Bittenbug’s Weblog

Toscana at Sherwood Hotel is one of Taipei’s higher end Italian restaurants and one of my dad’s favorite places for Sunday brunch. That’s where we went a few weeks ago, when I had a short business trip into the city. I didn’t think I would be back before my parents retired and returned home, but it’s a nice surprise.

The Sunday brunch here is exceptional. There is everything you want – variety, excellent food, great service, comfortable surroundings. What you get is an appetizer and dessert buffet, soup and eggs, smoothie and coffee or tea. You can have that on its own or add on a main dish, like lamb or beef, or order ala carte, like we did.

Perhaps the only downside is cost, but that doesn’t impede it from being crowded every weekend, as I’ve heard. My parents know to book ahead of time, or be turned away (as they have before).

Appetizer buffet

Let’s start with the appetizer buffet. It’s not a large spread, but there’s a variety of cheeses and hams and a good caesar salad are all that I need.There’s hot food as well which I didn’t take much of.

Unknown soup

We follow with soup. I can’t remember what soup it was, except that it was creamy and salty.

Omelet with truffles

I raided the appetizer buffet again, while waiting for my eggs. There were about five choices and all sounded appealing. Dad enthusiastically recommended the omelet with truffles, so I went with that, while he had poached eggs and mom had eggs with corned beef hash.

In all honesty, I’m not an omelet fan but this one is really good. I love the texture of cutting through and getting stringy cheese. The truffle imparts an earthy aroma, though it was only enough to hint rather than give flavour. But still, truffle is always good.

Lasagna

Dad wanted that share the lasagna there. He’s proclaimed it the best he’s ever had and so in spite of his diet, he wanted that. I haven’t had many restaurant-quality lasagna before, but this is right there on the top. The words that were running through my brain – rich, creamy, cheesy, fat – and then I stopped thinking altogether and just ate.

Dessert

To end off this horribly decadent meal, we had what else…dessert. The dessert corner isn’t large but there are quite a few choices. I passed on the cakes and went straight for the fruit mouses and creme brulee and some fruits (to assuage the guilt). The sweets were good, but not exceptional, but I was happy enough.

We went home and I just kicked back and watched tv at home. Close to 630, my mom excitedly told me to come see the sunset. I’ve seen it many times at this flat, but still, it’s quite a sight. I can’t capture the image well enough, but it’s just a serene sight of outskirts of Taipei, with rolling hills around us.

My parents are going home and that’s probably the last time I’ll see the place they’ve called home for 5 years. I’ll miss coming back to Ming De and Tianmu, and the peaceful community around here. At least I’ll still have this…

After having a to-die-for molten chocolate cake at La Fourchette one day, I started having cravings at the most inopportune moments (such as a business meeting in Seoul). Unfortunately, no where else I went managed to quell the cravings.

Of course there are plenty of places in town that are rumored to make great cakes, like sift or chocolux. But I haven’t had the time to check it out because of hectic traveling.

Today I suddenly felt the urge to just make it. I haven’t baked for a long time (actually since I moved here) and I don’t have the most basic electronics, but we just gave it a shot. It was made much easier because we stumbled upon Sweetie Baking Workshop in Causeway Bay.

This shop is a lifesaver. They have just about anything you need to get started and at a reasonable price. I managed to get all the tools and ingredients for under HK$120, and intend to be back for more, once I hone my rusty baking skills.

I used the classic recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I managed to follow the recipe to a T, especially because I got the Valrhona chocolate for cheap (yay!). It’s a fairly easy recipe and the hardest part I found to be manually whisking the eggs and sugar. Without an electric whisk, I couldn’t get it as light as it should’ve been. But it was a great arm workout I must say.

Homemade molten chocolate cake

But unfortunately, I wasn’t very successful. The batter was great and C and I couldn’t stop licking at it. We followed the recipe and had it in for 6 minutes, but it didn’t come out runny much. I reckon 4 minutes should be enough and that’s what we intend to do tomorrow, where we finish up the remaining batter.

*Update, the second time was much better. It still wasn’t runny enough but at least it wasn’t 90% solid last the last. And we managed to butter it enough that it doesn’t stick to the dish.

Another Sunday lunch, another Japanese restaurant. That day, we had our heart set on trying out Spoil Cafe near PP3 but alas when we went around 12pm, it was still closed. Having no luck there, we made a quick detour to 六角 Rokkaku on the next street.

Let me warn you it’s not particularly easy to find, we sorta stumbled upon it. When we arrived, it was just half full, which is thankful considering we were hungry and wet and desperately needed somewhere to sit and eat.

Rokkaku is a small restaurant, I counted just 18 seats in total. We were quickly seated at the corner and given hot tea. We made decisions quickly: C had minced tuna rice (yes, again!) and I had eel.

To be honest, I had serious expectations about Rokkaku but came away slightly disappointed. Perhaps it was an off day, but the food wasn’t exceptional, not the way that everyone else had raved around.

Minced tuna bowl

C’s set arrived first and she tucked in. Both sets come with appetizers, which I can’t remember much about anymore. I suspect it wasn’t much to rave about. C seemed to like it her tuna bowl but she wasn’t raving about it, so I reckon it was just average. I remember eating scoopfuls and thought it was ok. The rice seemed oddly warm and perhaps not as chewy and sticky as I would’ve liked.

