revisited/japanese: i still strongly recommend SUMIE at SAN WANT HOTEL

SUMIE NOUVELLE CUISINE JAPANESE
at San Want Hotel, 4th Floor
No. 172, Zhong Xiao East Road, Sec 4
(02) 2781-6909

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua or SYS Memorial Hall

website: sanwant.com

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

$$-$$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dinnerware available.

Visit reviewed: 11/18/2010 (all photos from iphone 4G)
Previous reviews: 10/24/2006 and 8/14/2005



From the beginning to the end of the meal, I love this season's set menu at San Want Hotel. Every bite satisfied and had layers of flavors that complemented the dishes before and afterwards.

First course: chawanmushi or steamed egg with ikura, shiitake mushroom and crab
The rich broth and silky texture had everyone at the table raving- this has to be one of the best steamed eggs I've ever had.



Second course: sashimi
I love sweet shrimp and uni. I always love Sumie's fresh sashimi and presentation- when it's so good, it melts in your mouth. If you don't eat raw fish, you can ask them ahead of time to switch it to something else.





Third course: Salad
I always forget that they have raisins in their salad- yuck. I move them to the side and I'm okay, though I'll have to remember next time to ask them not to put them on in the first place. A light Japanese citrus dressing on the salad with chopped fruits and vegetables atop fresh greens.



Fourth course: Prawns and mushrooms with miso sauce
This dish is served with the lid covered and the server asks that you remove the lid when you see steam coming out. The broth/sauce is slightly sweet and I think there was some fish hiding underneath. I was too busy eating and enjoying to take notes!




Fifth course: Grilled steak
The portion of this is just right for such a full set menu, but if you are coming for dinner or your first time, I recommend that you switch out the steak for lamb chops. The lamb chops at Sumie are my favorite anywhere with a slightly sweet marinade and tender bite.



Sixth course: Sushi



Some people are too full by this point to eat anymore (not me! haha!), but I love the bites of rolls that come at the end. The mini-chirashi sushi is so cute and leaves me wanting more.



Seventh course: Clam broth
Sometimes their broth at the end is too huge or gingery for me, but this one is just right.



Eighth course: Dessert and fresh fruit



Ordering a set course at Sumie can seem expensive, but it's well worth the price, especially if you're celebrating a special occasion. With lunch sets running from NT$500-900 and dinner sets at NT$1500 and up, the presentation, quality and taste surpasses lots of other Japanese restaurants where the prices will add up anyways per person. You can always have one person order a set menu and another order off the menu if you're afraid you won't finish. The set menu also changes seasonally, so I love being surprised by what's coming.

snapshot/breakfast: i strongly recommend the bacon cheese bao from CHAO ZHOU BAO ZI

CHAO ZHOU BAO ZI
No. 52, Lane 216, ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec. 4
(02) 2773-8371

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall or ZhongXiao/DunHua

hours: 7AM-8PM

website: chaozhou-baozi.com.tw Chinese only

$

Kid friendliness: mantou/bao only to go in a busy alley intersection but lots of kid friendly choices

Visit reviewed: 10/28/2010



Bacon + cheese + a soft bao = awesome!

When I saw the ladies next to me pick up 20 of the same buns at Chao Zhou Bao Zi on Lane 216, I had to ask- what are you getting? She said what sounded like "pei-gan chee-zu bao" or bacon cheese bao (NT$20) and totally sold me on it. I had to try one as well and I'm so glad I did.

If you pick it up hot, the cheese is oozing inside with chopped up pieces of bacon which goes perfectly with the slightly peppery, soft bun - kind of like a Taiwanese hot pocket. An indulgence that's much better than the processed breakfast sandwich you'd get at McD's. You can also pick it up warm/cool, to freeze or store for later reheating/steaming and consumption.

I've gone back several times to get it and sometimes they are sold out at different times of the day. I've also recommended it to friends who have also become addicted. While I like their meat bamboo baos, I prefer the meat to bun ratio from the Lao Guh Tsui Jian Bao place down the street. But the bacon cheese bun I've never seen anywhere else!

Though they've revamped their storefront sign, the signs for the buns and mantous are still all in Chinese and it's hard to tell what's available unless you ask in Chinese. They have a pretty wide variety and there are savory as well as sweet buns- like sesame or red bean or brown sugar mantou.

Since there are several places on 216, look for a sign on the corner that looks like this bag..




