chinese/dim sum: i recommend PARENTS RESTAURANT

PARENTS RESTAURANT
200 Dunhua S. Rd., Sec. 1
(02) 2772-8888

hours: 11:30am - 9:30pm

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available. lots finger foods

Visit reviewed: 8/12/08 & 5/19/2009



Parents Restaurant is a classic Cantonese and dim sum restaurant, hiding in plain sight near the busy Dun Hua and Zhong Xiao intersection.  Just look for this bright red signs and all the purple flags.



Without crowded windows like nearby City Star Dim Sum, you might never find the equally busy dining hall in the restaurant's basement.



The huge menu in English and Chinese has everything braised, fried, clay pot, stir fried or dim sum that you could want and a picture for each and every dish. 




The prices are average ranging NT$70-$150 for dim sum and around NT$200-NT$400 for main dishes, though anytime you eat dim sum, the dishes add up since it takes a lot of siu mais to get full, so it can run about NT$500 for lunch per person. There are no carts, so you just order off the menu and when they are busy, orders can be on the slow side to come.

You MUST get the desserts. My favorites are the mini egg tarts or "dan ta" which come piping hot, with hot out-of-the-oven soft custard centers and layers and layers of flaky crusts, and the almond tofu which comes in a bowl of firm, thick cubes accompanied by a bit of peach and fruit. Just be sure to order the egg tarts before you are done eating, as it takes about 10-15 minutes for them to bake them and bring them out, otherwise you'll be waiting with nothing to eat like we were. And they are tiny, so you want to order more if you like egg tarts! One could probably eat all three in a sitting, if you really wanted to!




The dim sim regulars are a good bunch- siu mai, shrimp rice noodle or "xia chang fun",  sticky rice in bamboo leaf, fried glutinous ball or "xian shui jiao". 





The things I wouldn't order again are the pineapple shrimp because the mayo sauce was too sticky and there was too much and made the dish gross and the BBQ pork siu which was not crispy or flaky as it should be.



The main dishes we got were also good- fried oysters, the noodles, omelette egg with pickled vegetables, tofu claypot. There are two different types of noodles you can get- a harder chow mein or a soft stir fried one. Both are good, although the crispy fried noodle has a lot of gravy.







If you couldn't tell, I combined two visits into this review, so thanks to my friends A and J for introducing me to this restaurant! If you think you will go there a lot, you can also sign up for a VIP card, which gives you a 10 % discount and other coupon specials. It's good to have a couple good dim sum places up my sleeve now since in the beginning I was running into a lot of bad ones.


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news/dessert: LV and Chanel cupcakes photos

Spotted these fashion cupcakes photos on HighSnobiety.com via Tastespotting. The photographer and stylist were inspired by luxury brands like Chanel and LV, in case you couldn't tell.

If someone made cupcakes like these, they would probably sell like crazy in Taipei. Especially if you had the boxes and cute packaging.

I feel like Taipei or Asia in general is more label conscious than LA- or maybe the Chanels per square foot is a higher ratio. Maybe because LA is more spread out, or maybe because there are just so many high end stores in almost every Taipei mall. I swear I've even seen people carrying real Chanels at the night market!

I never even heard of the brands Tod's or Ferragamo, or stepped into a Marc Jacobs store until I lived in Taipei. Was I oblivious? Or has our culture become more knowledgeable about labels with celebrities and the internet and bag blogs?

Anyways- this seems like it could be a fun thing to do for the fashion obsessed girlfriend or daughter in your life. And beware- don't click on the Tastespotting link if you are hungry or have hours to drool over all the food porn pictures.

my kitchen: homemade bulgogi kimchi tacos

I'm. Too. Busy. Eating.

to give you better looking pictures than these from my iPhone, but trust me, when I say, I now "get it."

