March 14, 2010
田納希新平價牛排
Cousin A wants steak! But not too expensive steak. And we didn't feel like going far from wife's mom's place. That pretty much left only this particular restaurant available to try. Despite its proximity and visible popularity, wife and the girls have never tried it before, so we do have the element of anticipation working for us, as we sat on the bench outside awaiting the second seating. Yes, the restaurant is so popular that they strictly seat only with reservations, for two seatings per night at 6pm and 7:30pm. Hey, Taiwan folks eat early, and eat fast.
The old-school styling starts out with the faux-wood-cabin interior and carries right through to the cuisine. The crudite-style salad comes with the choice of thousand-island or ranch dressings. The soup comes in a mini-tureen, perfect suited to be covered by the puffy pastry shell, a tasty seafood chowder contained within. One more old school-touch that's much appreciated: their own fresh-brewed sweet iced-tea.
The steak wasn't half bad, not the highest grade but they put enough into it so it still comes out tender and juicy. Thankfully they put the goopy sauces (peppercorn and mushroom options, per usual) on the side without having to be asked, or worse dump it all over your meat without asking. The side-dishes were positively night-market-ish, though: spaghetti, frozen veggies, and a fried egg. But they do bring it with style, still sizzling on a hot iron platter, covered with a metal dome. The waiter first took the time to warn us to shield ourselves with paper napkins, in order to guard against the sputtering splatter coming off the sizzling hot platter as he uncovered the food with a flourish.
For a place that calls itself a 平價 value-priced restaurant, the meal was surprisingly pricey, averaging out for NT4-500 a head. On the other hand, Taiwan does have to import most of its beef. So it's not so unreasonable to ask a fair price for a fair cut of meat. If I wanted cheap instead of value I would've just gone across the street for the NT 50 滷肉飯 roasted pork-bits rice bowl.
田納希新平價牛排
台北縣新店市民權路41號
02-8665-9829