CLOSED! middle eastern/turkish: TRUVA

CLOSED a/o 2012

TRUVA
No. 3, Lane 181, An Ho Road, Sec 2
(02) 2737-0037

website: wretch.cc/blog/truvataipei

$$-$$$

Kid friendliness: 5/29/2009

Visit reviewed: high chairs available




What is more important? First impressions or last impressions?

If it's first impressions, Truva gave us great first impressions. The waitress (and owner?) patiently went through the extensive menu with us, explaining different things and making recommendations. The restaurant was smaller than I expected, but elegantly designed with rich colors and a prominent bar. The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived for dinner, but it gave us a more private feeling.



But if it's last impressions, well, let me know what you think. Some reviews I had read about Truva complained about the bottled water charge (that they serve bottled water without asking and then you are charged for it), so I was prepared for that- it's pretty common in a lot of the nicer restaurants in town (and nothing could be worse than the one time my friends and I ended up paying US$40 for just Fuji bottled water in Vegas when we didn't know we were getting charged by the bottle rather than by the person).

Instead, I happened to catch multiple charges for pita bread on the bill (it was complimentary as part of the appetizer as well as the shrimp dish) and the waitress apologized and looked like she was going to fix it. But then the owner came back and said something along the lines of, "I gave you extra pita bread with your appetizer. It usually comes with 1, but I gave you 3."



Ummm... Wait a second, if he gave it to us (rather than us requesting it) then isn't it a gift aka free of charge? I was a bit annoyed, but we paid the bill rather than debating with him. I had raised the point and he made his. It couldn't have been more than a NT$160 charge, but the more I thought about it, the more it bugged me. As you might remember, I don't like it when the restaurant "upsells" you with a smile without a heads up. Eventually it left a bad "aftertaste" in my experience on the meal and restaurant, which was too bad because there is some decent food at Truva.



The pita bread in question was good. Turkish pita bread is different than pocket pita bread that you might picture from the more familiar Greek pita bread or pita sandwiches. It was soft and chewy and went well with the mixed dip plate that we got with creamy hummus, eggplant (mashed and grilled) and spicy vegetable salad (with tomato, onion and parsley).

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't order the mixed pita(NT$560) and the baked shrimp casserole(NT$620)- both were overpriced for what you are getting. The mixed pita was the least favorite of the table, a bit dry and bland with an overcooked egg.



And the shrimp in the casserole seemed to be frozen rather than fresh shrimp, and just too expensive for the portion. The sauce was a bit oily and the shrimp themselves didn't seem to have been marinated for long.



Instead, check out the mixed grill (NT$860) with turkish meatballs, lamb shish kebap, chicken shish and adana kebap with sides of rice pilaf and french fries. My favorite from this plate was the grilled chicken- it was the most tender and juicy.



and the beef Iskender (NT$760) with slices of rotisserie grilled beef in a thick, sweet tomato paste sauce and huge portions of yogurt and pilaf on each side. This was a crowd pleaser at the table.



I think at one time maybe people would pay a premium for an "exotic" food like middle eastern or Turkish food. But now with the growth of the casual chains Doner Kebab and Sababa, I can get a filling and equally delicious entire meal and drinks for two or three people for the price of one entree from Truva.

I'd be curious to see how differently priced the lunch menu is- maybe there are some deals to found there? Otherwise, for the value of what we got, it's hard for me to see myself going back, with so many options to eat around town. But if you're looking for new place to romance a date or try something new like Turkish ice cream, the fine dining ambiance can definitely set the mood.

headed to LA: what to eat?

Headed back to LA this week! Very excited about trying out all the places I've been reading about on the LA food blogs, as well as eating at my neighborhood favorites.

I've packed my laptop, business cards and photos so I'll try to do some catchup posts while I'm away.. lots of catching up to do. SIGH!

Flavors Swedish Restaurant
Truva Turkish Restaurant
Anzu Tonkatsu
AO+ private kitchen
Saveurs French Restaurant
Tan Hua Tou
Ben Teppanyaki
Chef Showtime
El Toro Spanish Restaurant
Primo Trattoria
Mcafe
Saffron Indian Restaurant
Sashimiya
Suzette Crepes

Otherwise, I might send some snapshots of what I'm eating in LA.

