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Food Adventures in Taiwan: Chapter 13

Dinner @ Mitsui

Mitsui serves up several innovative Omakases at different price points and some of the freshest sashimi in town, in a clean, hip, and trendy atmosphere -- sort of like Nobu, but with less of a western influence, and better quality and tasting food.  On top of all of that, they specialize in providing fresh crabs flown in from Japan.  Of course, this means you can't really go walking in looking like a total bum, you should probably make a reservation, and you should have yourself some money to drop (although, you actually end up spending less than you would for a comprable meal at Nobu thanks to the power [or lack thereof] of the yuan]).  It's good to note that there are several locations, but the two on NongAn Rd are better than the newer location on DunHua Rd.  We went to the newer one two years ago, and the interior design and decor are a lot cooler than the locations on NongAn, but the food just isn't as great.  Also, I'm sure you're wondering why there are two Mitsui locations on NongAn Rd (in fact, they're right next to each other), but I can't offer you a valid explanation.  One is the original location, and I'm assuming they opened up the second one as a spillover restaurant due to increasing demand for/popularity of the original location; both, are presumably equal in quality and taste.

Anyway, my mom and I opted to not get the traditional Omakase, but rather, designed our own meal.  We purchased a Hokkaido King Crab, told our waitress we'd like a first course of sashimi, and two other hot appetizers, and she basically just recommended what she thought was the best in the house that night.  This place is awesome because you can get your crab served all sorts of ways -- we had ours grilled on a bed of salt with some ginko nuts and lime, steamed and served with seaweed and ponzu sauce, and raw on the side as our shabu shabu "protein" (Yes, my mom and I love shabu shabu).  The only mistake we made, or that my mom made, was to order the entire flipping crab.  We were originally going to order half of one (the minimum order), but my mom didn't want someone's leftover half, so she decided to ball out and get the entire thing.  In the end, yeah it was too much crab, but it was delicious and I annihalated all the leftovers the next day anyway, so no complaints here!  The meat is definitely a lot sweeter than the king crab from home, and the way it's prepared assures that every bite is super tender.  I'm a little sad that I only took a few photos of this particular night out, but I'll leave you with one shot of the crab and a few dessert pics.  Enjoy! =)

JOKES! (with Lindsay Lohan)

To anyone who follows celebrity gossip (and yes, I know there are a lot of you out there) -- this is pretty much incredible.

Food Adventures in Taiwan: Chapter 12

Shabu Shabu @ Orange

Like most shabu shabu places in Taiwan, Orange has an awesome prix fixe menu, where you get your choice of an appetizer, a plate of fresh sashimi of the day, choice of meat (and/or seafood), and dessert.  They also use these awesome copper pots that you can only purchase in Japan (I only know this because when I went to Japan in the summer of 2006, we ate a bomb shabu shabu place [my runner-up to Orange] that used these copper pots.  My mom fell in love, and we ended up convincing our waiter to let us buy a used one for $300 dollars and lugging that pot all the way back home).  Anyway, we actually went to Orange two days in a row, so here’s a collection of photos from both trips.  Enjoy!

There’s nothing I hate more than bruised, soggy, vegetables, so Orange gets extra points for always presenting the cleanest and crunchiest veggies.

I know what you're thinking.  "Isn't that just corn?"  Well yeah, it's corn.  But it's corn flown from some magical region of Japan that has perfected the art of growing the sweetest, crunchiest corn, that does not get stuck in your teeth!

Korabuta pork - or the japanese black-haired pig.  Giving up red meat would be so easy, knowing that I could still eat this.  Unfortunately, it's rare/expensive in the United States.  That basically means I inhaled this pork in Taipei like it was my job.  In Taipei, it's cheaper than Japanese Kobe, and even US Prime Ribeye, but it's so much tastier.  It's lightly marbled, without being oily, and kind of muscle-y, allowing for the perfect chewy texture. 

Crab that's sweeter than the sweetest Dungeness, has tons of "egg", and is easy to eat without a cracker or chopstick.  Like king crab, the meat slides right out of the shell, but it's a lot less stringy in texture.

It was the first time I'd ever had these clams.  They were sweet, but honestly I didn't think they were that special.  I just put the picture in because they look cool, haha.

After you're done with your shabu shabu, the servers use the broth and house-made sesame sauce to make spicy sesame noodles.  Chewy, aromatic, and delicious.

To close the savory part of the meal, the restaurant uses the remaining portion of the broth to make porridge with egg, scallions, and seaweed.  With a little bit of white pepper, this is the perfect meal clincher.

I don't think people give enough credit to chinese dessert making.  This is just a simple housemade flan, but it has the perfect consistency (not too soft, not too hard) and isn't too sweet or milky.  If you go after normal lunch hours, you should request this in the beginning of your meal, because they only make a certain amount each day.

There you have it!  My favorite spot to get shabu shabu in the world, in ten pictures.

I don't think we should see each other anymore...

This post is long overdue, considering it revolves around an experience that occurred during my trip to Paris in November, but better late than never right?  Brace yourselves, this is a long one -- It's the story of how I kicked foie gras out of my life -- yes, foie gras. 