View Larger Map

thai: VERY THAI

VERY THAI
at Neo 19
22 SongRen Rd, 2F
(02) 8789-6200

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: verythai.com.tw

hours: 11AM- 3pm; 5PM to 11PM/ Fri-Sat til 12AM midnight

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dinnerware available

Visit reviewed: 11/5/2010



I'd always pass by Very Thai on the way to Momo Paradise or Chili's in the Neo 19 building, but never felt the urge to try it until one day I wanted pad thai for lunch. I could have went to the nearby Thai Town, but I thought I'd give Very Thai.



The English and Chinese menu has an assortment of appetizers, rice/noodle dishes, curries and seafood dishes, desserts and drinks.



Despite the decor and setting of Very Thai being very pop/modern/American- with magazine cut outs of American movie stars along one wall and the MTV's the Hills playing above the bar on another, the food is not Americanized Thai food.




After living in Taipei, some people miss Americanized Chinese food- orange chicken, beef and broccoli or mu shu pork. Sometimes I miss Americanized Thai food- the pad thai in LA comes on the sweet side, tinged pink or orange and that's how I like it. I don't mind the more natural tasting pad thai here, but it just seems to be missing something.



In this case, the Thai fried rice noodles was missing noodles! There seemed to be more bean sprouts than noodles and the taste was all savory with no hints of sweetness. For the price NT$250, the portion was on the small size. At that point, I missed the heaping portions of delivery Thai food in LA for the same prices.





Luckily, the chicken satay was a lot better- fat juicy tender pieces that were nicely grilled with the cucumber and peanut sauce.



Is it fair to judge a place on two dishes? Usually I get to eat at places with relatives or friends, so we get to order more and I get to taste a little bit of everything. But what if I'm dining alone- there's no way I'm going to be able to order a tableful of food and there was no lunch special option for lone diners like they do in the states. Not busy at all on a weekday lunch, Very Thai could be a fun spot for dinner and drinks and ordering other dishes to share in a larger group. There were other things on the menu that looked tempting, like the Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab with Thai Sauce, but it was a little disappointing that pad thai wasn't good.

OTHER LOCATIONS

Sogo Tianmu
77, ZhongShan N Rd, Sec 6, 8F
(02) 2831-0188

319 Fuxing N. Rd
(02) 2546-6745

italian/fusion: i recommend WHIPLE HOUSE

WHIPLE HOUSE
No. 34, Lane 252, DunHua S. Rd, Sec. 1
(02) 2775-1627

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing

website: whiplehouse.com

hours: 12PM- 9PM

$$-$$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: (all photos with Canon S90)

Taipei is full of these strange and interesting little restaurants- a little bit Japanese, a little bit French, a little bit Italian, a little bit Chinese- and a little bit of a furniture/clothing shop? Whiple House has the unique quality of being a restaurant hidden on the second floor of what appears to be a woodsy clothing store- look for this storefront if you ever give it a try.



Once upstairs, the kitchen is tucked in the corner and family style seating takes up most of the second floor, with some interesting displays of vintage looking goods off to one side.



The menu is unfortunately only in Chinese without photos, so I relied on my friends to order- especially the ones who had been before and chose the place.



My favorite dish and the main reason I'd come back is for the uni spaghetti with crab (NT$480). Creamy with a balance between the sweet and salty, a bite of the uni spaghetti is complimented by the chunks of sweet crab meat. I kind of wanted a whole plate to myself.



Less interesting was the mentaiko spaghetti(NT$320) which seemed to lose its fishy bubbles of roe after it got to me. I could taste more of the seaweed and olive oil than anything else and even had to double check with my friend that it had mentaiko in it.



If you get a salad, get the one with the mountain yam and poached egg and tofu (NT$280) over the one with beef, bacon and beans (NT$360). The bacon was hard rather than crispy and the elements of the first salad worked better together.




The country bread was surprisingly good- you can get it with an orange marmalade and butter (NT$80)...



or with this hot cheese and egg (NT$280). The server put a raw egg into the hot cheese and stirred, and then recommended that we spread it atop the bread while hot.



The result was kind of like a soft scrambled egg with cheese spread and something I think I might experiment with at home.



The mushroom soup (NT$150) was good and they had split a bowl into different cups for us.



The risotto was very al dente and reminded me of the risotto from Bianco, but the Bianco's risotto had more layers of flavors.



If I could make a recommendation, that would be to skip the steak/beef or even the meats in general. They run on the pricey side and are not as satisfying. We had the waitress help us order, and since we had a large group she decided we could sample a bit of everything.

The roasted chicken was probably my favorite of the three meats- though it tasted comparable to my George Foreman grilled chicken...



