February 19, 2009
Forchetta
Decided to take the wife out for one more nice meal before her due date. What she really wanted was shabu-shabu, but the iPhone failed me, as the address it found for the place I had in mind was out of date. So we walked a long way the wrong way, which did not put her in a good mood. Was just about to just hail a cab when we noticed Forchetta's sign peeking out discreetly in an alley. She'd read a good review, and fancy-fusion food instead of hot-pot was fine with me.
A dense wall of greenery was planted to shield the busy street and create a calm, cocooned interior despite the floor-to-ceiling picture windows. The kitchen is completely open, separated from the main room by a bar, with many crisply-dressed chefs already in action to serve the patrons. That doesn't leave much room on the main floor, but in the basement are a few more private spaces for larger parties and overflow. Thankfully on a Thursday evening we could walk in and still have a table in the main room, and we'd just come from work so we were not underdressed for the sharply decorated space, with shelves oh-so-casually populated with arty architectural books and precious wood-carving pieces.
The prix fixe menu featured many courses and many $$$. For a weekday dinner we were content to order one multi-course meal with an extra entree for her, sharing the appetizers beforehand, making it into more of a small-plate kind of experience, and they were quite accommodating with the extra plates and silverware for her throughout.
We started with a pumpkin soup with cream foam on top. The dramatically oversized bowl formed a dark background for the bright yellow soup and white topping to stand out. It was kind of ridiculous to be sharing such a small portion, but the cup in the bowl is deeper than it looks, and a few sips of the rich soup is more than enough to satisfy.
Chicken salad with an EVOO and balsamic dressing. Walnuts added a bit of crunch and gorgonzola for richness. Many strong flavors but they blended well and didn't overwhelm the delicate greens. Too bad my sucky cell phone camera couldn't capture the metallic sheen of the gold foil embedded within the bowl.
An Asian-fusion preparation as mushrooms and bamboo shoots were dressed with truffle oil, wrapped in won-ton skin to be seared crisp in butter. A couple larger stalks of the mushroom artfully arranged to balance the heavy wrap on the rectangular slate. An inky streak of balsamico, like a bold brushstroke, connected the two elements. It was like a really fancy spring-roll, infused in flavorful oil, instead of soaked in cheap grease like the typical take-out fare. The glass of crisp white house wine was a good palette-cleanser afterwards.
Wife ordered a steak (more protein for the baby). If she was only going to have the one entree, the accoutrements certainly made it seem like a worthwhile choice. As they brought out a tray of various flavored salts and spices to dress the steak. From left to right we have a Fleur de Sel, home-made garlic salt, a fantastic infused curry salt, and crushed red peppercorns. No blase iodine salt and black pepper here.
The meat itself was a good-old rib-eye steak. Cooked medium at her request, then sliced. The meat was tender despite the medium cooking. Garnished with grilled 筊白筍 mini-leeks and the ubiquitous mushrooms. The various flavored salts and the accompanying sauce gave a simple dish multi-dimensional flavors.
My entree was a white fish cooked en-papillote with white wine and extra-virtgin olive oil along with clams and baby mushrooms. The spicy olive oil and the clam juices offered clean, light flavors. Although I couldn't resist sprinkling some of the salts on the fish, too, just for fun.
I was miffed for a second because I thought the chocolate-dipped strawberry and single-bite-sized macha cake was the only dessert to finish the meal. Turned out there was still a real dessert afterwards so it's all good.
Considering the creativity already shown in the previous dishes, I was okay with a standard offering like tiramisu for dessert. However, if you're going to do the basics you should do it well. So I was a little disappointed to find plain sponge cake, a bit dry around the edges, instead of ladyfingers, and the coffee flavor was a bit weak. Although the actual cup-o-coffee alongside was quite good.
All in all it was a fine way to celebrate the end of our childless life. The chef obviously has a good idea of what he wants to do and the vision was executed well. The ingredients are as local as possible, organic, etc. Not gaudy or overwrought, but solidly high-end. I'll have to visit again with a decent camera next time to do the food picture more justice, although the iPhone camera did as well as it could considering the low-light conditions.
Forchetta
台北市大安區安和路一段127巷4號
02-07077776