My love for foie gras came in phases:

• Phase 1: My mom introduced me to foie gras in the 8th grade at the St. Regis Aqua in Laguna.  She actually ordered both the seared and cold versions, and I HATED both; I did not see any appeal in either of the oily dishes.  Suffice to say, I steered clear of foie gras for a while. 
• Phase 2: A few years later, a drastic turning point came in my life where I suddenly began to like foie gras.  No particular restaurant set this off, but I started to agree to split foie appetizers with my mom. 
• Phase 3: Addiction.  It became almost a default choice at any french or new american restaurant to try out the foie appetizer -- I was completely infatuated with the idea of the dish, served seared, cold, over french toast, as a popsicle covered in chocolate (this was actually an amuse bouche, but it was tasty) -- you name it, I'd eat it. 

Fast forward --> Paris November 2008.  It seemed like only the right thing to do -- to try the foie gras at almost every restaurant we went to (Strike #1); we were after all in a regional paradise for foie lovers.  After a few awesome meals from a small tartine eatery to Le Jules Verne, came dinner at Helen Darroze's restaurant (who is a large proponent of foie, and sometimes referred to as the protege of Alain Ducasse).   One of the appetizers on the menu was, of course, seared foie gras, but the catch was that you had to place a minimum order of two.  This caught me slightly off guard because I'd never had foie gras prepared in a way that feeds a minimum of two people.  My mom and I brushed off the disclaimer (Strike #2), which is where the night went downhill.

After awesome bread cart and freshly cut prosciutto action (photos on that later), our server wheeled out a cart with a nice metal platter on it.  Sitting on that platter is what looked like what you would imagine five zong zi combined into one lotus leaf would look like.  I raised my eyebrows inquisitevly and watched as our server delicately unwrapped this heaping mass, only to reveal the LARGEST HUNK OF FOIE GRAS I HAD EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE.  My jaw dropped, not out of excitement, but sheer horror.  Where did they get that mass of liver!?  I then smiled in my head, and naively thought "Wow, how awesome.  Just like bread or cheese carts, they are going to cut us each a fresh slice of this foie!" (Strike #3). 

Our server cut the entire thing up into 8 chunks, putting 4 on one plate for myself, and 4 on another for my mom.  I looked around the table confused, shifting my eyes and raising my eyebrow to Sophia and my mom.  The waitress placed the plates in front of us, and all I could think was, "I'm fu**ed".

(Picture taken after giving a portion of one slice to Sophia)

Anyway, I decided to just man up and try to eat all of it (Strike #4 -- already completely out of the game at this point).  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the foie was a little too runny, oily, and tender for my taste -- it was practically oozing animal cruelty.  In the end, I could only get through about two slices.  Combined, my mom and I probably left 3 - 4 slices on our plates -- a waste, I know.  But if we had eaten all of that, I'm sure we would have spent the rest of the meal in the bathroom.  Our waitress must have expected it though; I don't even think she really asked us if we were done before taking our plates away.  "Got em!", she probably said to herself.  After she took our plates, I muttered "I'm never going to eat foie gras again for the rest of my life". 

Next to getting chased by rabid cannibals in the woods, my worst nightmare would be this monster of a liver chasing me around the streets of Paris shouting "Eat me!"

Fast forward --> We stopped by 3-Star De Karmeliet in Bruges after Paris, and I didn't dare to even think about ordering foie gras.  The next time I had foie was probably in January went I went to Taiwan, but I gave half of the meager portion to my mom.  It's been four months, and I haven't touched the dish since then.

And that my friends, is how I ended my not-so-secret love affair with foie gras.

fin.

Dream Log - Chapter 1

Last night, I had a dream where I was with two friends at the opening day of some amusement park like Jurassic Park, but without the cool Jeeps, and with advanced friendly robotic dinosaurs instead of actual crazed Tyrannosaurus-Rexes and spitting Dilophosauruses (yeah, I had to look that up).  After walking through a bright green field of perfectly mowed grass with a bunch of baby robotic velociraptors, we got to a small outdoor stage (still in this magical theme park) where I somehow conjured up three VIP pit tickets to see Bon Iver.  Sadly, my alarm went off right as he came on. 

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?

I've decided that my dream was a product of 1) Listening to Dark Was the Night (and For Emma, Forever Ago) the last three weeks and 2) reading an article about Honda's new brain-wave controller for robots and watching the related video.

Hilarious.

Baoguette

Checked out the relatively new Baoguette in Gramercy today for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised.  For about $18 dollars, we got two sandwiches, a box of shrimp summer rolls, and a Vietnamese coffee -- a little bit expensive, but it's New York City, so whatever.  From what I can remember, they have four banh mi selections -- A classic "baoguette", bbq chicken, spicy catfish, and the sloppy bao (spicy curried beef).  I opted to get the classic, which consists of pork belly, homemade pork terrine and pate, and of course all the typical fixings.  The baguette was soft in the middle and had the perfect crunch on the outside, and pickled radish, cilantro, and pork pate are basically an unbeatable combination.  My biggest problem was that they either forgot to put in raw chillis or, as a house-recipe, use sriracha instead of chillis.  Banh mi without chillis isn't even banh mi at all, c'mon!  Also, it was bordering on a a little bit too salty (which is a lot say, considering I love salt) and my sister's was dripping meat juice (which, is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your own taste -- I personally like my banh mi on the drier side) (and yes, I just said meat juice).  The summer rolls were delicious and better than the ones I've tried at numerous Pho shops in the city, and the Vietnamese iced coffee, was...good, but a little too sweet (it's probably better diluted with some more ice).  The place isn't anywhere close to the awesomeness of Lee's or even banh mi from Golden Deli, but overall, I found the entire experience to come in at probably a 6 out of 10, which means I will definitely be returning for more Baoguette!