The grilled pork (NT$480) had a side of saukeraut and veggies.



The steak (NT$880) was my least favorite- a bit tough and chewy and definitely not worth the pricetag for the portion (though I can't remember if there were two plates of this size at the table).



So give it a try if you're looking for something a little bit different, or like to do your window shopping while you eat.


View Larger Map

last day to vote for Readers' Choice!

Please don't forget to vote for the HungryinTaipei.com Readers' Choice Awards! It only takes a few minutes, and you only have to fill out (at least) 5 of your favorite Taipei restaurants/eats...

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY! So please vote HERE .

Thanks!

CLOSED! japanese/food court: i recommend JIKA UDON

(CLOSED :( a/o 1/2011)

JIKA UDON
at Vie Show Cinemas Foodcourt, 2FL
20 Song Shou Road
(02) 2723-9101

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: http://www.jikaudon.com.hk/

hours: 12PM- 10PM (their website says they open at 11am, but I got there at 11:45am and they wouldn't serve/seat until noon)

$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dinnerware available

Visit reviewed: 11/19/2010 (all photos with iphone 4g)



Jika Udon is a solid, quick place to grab a bowl of udon to eat as one of the newer additions to the Xinyi Vieshow Food Court. They have their own separate seating area, so if you want to eat alongside your friends ordering Burger King, you'll have to get your order to go, as I did, and eat in the main food court area.



I uncapped my tempura as soon as I picked it up, so that the delicate crispiness wouldn't get soggy and laid out my lunch- tempura, cold udon and dipping sauce (NT$220). They only give you one sauce for both the udon and tempura, which is fine, since they also include a small bit of wasabi, grated radish and green onion slices.

The udon is quite chewy and QQ and the crispy tempura (with two shrimps) provided a satisfying crunch. It's good to have a sanuki udon place in the area, especially after my original go-to place at Vieshow, Tenpura Sanuki Udon, moved and shut down. I was surprised by the amount of udon that I got- it would have filled a large bowl and was quite filling.



Jika Udon's menu (in English, Chinese and Japanese with lots of photos) is worth exploring- with hot udon soups or cold udon, or options like curry udon, udon with cod fish caviar or udon with chicken or seafood salad which caught my eye, most from NT$100-NT$230.

CLOSED! snapshot/mexican: i still strongly recommend EDDY's CANTINA

This location is closed a/o 2/2012. There is still a branch in Tianmu

EDDY'S CANTINA
151-1 Zhongshan Rd
Danshui
(02) 2628-2638

MRT stop: Danshui

website: eddyscantina.com

hours: Weekdays 11:30 AM-2:30 PM; 4:30PM-10PM (closed Tuesdays)
Weekends 11:30 AM- 10 PM

$ - $$ Cash only

Kid friendliness: High chair available. Restaurant above a stairway, so would need to fold up or lift strollers.

Visit reviewed: 11/20/2010
Previous review : 12/5/2008

It's been awhile since I've been able to make the trek out to Danshui for Mexican food at Eddy's Cantina. Of any foreign food in Taiwan, especially Mexican food- there will be lovers and there will be critics- all relative to what you're expecting and what you order and how long you've been in Taiwan and if you've tried the other places in Taipei that serve "Mexican" food. I hadn't been back for a couple of years so I was curious to see how it would compare to my first few visits.

For me, the chicken enchiladas (NT$250) still hit the spot- seasoned chunky bites of chicken, tortillas soaked in a sweet and tangy red sauce and melted cheese on top. If it's not spicy enough for you, spoon some of the chunky salsa atop. After devouring my portion of the nachos, I actually couldn't finish the good sized enchiladas and had half of one as leftovers the next day and it still worked.

The cheese quesadillas (NT$130) were like the ones I often make myself at home...



New additions to the menu included fish tacos which I might have to try sometime.



The nachos had plenty of chips underneath the cheese and taco seasoned ground beef. I could have used more cheese, but then again, I also like goopy nacho cheese cheese.



The bite of carnitas I had was still good, but got lost a little bit in the carnitas burrito with the soft rice and refried beans. It would have been nice to have more carnitas to rice/beans ratio (and tossing in some pico de gallo and cheese).



With the opening of Oola and closing of La Casita, I've been fulfilling my burrito cravings a little bit closer to home and there's nowhere else I know of in Taipei that I can get enchiladas anymore. Here's to hoping Eddy will someday open a place in Taipei that's a bit closer than Danshui!


View Larger Map