Grilled eel set

I love eel and the one here is slightly above average. As you can see, the portions are substantial – three pieces of thick and juicy eel. The problem is the chef was stingy on the sauce and it left the eel dry. The best part about having grilled eel is smothering the excess sauce onto the rice, but here, the rice was dry. I ate just half of it, and all of the eel.

What can I say. I think the food here isn’t half bad, but the meal I had just don’t compare to the good ones I’ve been having recently. I’ll probably give it one more chance (after I exhaust all the great restaurants in town), but that isn’t high on my priorities right now.

While in Taiwan, mom excitedly told me about the handful of miracle fruits her friend passed to her.

Think of it like a minature plum. Once you bite through the reddish skin, there is a strange artificial sweetness and odd bitterness. I didn’t think about it too much, because I was more interested in trying out exactly how much of a “miracle” it is.

Miracle fruit

I ate half a lime. Yes, I actually sucked half a lime and it tasted sweet. I couldn’t believe it, and I sucked the other half of it. Yes, still sweet. I don’t know how it does it, but it completely distorts the taste buds. I was tempted to try it on chilli, but I chickened out in the end.

I wouldn’t recommend it on sweet stuff. I ate a cherry just for experiment’s sake, and it made the sweetness cloying and artificial.  I think I’ll stick to distorting bitter and sour flavours from now on.

For more info: http://flavortripping.wordpress.com/

This is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town but oddly I’ve never brought C, even though it’s just 10 minutes away. One evening we made a reservation to try it out together.

We arrived right on the dot at 7pm and about half the tables were filled. The restaurant has a slightly run-down feel to it and is showing its age. But overall, we had a great time at Farm House. The food was even better than the last few times I had been here (some feel the quality has dropped, I disagree).

Perhaps my only beef is the waitstaff. They seem a little snooty, and only willing to fall all over themselves to serve the regular customers. We spent close to HK$600 for two, so for this price I expect something more.

炆牛筋

As we set down, one of the wait staff put down two appetizers. I was surprised not to have the 炆牛筋 (beef shank?) because it’s one of my favourite things. We asked for it and it was quickly brought to us. As I remembered, it’s absolutely satisfying. The meat is tender and just the right amount of fat. I can eat two bowls of that and be happy.

Crab meat soup

C and I had a bowl of soup each. We originally planned on half a pot of 杏汁白肺湯 but they ran out that evening. So I took a bowl of pig lung soup and C had crab meat and corn soup. Hers was definitely better. It was rich and hearty, and full of crab meat. No fake stuff there, and it wasn’t expensive either. My soup was too peppery and I didn’t quite enjoy it, especially compared to C’s soup.

糯米雞翼

Next up was Farm House’s signature dish – 糯米雞翼 (chicken wings stuffed with glutinous rice). There is no doubt, after eating this dish, that Farm House deserves its honor of being one of HK’s best Chinese restaurants. I can imagine it being difficult to pull off this dish, and to make it perfect. The rice was just the right amount of chewiness in spite of having the chicken wings fried to a golden brown. The chef’s timing was impeccable.

啫啫唐生菜煲

Next up was this 啫啫唐生菜煲 (lettuce pot). I must say, this time it surprised me. I have ordered it before but wasn’t too impressed, especially when compared to Victoria City’s. But C wanted to try it, so I gave it another chance. I’m glad I did because it turned out much better and even more so than VC’s.

When the waitress lifted the lid, we were hit with the strong aroma of prawn paste. It’s pretty much a love it or hate it thing, and I love it. What’s different this time is that the vegetables weren’t over charred or over cooked. The sauce was still a little salty but I can live with that.

京都排骨

Our final dish was the 京都排骨 (Bejing-style ribs), which is supposed to be one of their specialties but I don’t see anyone trying it out. It tasted great to me. The meat was mostly tender (especially around the fatty parts). C relished it, said that it’s a great example of how these ribs should be done because it wasn’t overly fatty and very tender. We finished up everything, so you can tell I agree.

Last saturday I was forced to work, and to make up for the slavedriving C decided to join me in Central for lunch. We walked around for all of two seconds and decided to go to Al Dente for two reasons. It was reasonably priced and it was full. Anywhere that’s full when restaurants beside it aren’t is good enough reason.

I’ll preface the entire entry with this. The food was good at this price point, especially for the portions. The food could have been better and I could have done without the grumpy service, but even then I would call lunch here a steal at HK$88. No wonder it was completely packed at 1pm.

Mushroom soup

C liked it and I thought it was just average. But then, I’ve never been that partial to mushroom soup anyways. I thought it was a little thin and didn’t have enough mushroom bits. It was slightly salty, like full of MSG.

Char-grilled ribeye

Next up were our mains. The portion of steak was big and I liked that it was nicely charred on the outside. I thought the cut of meat was a little tough, and I could’ve used with more seasoning. The grilled vegetables was a nice touch, especially the sweet potato and peppers.

Mushoom and chicken pasta

Wow, this was hearty. Thank godness it wasn’t creamy because that would have just been too, ummm, jelat (still thinking of an english translation). Both C and I thought this was better than the steak. I think there must have been a splash of wine in there. The chicken was slightly over charred, so it tasted a little bitter. C thought so too, though it wasn’t too overbearing.