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…