So LA readers, any places I gotta try this time around? Help a hungry girl out!

my friend's kitchen: july 4th bbq in taipei

Happy 4th of July! This year was the first time I ever celebrated July 4th in Taipei, much less with a full on bbq on a grassy lawn! Much thanks to my friends J and A for inviting me over and making all the rib fingers and grilled pineapple chicken sooo delicious! Grilled bbq corn, potato salad, cornbread and then fruit and brownies (my small contribution) for dessert.

Yum! I'm totally going to start grilling up some pineapples now on my George Foreman grill (he he) and buying the Stubb's bbq sauce from Costco.

What are you guys eating on your 4th? And does anyone know where to get sparklers in Taipei?

not taipei/hakka: i recommend LAO DI FANG

LAO DI FANG
or "The Old Place"
No. 489, Yuan Lin Road, Sec 1
Ta Shi, Taoyuan County

(03) 390-6863

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available

Visit reviewed: 6/21/2009



A few weekends ago, I went on a road trip with a ton of relatives and family friends. The kind where you sit on a bus and listen to them karaoke to pass the time (whether or not you want to). The kind where you end up in other parts of Taiwan and you have no idea how to blog about where it is or how you'd get there. The kind where the day ends with a family dinner where the relatives do the ordering, you never get to see the menu and then huge platter after platter of food come out until you have no idea where the next plate will go.

We went up and down some mountain to take a bunch of pictures and then ended up in Ta Shi at Lao Di Fang, a Hakka or "Ke Jia" restaurant that was bustling with families chowing down. The food arrived as soon as we sat down (might have been a pre-order by my aunt or the tour guide) and never stopped. Mostly everything was good, though some dishes were more oily or salty than we might be used to.

In case you're curious, Brian Webb does a great job explaining in a summary about Taiwan's 3 ethnic groups: Aboriginal, Hakka, Hoklo, and Immigrant.

My favorites were the

stir fried rice noodle



vegetables with thousand year old egg



and tofu with vegetables pot.



Also pretty good was the oysters



and chicken



and eggplant.



Surprisingly, I didn't like the Hakka stewed pork belly over simmered preserved mustard greens (similar to "gua bao" when put into steamed buns) and the soup with the "tang yuan" (or rice balls). I'm used to having the "tang yuan" over shaved ice, so I couldn't get used to it in a salty soup, especially the pink ones. The Hakka pork and mustard greens were too salty for me and I missed the Taiwanese version with the condiments of the ground peanuts/sugar powder and cilantro to balance out the flavors.



Also, it didn't help that these dishes arrived at the end- the shredded "si gua" or loofah and the Hakka stir fried squid. Too stuffed to try it.




I don't think this was my first time having Hakka food, but I'm definitely not familiar with it. But send some huge hot fragrant plates of Chinese food to our table, and we're happy customers. Especially after a long day on the bus. Any big fans of Hakka food? Any recs for inside Taipei city?

snapshot/coffee: STARBUCKS coffee jelly frapp

I like that Starbucks Taiwan is willing to experiment. I think I even saw this last year or the year before and thought that I should give it a try. I thought I'd just walk in and drool over the chocolate muffin and enjoy some AC and walk out, but the sign caught my eye and before you know it, I'm ordering a Caramel Coffee Jelly Latte Frappuccino.



Yes, I said, Caramel Coffee Jelly Latte Frappuccino. Dude, if you are going to have a calorie bomb, you gotta go all the way.

But I immediately regretted getting it after I took my first sip. I think I'm so used to the chewy Q consistency of boba, I felt that the coffee jelly didn't have any spring in its step. It was a bit flavorless and lost in the icy snowstorm of my Caramel Coffee Jelly Latte Frappuccino. I think if the coffee jelly was a bit stronger in flavor, it's a good concept. After all, I'm a huge fan of the coffee jelly topped with coffee ice cream dessert from Sawtelle Kitchen, and this is pretty much the same thing, but blended.

But for the price of one frapp- NT$150- I can get three "Yuan Qi Q Nai" and chew on brown sugared boba to my heart's content.

This hasn't hit the states yet, has it?

hotpot/organic: QI-MIN ORGANIC HOTPOT

CLOSED! a/o 2013

QIMIN ORGANIC HOTPOT
128, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, 2 FL
(02) 2772-5123

MRT: Zhong Xiao/Dun Hua

website: qi-min.com

hours: lunch: 11:30am to 2:30pm
dinner: 5:30pm to 10:30pm

$$=$$$

Kid friendliness: spotted an older kid there. roomy but calm atmosphere

Visit reviewed: 6/2/2009




If you're crazy about organic foods and don't mind paying a premium for it, then Qi-Min Organic Hotpot is the place for you. I had passed by Qimin many, many times, but always thought it was too pricey to eat at. My friend wanted to check it one day while craving hot pot, so we agreed to go.

