That’s where we go when we don’t know what to eat and it is always awesome. The key is to get a mix of stuff instead of all toasts. We always order Shakshuka Jaffa + Cubano + Carbonara + Salmon Pesto + Rose Sangria.
We went there recently and did the $3000 omakase. We weren’t impressed. The fish was great quality but consistently too cold and rice for the nigiri was consistently too warm. All the other dishes were so-so and we left the place hungry.
I’m not expert but sashimi needs to be cold. Proper shush Chefs are very careful keeping their hands and knifes cold when handeling the raw fish as even body heat from hands ruins the meat by actually cooking it. But obviously it shouldn’t be frozen. And the rice needs to be room temp at least to have a good texture. But it’s also not the type of place you leave full. It’s also been a while since I went so maybe the quality went down. But it was wonderful the last time I went.
Each fish is meant to be served at a specific temperature that is higher than refrigerator temperature. So the sushi chef usually keeps the stuff in a non-electric refrigerator (i.e. on ice) and must know how long to keep it out for before serving it. Being able to serve the fish and rice at the right temperature depends on the skill of the chef. The chef at Maru seemed to pull chunks out of a refrigerator from beneath the counter and cut and serve immediately. Maybe it was a slow night and there weren’t enough other customers. On second thought, I think the rice was near body temperature and maybe okay. It was the fish that was too cold that resulted in this contrast.
Hmm, this def wasn’t the case when I went. The main chef usually takes good care of us when we go. I notice they have more staff and chefs on hand these days last time I looked. I’ll have to give them a try again to see. I had really great meals there but it might have been 1.5 years since I went. Sort of forgot about the place and haven’t had any reason to get the private tables.
Any other places you can recommend like it?
Okay, back to basics. Wood smoked whole chicken, some veggies, and beer (of course). Together with a small bowl of the oil that dripped during roasting and some salt. Mostly outside of Taipei but don’t need to go far.
I had some really good Korean fried chicken at chicken Pelicana. Def good with some Korean beer or soju. The store is originally from Korea and taste like how they do it there.
https://www.facebook.com/pelicanataiwan/
To me, Taiwan beer only taste amazing with Taiwanese food. It’s not great on its own, don’t know if you also notice this.
I enjoy Taiwan Beer most with food at local restaurants, but I can definitely drink it with other food or on its own. I usually opt for other beers for my after work routine since there are many other choices these days.
And that Korean chicken restaurant. Brings back hof chicken and yang nyum chicken with beer memories. I’ll have to check it out.
It’s not really authentic, but it’s really good. It will look small on the plate but it’s completely filling (for me).
I tried this place at Andrew’s recommendation. It was pretty good. Not going to scream and shout about it overall, but the tiramisu was perhaps the best I’ve had. The meals themselves were pretty good versions of what they were. We had the frittata, risotto, steak and ribs. None were exactly the best I’ve had at a restaurant but were solid, plus the people there are really nice which is always a plus. Definitely walked out feeling sated.
It was okay. It certainly didn’t wow me. The hummus is still a winner though. Great quality olive oil.
How is this a reply to me??
I originally quoted your quote of Andrew’s post before realizing I had the wrong poster. I thought I’d fixed it. There’s two huge posts of pictures, I didn’t really want to go to all that much effort to figure it out.
Sorry if I oversold it…
Really? I found it so so. Maybe they changed up the recipe because it’s not that great a few times.
In fairness, I haven’t had all that much tiramisu. But it was the highlight for me.
They keep trying to mess with the amount of liquor in it, idk if you felt it was a bit off.
Gusto has good Tiramisu and good cheese, i’ve mentioned it before somewhere.
https://www.facebook.com/gusto.taiwan/
I want to add gusto pizza
There was a pretty heavy hit of it. Which is perhaps why I enjoyed it. One of the people I was with is donating a kidney next week so it wasn’t ideal… except there was more for me.
I’ll try Gusto, maybe.
One of my kids loves tiramisu so we sometimes get the Costco or Tiramisu one. They’re both pretty non-threatening for kids. No way she could have had the Tiramisu at Taverna De Medici.
