Wsj article on eating out in taipei

anyone else read this? it appeared in the may 24th issue of the awsj. in the personal journal section which appears every friday. i actually missed it when it was published, but saw the eating out in bangkok article 2 weeks ago and it said you could email for the first part in the series(taipei).

anyway, the restaurants mentioned were:

Hung Yu, No.19-1 Lane 77, Chung Shan b[/b] North Rd., Sec. 2, Tel: 886-2551-6358. Open: daily, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Prices: Lobster is $53, most other dishes are less than $7. No credit cards accepted.
Han

Han, halfway down the arcade of Snake Alley, or Huaxi Street (look for a display case of seafood and a rack of smoked goose in front), Tel: 886-2308-8046. Open: daily, noon-11 p.m. Prices: Four people ordering lots of food will spend about $60. No credit cards accepted.

Peng Yuan, 2/F, 380 Lin Sen North Rd., Tel: 886-2551-9157. Open: daily, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Around $25 each if you stay away from expensive seafood dishes such as crab and whole fish. All credit cards accepted.

Kiki, No.28 Fushing b[/b] South Rd., Sec. 1,
Tel: 886-2752-2781. Open: daily, 11:30 am.-3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.-1 a.m. Prices: Around $10 a person. Accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and JCB.

Tutto Bello, No.15 Lane 25, Shuang Cheng St., Tel: 886-2592-3355. Open: daily, noon-2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Prices: $10 to $15 for many of the pastas and main courses. MasterCard, Visa and American Express accepted.

Taipei Eastern, No.2 Alley 3, Lane 217, Chung Hsiao b[/b] Rd., Sec. 3, Tel: 886-2772-1708. Open: Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.- 1 a.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.- 3 a.m. Prices: Moderate prices; three people can eat well for a total of around $40. Visa and MasterCard accepted.

Dalian, 175 Fushing b[/b] South Rd., Sec. 2 (next to the Technology Building MRT stop), Tel: 886-2325-4877. Open: daily, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Prices: Modest prices; $10 will buy a fine meal for one. Visa and MasterCard accepted.

Shao Shao Ko, intersection of Jin Shen b[/b] South Road and Ren Ai Road, Tel: 886-2351-7148. Open: closed Mondays; Tuesday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Prices: About $15 a person will feed you well. Visa, MasterCard and JCB accepted.

Shin Yeh, 34-1 Shuang Cheng Rd., near Chung Shan b[/b] North Road., Sec. 3, Tel: 886-2596-3255. Open: daily, 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Prices: $50 will feed four people well. Visa, MasterCard, JCB and Diners Club accepted.

and din tai fung which i’m sure everyone can find by themselves.

anyone been to any of these and have any comments? most of them he(author stan sesser) recommended specific dishes, but thought it would be too long to post here.

interested in hearing any impressions by people here…

I missed the article, and asked for it to be emailed to me, too. While I do have my reservations about some of the suggestions (Din Tai Fung is good and consistent, but not that fabulous, and he obviously hasn’t been to the original branch in awhile since it has been renovated; Tutto Bello is okay), I’ve read his articles and I know he has a lot more enthusiasm for many foods (i.e. animal organs) than I can ever sum up. Thus, I trust his opinion a lot more than others’. I intend to check out some of those places, and I’ll post my reviews when I do.

Tutto Bello is good, but if you are going on friday or saturday evening then pre book. Prices are pretty reasonable as long as you stay off the wine list, that just gets horribly expensive.

Only major disadvantage is the surrounding area with it being on the edge of the “zone”

aka “Hsiao Hsiao Ke”

Spent NT$ 1,360 for the following menu:

Noodles and sides