe)

First course: PORRIDGE / FERMENTED TOFU /CONDIMENTS 

The star of this dish is the kohlrabi, which is tastes like a crisp daikon, even though it's not listed on the menu. Seaweed powder dusted atop of finely julienne kohlrabi, crab salad hidden underneath, all atop a large piece of kohlrabi. The porridge? Just the water from boiled rice, which is surprisingly sweet, served in a small cup to drink. The fermented tofu is the dot of the sauce.

Second course: SCALLOP/ CAULIFLOWER COUSCOUS / SPICY PONZU

Having just come back from Toba, Japan, this dish reminded me of the freshly caught and grilled scallops that the women divers prepared for us. This was RAW's version, with crunchy grains of cauliflower disguised as couscous, also hiding a sliced scallop, perfectly seared. I didn't care for the sauce, which I found out later was a cauliflower puree. It was thick and a bit gluey and I thought it was housemade mayo.

Third course: BEEF / TONGUE / CRACKER

On the lao jie or old street in Yilan, you can find many shops selling "ox tongue" crackers 牛舌餅, named after their elongated shape, and is crispy and slightly sweet and a favorite local snack. RAW plays with the name, the idea and pushes it a bit further by making their own version of the cracker, then topping it with actual beef tongue, cooked for 36 hours with soy sauce and Japanese vinegar, caramelized onion and pairing it with a gooey slow cooked egg. The pairing is amazing and reminds of when you dip Japanese sukiyaki into raw egg, but 10x better. So brilliant, taking something that is SO Taiwanese and making it into such a modern dish in such a delicious way. If this was a permanent dish, I would order two or three, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. (it's odd though on Instagram, some people got it with egg and some without. I wonder why)

Fourth course: BUTTERMILK/ REMOULADE/ GAMBERONI

A table side pour of the buttermilk into the green pool, the vegetable stack hides a plump shrimp underneath. So summery almost like a deconstructed coleslaw. 

Fifth course: LEEK OIL/ DAIKON /SUMMER VEGETABLES 

Our server said along with the betelnut flower there were 22 kinds of Taiwan spring vegetables in one dish. How many can you identify?

Sixth course: HIRAME SKIRT / PICKLED JUS / MEUNIERE

Personally I thought this was a tad oily, and one of my least favorite dishes of the menu. 

Seventh course: RED QUINOA/ OYSTER BEARNAISE / SMOKED CABBAGE

RAW's untraditional version of surf and turf also seemed like an underwater scene to me, with the Taiwnaese red quinoa crusted chicken looking like coral, the smoked lettuce leaf looked like a translucent shell and the wasabi and spinach foam like the ocean. Next the chicken was diced Spanish mackerel mixed in with the cabbage.  

8th course/ dessert: THUNDER TEA/ ALMOND MOCHI / SHAVED BEAN CURD

To me, the plates from the summer 2016 menu at RAW felt like they had ocean/acquatic theme with minimalistic strokes..julienned kohlrabi dusted with leek powder masquerading as seaweed underwater.  Translucent crispy cabbage could be paper thin shells on quinoa crusted chicken coral and cabbage mixed with diced mackerel, or the betelnut flower with 22 kinds of Taiwan spring vegetables mirrored coral reef.  I don't know if it was my subconscious or RAW's very intentional vibe, but put together in a collage, it became even more evident to me.

RAW isn't the only one doing out-of-box thinking when it comes to bistronomy in Taipei, so while I admire RAW and appreciate it, I don't put it on a pedestal and I don't think they would want us to either. But I always look forward to seeing their new menu and summer is almost coming to an end -- what will fall bring us?