A lone menu and staircase is the only sign that there's a restaurant upstairs. Before you get to the actual restaurant, there is a room with display cases of their organic goods, as they also have a home delivery service of meats and vegetables you can use to cook with at home. Their motto is "from farm to table" which is also a movement going on in the States, eating more things grown locally.




Once you step in, the atmosphere has to be one of the most spartan and regal hot pot places I've ever seen.



Their set menu runs from NT$600- NT$2680(! for two) which includes seasonal appetizer, a choice of broth, a basket of seasonal organic greens, your main protein, a choice of two sauces, a choice of starch and vinegar disgestif and dessert. There's also an English and Chinese menu full of pictures of additional or ala carte sides you can add such as dumplings, squid balls, veggies, seafood.




I ended up choosing the Prime Beef Shortrib in the Organic Vegetable and Mushroom Broth, with Qimin and Lemongrass sauces. There's also a bonito and dashi broth or a Lushan Chicken broth.



The appetizer was delicate and stylishly presented. The bite of pork I had was good.



We chatted and waited for our water to boil. For hard core shabu-shabu'ers, you should cook the meat first and then throw in the veggies. But we were hungry, so put in some veggies first.




Once in awhile, nature sounds from a CD they played would come on the speakers. My friend was startled by the frog sounds that came out of the blue- we all giggled at her reaction.

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of meat I got. Long sizeable slices that made for some delicious beef consumption.



I was going to get the Organic Noodles for my starch, but the picture in the menu looked like such a small amount, I got what my friend who had been here before got- the Steamed Rice with Shrimp. Good call.



The Lemongrass sauce gave the meat and vegetable a sour, citrus flavor that I haven't had with hotpot before.. double dipping it in the lemongrass and the soysauce and garlic flavor gave the right salty, fragrant kick. At Qimin Hotpot, it's quality over quantity, so I savored the food I got, instead of wolfing down everything like I usually do at all-you-can-eat shabu shabu Momo Paradise.



The lunch ended with a pumpkin pudding and plum-like vinegar drink. Both flavors I happen to dislike, so after a tiny bite and sip, I left it alone.



Would I go back? With so many hotpot options in town, probably not- there's mala spicy hotpot and the jazzier Orange hotpot if I want to splurge. Or even the mushroom overload Bai Gu Yuan, where the broth is so flavorful from the different mushrooms, it's good for even non-vegetarians. But if you've got an organic health nut friend you gotta impress, Qi-Min should do the trick.

thai/dessert: PARADISE THAI

PARADISE BIRD THAI
No. 423, Rueiguang Rd.
Neihu District
(02) 8797-1686

hours: 11:30AM-2:30PM; 5:00PM-10:00PM

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available

Visit reviewed: 5/31/2009



Paradise Thai is a Thai restaurant located in an office building in Dazhi/Neihu, next to a Korean BBQ restaurant. My relatives said on weekends they come here because it's less busy. But on weekdays, they go to Thai Town (in the mall) because it's less busy and easier to park. Less busy was an understatement as there was only one table at the large restaurant on a Sunday night, and after they left, it was like as if we booked the whole restaurant to ourselves.



The atmosphere was nice enough, the English and Chinese menu was extensive enough and the service was decent enough.



But unfortunately, the only reason I'd come back to Paradise Thai would be for the strawberry ice dessert. The most important part- the food- was just so-so.

The shrimp pineapple rice lacked any real flavor and was a bit on the mushy side. You had to excavate dish to find the shrimp.



The appetizers came after the main dishes. The satay was dry, but the shrimp pancake was crispy and good. I gotta give them that.




The fried chicken, on the other hand, was not crispy and made me miss the perfectly fried Thai fried chicken from Mei Hu. And their pineapple fried rice. And anything else from their menu.



The stir fried vegetables were forgettable.



And I was about to give up on the place, until my aunt declared how when she brought our cousins here they devoured the strawberry ice dessert. So we ordered a couple and it saved the meal. Condensed milk poured on large fresh strawberries soaked in syrup on crushed ice.



Crunch, crunch, crunch. It tasted as good as it looks. Perfect for a hot summer night. If you're in the area, just stop by for the dessert. Otherwise stick to your favorite neighborhood Thai place, or you'd probably be disappointed.


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