February 28, 2008
大山無價
林'R was nice enough to take us away from the fetid Taipei basin out into the hills above Xindian and stopped in at this restaurant for lunch. They'd been here before as a date, but it's also well-suited for a group gathering. Nicely spaced tables with see-thru bamboo curtains to offer privacy while maintaining an expansive sense of space in the dining room. The tatami-padded benches offered a Japanese-like seating feel without being so hard on the knees with all the squatting.
The multi-course set meal offered a wide variety of tastes and textures in a Sino-Japanese vein. Considering the nice environment and the variety of food it's an excellent value. The relaxed setting allowed plenty of time and space for picture-taking, so I got a complete record of our multi-course set meal. So I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Red wine gelatin with a sakura petal garnish.
Hand-made tofu with pine-nut garnish. Red-rice cake topped with salmon roe.
Rustic flour dumplings in a hearty stock flavored with 臘肉 and scallions.
They offered different flavored vinegars as an interlude between the courses. The sweet-sour fruity vinegar helped to cleanse the heavy flavors of the soup course in preparation of the lighter courses to come.
Free-range chicken gently cooked in broth and garnished with scallions on the left. On the right is freshly cut sweet corn in a soy-milk soup. Perfectly tender chicken and very fresh corn, with their original flavors well preserved and enhanced by the preparation.
The seafood quality of the sashimi salad wasn't as extravagant as a real sushi restaurant like 三井. However, the artfully arranged sashimi, padded with a wakame salad, made for a nice presentation.
A thick, stewy soup blended from organic local vegetables. Topped with a chunk of crunch-soft fried mochi.
The signature entree, salt-grilled jumbo prawns accompanied by grilled vegetables on one side and tempura vegetables on the other side.
烏魚子糯米飯: Put the minimum amount of fish roe there to qualify it as an ingredient.
The dried lotus flower is allowed to soak into the steaming pot of chicken stew filled with goodies like taro and lotus seeds.
Mashed taro in syrup makes for a rich dessert, a bit much after the big meal. A few chunks of fresh local fruit is more refresh.
大山無價飲食空間
台北縣新店市北宜路3段62號
02-22178891
February 16, 2008
私處 - Coté a Coté
We went looking for a place to eat after walking through the Lantern Festival at the at SYS Memorial Hall. Got away from the crowd and wandered through the back alleys between the 國父紀念館 and 忠孝敦化 MRT stations which are packed with all sorts of restaurants and lounges. Was just about to settle for a random roadside food stand when I noticed the converted house of a restaurant set back behind a walled garden which seemed like a good spot for a light dinner. They don't have many tables in the first-floor dining room which was full, but it turned out that they had a big basement, too. The basement smelled a bit musty, though, so we sat outside on the patio. We could hear the crowds passing by but there was enough foliage and wall to provide privacy.
The menu consisted of light European fare with an emphasis on seafood, mostly French style with a few pasta dishes thrown in. The prix fixe seemed like a good value for the money. We started with a couple of seared scallops for the SO and I had a dish of zesty marinated calamari rings. I was impressed to see frisee and endive in a cheap prix fixe salad, which worked nicely with a simple vinaigrette. There was even real crab meat on top to qualify it as a real seafood salad.
For the mains, I had the halibut with a tomato Provençal sauce, with mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables on the side. The spicy tomato sauce provides the acidity and the flavors for the tender white fish. SO had the spaghetti two-ways: spicy seafood and mushroom medley. Both simple and tasty in the Mediterranean way.
All in all an excellent value for the money. Way better cooking than one would expect for a mid-low-priced Western restaurant around here. Some nice touches like the fancy greens and real crab meat to give the food a real bit of class. The big brown husky in the courtyard was a bit worrisome for the SO, but he seemed friendly enough albeit bored by the confinement. Thankfully somebody took him out for a jog around the block so we could make our escape unmolested.
私處
Coté a Coté
台北市大安區光復南路280巷50號1樓
02-2772-2826
February 12, 2008
Trattoria Mah
Got into Nagoya around 8pm and by the time we checked into the hotel it was pushing 9pm. Wanted to have a relatively nice meal for our last night in Japan but didn't quite know where to go and it was a bit too cold&dark to be wandering aimlessly around Nagoya Station.
The department stores always feature nice restaurants so we went with that fall-back option. Went up the Nagoya JR Central Towers and wandered in circles a bit before deciding on the Italian option.