Bulgogi + Kimchi + corn tortillas + onion/mushrooms = frickin deliciousness
(made possible by Costco in Taipei and tortillas from LA)

I never made the leap to wait-in-line-for-hours for the all-over-LA Kogi trucks, but once had my sister's cold leftovers which left me unenthusiastic. But having it hot out of the kitchen- it's a weirdly odd satisfying combination that works. The smoky sweetness of the marinated beef mixed with the spicy heat from the pickled cabbage held together by the fragile corn tortillas. I'm sure the imaginative and adventurous have been creating other fusion combos, but the basic one is best.

I already inhaled 4.

Could this work in Taipei? They like the kimchee here, and not so much the cheese, so maybe if I had a little taco truck, I could make some cash on the side?

teppanyaki/Japanese: i recommend DA FANG REGIMEN CATE TEPPANYAKI

DA FANG REGIMEN CATE TEPPANYAKI
No. 18-1, Xinyi Road, Sec. 5
(02) 2758 1019

website: dafang-regimen-cate.com/

hours: 11:30 AM -2 PM; 5:30 PM -9:30 PM

$$$

Kid friendliness:

Visit reviewed: 4/9/2009



If you're the kind of person who likes to glance at the desserts first while looking at the menu, I won't mind if you scroll down and peek at the dessert. It was a teppanyaki first me for- popcorn! They heated up the carmalized popcorn on the surface and the sugary smell made us all drool.

Da Fang Regimen Teppanyaki is full of surprises, and as a "good for you" restaurant, it's a great place to splurge for a fun night out with friends or family. With the ongoing bite size parts of an upscale multi-course meal, you might not think you'd get full, but you leave satisfied. Across from the 101 mall, it's a bit hidden behind the current MRT construction on Xinyi in a non-descript building.

I've always kind of balked at how expensive teppanyaki can be, but part of the price is for the skill and time of the chef and a privately cooked meal. And it's an especially nice treat if friends are treating! So thanks to K and C for dinner and for introducing me to it!

Da Fang's website says that it has "the recognition and combinations for properties of food items" and since Taipei is a "hot" city, it tries to present foods that are "cool." They also have organic foods and use mountain rose salt and minimal oil. They have lunch and dinner set menus as well as ala carte. The menu changes seasonally, so what you see here might not be what you get the next time you eat there.



This set menu (NT$1980) you can choose the main element of sirloin beef, chicken, pork or seafood. I chose sirloin beef.

Okay, so onto the dishes:

1- Soup. I think this was a milky fish soup with tofu.



2- Appetizers & bread. The flower on the loofah was edible and fragrant. They asked that you enjoy the smell and then eat it.






3 and 4- Surf and turf.. First was the perfectly cooked shrimp, cod and lobsters. Then, mmmm.. pan fried oysters. By coating it with crispy bits, it tasted like it was deep fried.



5- The Veggies. Cabbage and shitake mushrooms. Simple and good.




I also throughly enjoyed their "salsa" which was raw onions and diced fruit (I think guava and melon) which I would eat when I was waiting for everything to be cooked. They constantly refilled it, and I would eat more of it.



6- I think we got three rolls of bitesize beef- one with shiso leaf and roe, one with foie gras, one with with spicy chili pepper. This definitely left you wanting more. YUM. How much did I want to steal the beef and foie gras from my friend's plate? Ha ha.




7- From what I understood from the Chinese explanation, this tea is supposed to help you lose weight. Or was it help you with your kidneys? One or the other. I think the alien looking root in there was a beet.



8- Fried rice and salad. Especially needed to get full. The soup in the tomato salad was good too.




9- Omelette- I didn't really like the omelette. Is was sort of weird to be a dessert, since it wasn't sweet.



10- Popcorn. How cool is that?! The popcorn (made from organic corn and brown sugar) wasn't as good as freshly popped kettle corn, but I definitely attacked our huge pile with gusto. When they put it on the heated surface, it melted the sugar and made sticky caramel strings between the popped kernels.



So my favorite part of the meal was definitely the seafood and beef. The teppan grill and method of grilling brings out natural flavors in each since there's only a bit of oil and salt/pepper used. I enjoyed watching the chef make each part for everyone.

