I have over the last couple of years taken a liking to the finer pleasures in life, a good bottle of wine, some decent food, and whenever I go back home I try to hit a couple of really good restaurants.
We are here talking haute cuisine, basically, the stuff where a Michelin star or at the very least a bib gourmand is the bare minimum required if my shadow is to darken the entrance door.
The delights, a salty kelp sherbet served with a hot caramel sauce hitting the exact balance between salt and sweet, a u formed cracker with the indent filled with a snowstorm of finely grated hard cheese, leading to a fluffiness and a crispness of taste almost unbelivable, A soft sous vide chicken finished off stewing in a slighly tangy creamy sauce, donāt get me started on the sweetbreads.
What do we have here in Taipei along those lines? haute cuisine, where the emphasis is on taste and exqusite presentation?
I know about flavors, I am about to give DN Innovacion a try - are there others out there, or is it steaks and glorified home cooking all whenever I want a break from the stir fries and want to spend 3 hours eating a chunk of paradise?
There are no Michelin starred restaurants in Taiwan. Only restaurants or chefs that have been awarded other places. Krispy Cream seems to be as good as it gets. Din Tai Feng got 1 star in Hong Kongā¦figure that one out.
DN is a start but doesnt reach that level.
Hard to imagine Sheraton Hotel, but try Antoine Room with a harpest.
If ever in Tainan, try Somewhere In Time French restaurant. Impeccable food and services, and youāll feel transported to 1920s Paris as you enter the door.
You will find yourself exquisitely spoiled with great difficulty leaving at the end of 3 hours at either of these two places.
Take a look at the monthly issues of Traveler Luxe. There are always high end restaurant profiles (in Chinese). The cover story in the January issue this year was titled å°ē£äøēē“åå»50+. Most of the chefs and restaurants profiled were from Taipei. They also had a special supplement in 2012 titled å°åäøēē“åå»é¤å»³.
Angelo Restaurant in Taipeiās East District (where a former Robuchon chef sets out on his own). I have not saved sufficient funds to splash out for dinner there, but the lunches Iāve had are among the best meals Iāve hadāanywhere. If this place were in Tokyo, it would still be amazing.
I went to Angelo for lunch today after reading your post and fully agree with you. Itās the best Italian weāve had in Taipei. Thanks very much for your recommendation!
Chef Jason will give you that for sure at DV8 on Fridays and some other days. He does sous vide now, so his short rib and double pork chops are good. He did a mean roast beef last night for St Georgeās day.
Youāre welcome! Angeloās is the sort of venture I am pleased to support and glad to champion. Itās not just incredible Italian foodāthe way that Angelo can pair fish and vegetables (often local, always in season) is off the charts. A couple of weeks ago I remember trying the cod, grilled simply, with saffron sauce (!), paired with pureed jielan (aka Chinese broccoli) and pureed cauliflower. The simple clean taste of the fish alongside the bitterness of the jielan was otherworldly. Add in some house made bread, an amuse bouche, and some nice cookies and coffee at the end (all this is included with their sets), and the result is a brilliant lunch. Having lived here for more than a decade, I still canāt quite believe that this caliber of food is available in Taipei.
If you do make it to Angeloās, Iād recommend trying their lunchāunless of course money is no object! Happily their terrific lunch sets are available seven days a week.
First pro tip: while the restaurant is open every day, Angeloās regular day off is, I believe, on Monday.
Second pro tip: try to get a seat at the counter. Itās fun to watch the kitchen in action.
Two more options: RAW and MUME, both of which opened last December.
Iāve tried the winter set menu at MUME. The quality is impressive - very fresh ingredients with well balanced flavours and beautiful plating, but Iād prefer less use of the blowtorch technique. Havenāt been able to secure a reservation at RAW.
[quote=āichunā]Two more options: RAW and MUME, both of which opened last December.
Iāve tried the winter set menu at MUME. The quality is impressive - very fresh ingredients with well balanced flavours and beautiful plating, but Iād prefer less use of the blowtorch technique. Havenāt been able to secure a reservation at RAW.
2 of the restaurants mentioned in this thread (DN Innovacion and Angeloās) are both permanently closed. Any more updated suggestions on top notch western fine dining in Taipei? Raw, Mume, and Ephernite have all been suggested from various sources. Anything else? Would particularly be interested in restaurants that punch above their weight in terms of value for money.
Taipei just doesnāt have enough people with the money or desire to keep Haute Cuisine flowing. Number one requirement for Taipei people is āHow cheap is it?ā.
agree and disagreeā¦
people here have money for haute cuisine, however, they do not have the education for haute cuisine. APPRECIATION
i have been a pastry chef for high end restaurant in several countries, including France, Spain and UK for 11 years. ( talking about michelin starr restaurant)
when i arrived on the island i went to work for 2 places and the last one was specialised for parties ( what i mean is afternoon tea and private shit for the biggest brand over here).
i remember making the desserts for Hermes one, where we prepared like 15 differents finger food ( just for the sweet side) for around 1000 guest (15*1000= 15000 pieces).
The only and ONLY important thing was how the cakes looks likeā¦ they didnt absolutely cared about the taste.
for example, my little mini mousses needed to be able to keep their shape, outdoors for more than 6 hours. we had to add so much gelatine that you could have easily used it as a rubber bulletā¦ BUT PEOPLE LOVEDDDDDDD IT. ( during the food tasting) and the guest tooā¦i could litteraly throuw it to the floor and have it bouncing back to me ā¦ miam miam
same things happen with almost every single brand. Super rich people who have no clue about food in general, or combination, or all what u can enjoy while going to a decent restaurant back home.
so yeah, they have money, they can pretend to enjoy and try to talk about food, but THEY KNOW that they have no clue about what they are doing or eating.
you can try for example to go to a tasting wine class ( same shittt again)ā¦ pretending understanding what wine is about. WTF
since that i change my career path and work as a regional sales in an international company.
i still lovvvve my pastries and will get back to it on my own shop but hell it will be hard.
good food is a niche market
However, they are plenty of very nice restaurant in Taipwi, some more expensive than others but the issue is : the clients.
If youāre right, then the days of restaurants like Mume, Raw, Ephernite are all surely numbered. But others will likely take their place. There must still be a market, even if very small.