The food certainly wasn't inexpensive at Trattoria Mah, with the emphasis on a soothingly dim room of blues and burgundies, each tables lit more brightly by halogen spots. We kept it light with a salad, a pizza, and a glass of Itlian wine. The Nippon-Italian food was of good quality, although I'm not sure if the Italian-style thin-crust was quite sufficient to hold all the toppings on the signature pizza. I mean there was seafood, vegetables, and even a hard-boiled egg tossed in for good measure. Definitely safer to eat with knife-and-fork on a plate.
Trattoria Mah (トラットリア マッ)
愛知県名古屋市中村区名駅1－1－4 タワーズプラザ12F
052-589-9555
富士屋 花筏 和菓子
Only had less than a day in Takayama so we concentrated on the historical district. Running around on the snowy day had us a bit pooped out as the sun began to set. The stylish tea-house had caught my eye on our way out from the train station, and it seemed like a good rest stop on our way back.
An old house stylishly converted into a tea-and-sweets shop with big picture windows featuring both blonde-wood modern as well as tatami-sitting traditional furnishings made locally. The counter at the door offers a fine selection of Japanese-style sweets which may also be ordered in the sit-down area. We had just enough time for a bit of fresh-brewed tea in traditional iron kettles and a cherry-chocolate wagashi sweet before our train to Nagoya.
富士屋花筏
岐阜県高山市花川町46-1
0577-36-0339
February 11, 2008
Omicho Market Kaisendon-ya
This was a short trip and we were determined to see the sights, so we did a lot of running around without much time to sit down for fancy meals. It's also a bit tough to find good information on Japanese places and even if you have the reviews and the address they can be hard to find in the old streets, not to mention the communication issues.
The Omicho Market is the central marketplace in Kanazawa, and a wide variety of restaurants surround it to take advantage of the fresh bounty offered within. As a well-known tourist destination and a natural foodie draw, most of the restaurants have lines stretching well out the door at meal-time. We didn't have the patience nor time to wait, but once we saw the lines the day before, we planned to get back to the marketplace early to grab a spot before the lunch rush.
Managed to do a tiny bit of research before-hand thanks to the ePC and found 近江町 海鮮丼家 to be highly rated on Japanese user review sites as a cheap-eat destination. The narrow shop only offered a few tables and a long counter where two chefs and a server handled the busy lunch hour. Kaisendon (海鮮丼) for me, layered on top with thin slices of fresh sashimi. Tendon (天丼) for her, covered with fresh-fried tempura shrimp and veggies. The ingredients presumably came fresh from the market next door, and Japanese rice is always amazingly perfect, combining for a quick and tasty lunch.
Thankfully we got there early and ate without much of a wait, because the line was out of sight by the time we left. We had just enough time to get back to Kanazawa station to catch our bus to Shirakawa-go.
近江町 海鮮丼家 ひら井
石川県金沢市上近江町29
076-222-5887
February 10, 2008
甘味処 漆の実
Spent our full day in Kanazawa taking in the sights. After a long day of walking through the historical districts and the Kenroukuen gardens we were getting sore feet and looking for a spot to sit down. We went into a lacquerware store near the City Hall to check out one of the local specialties. Can't quibble with the craftsmanship, but the prices were a bit high for a travel souvenir. Was just about to slink out of the place when I noticed that they offered afternoon tea and dessert upstairs.
Sure, we couldn't afford the fancy lacquer-ware, but we figured we'd at least to handle a few pieces in the dessert shop upstairs. And it was a chance to get some rest and warm up. As befit a traditional crafts shop, they offered mostly traditional Japanese sweets accompanied by green tea. I chose warm mochi three ways. Small balls of mochi topped with macha, peanut, and anko powders or sauces for flavor. Accompanied by a frothy bowl of fresh-whipped macha green tea, of course.
SO had the #1 recommended dessert of the shop: macha ice cream over warm mochi balls and anko sauce. The combination offers a wide range of flavors, textures, and temperatures. A bowl of bitter green tea on the side cuts the sweetness of the dessert nicely.
Enjoyed our afternoon interlude and we were ready to continue our walk about town. The mochi was surprisingly filling, and the warm tea hit the spot as night fell on a winter day.
甘味処 漆の実
石川県金沢市広坂1-1-60 能作ビル 4F
076-263-8121