THe first time I ate teppanyaki was probably at Benihana's a long time ago. The chefs at Da Fang don't do any of the cheesy tricks that Benihana's made famous, but they are quite friendly and will answer any questions you might have.


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american/steak: TOSCANA at SHERWOOD HOTEL

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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snapshot: i recommend swedish meatballs at IKEA

IKEA
at Asia World Shopping Mall
No. 100, Dun Hua N. Road, B1
Song Shan District
(02)2716-8900

MRT: Zhong Shan Middle School or Nanjing E Road (10 minute walk)

website: www.ikea.com.tw

hours: Sun-Thur 10 AM - 9:30 PM; Fri/Sat 10 AM - 10 PM

$$

Kid friendliness: bite sized for kid mouths! roomy food court

Visit reviewed: 5/25/2009

Fifteen swedish meatballs and fries (I changed it to mashed potatoes) for NT$139 makes for pretty decent food court food. They give a good gravy and a sweet berry sauce, which combined gives it a sweet and savory flavor. It definitely can't compare to the way Flavors restaurant rocks their meatballs, but you can't beat the price. They also sell frozen swedish meatballs to take home.

Any other good stuff that I missed? I don't like the ice cream or the hot dogs at the downstairs food court. It's not as good as the ice cream in the states.

And on the way to the food court, you can pick up some furniture, dinner ware or frames.


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korean: i recommend LIANG BAN JIA KOREAN BBQ

LIANG BAN JIA KOREAN BBQ
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A9, 6 FL
No. 9, Song Shou Road
(02) 2720-1980

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: skm.com.tw

hours: 11 AM - 9:30 PM

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available. just keep hands away from hot grill.

Visit reviewed: 5/18/2009



Liang Ban Jia is a modern looking restaurant offering an extensive menu of Korean bbq meats, seafood, Korean hotpot soups and traditional dishes in Xinyi Mitsukoshi shopping mall, on the same floor as Saboten, a shabu shabu place, a Japanese restaurant and a Chinese restaurant.

I always walked by this place and assumed it would be too expensive, but actually if you have a group of people, you can get a lot of food for an affordable price. My aunt wanted to treat my visiting sister and I to dinner and we ended up getting the combo for 5 people for NT$2500. They have combination sets for 2-5 people which works out to be about NT$400-500 a person, which can also be cheaper than ordering different things ala carte.




Mostly everything was good, but the best parts of the dinner was the beef "galb" (NT$580 ala carte) and the stone bim bim bap. It might have been the biggest stone pot I'd ever seen!



The main beef I had (beef, hee hee) was that we finished a few of our panchans side dishes early and asked for refills. They said that refills cost extra. It kind of sucked that they didn't give more since we had more people.



Because the place was relatively empty, the server was able to cook all the meat for us and was very attentive at serving everyone.



My aunt said when it's busy, the servers have to work between a few tables, and the meat is definitely better when the experts cook it with their expert tongs-manship. There's even lettuce and two dipping sauces for your meat.



The pacing was pretty quick and after going through the seafood pancake, grilled mushroom, pork, beef, more pork, scallops, shrimp and fish, we barely had enough room for the bimbimbap rice and the seafood hotpot.



If I go again, I'd probably try the other options of ginseng chicken or kimchee hotpot since the seafood hotpot was a bit bland.



The seafood pancake was thick and crispy and stuffed with crab, squid and vegetables.



I thought the scallops were a bit dry and the fish and shrimp were just so so. At that point, I was wishing there was more beef kalbi instead, which was the most tender and juicy of all the grilled meats.




Mmm.. the bimbimbap was a nice way to end the meal. The crispy bits of rice and all the mixed in vegetable, egg and sauce.



Liang Ban Jia is perfect for business lunch and a great option for a tasty Korean meal with a group of friends or family. It's not as great a bargain as a place like Happy Korean, but it's roomier and less rowdy than Mindong and walkable for those craving Korean near 101.


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