Sumie Nouvelle - Japanese Fine Dining in Taipei

Our third day in Taipei, we were a little tired of Chinese banquet dinners (we had two 10-course meals with family the two previous nights. So after a day of checking out the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and shopping in Ximen Ding, we decided to have dinner at the nice Japanese restaurant inside our hotel, San Want Hotel, called Sumie Nouvelle Cuisine Japonaise.

We went for the chef's tasting menu, a seven course dinner.

First course was this beautfully plated guava, crab, soy gelee, cucumber, and tomato salad with miso dressing.

 Second up was Sashimi on the Rocks—snapper, hamachi, salmon, grilled white fish, and blanched shrimp. It was served with a white-fish ceviche.

The sashimi was very fresh and tasty, and the ceviche knocked it out of the park. The only thing that really didn't work for me was the shrimp. Anytime I've had shrimp with sashimi it's been fully cooked. This one was was reddish, but still translucent, and the texture in the mouth reflected that. But I manned up and swallowed it.

Third course was a play on tempura. Puffed rice crusted prawn, fried kabocha squash, fried fish.

Fourth course was a filet that was still cooking on a bed of hot rocks. Mine was delicious, but ended up a bit more done then I would've preferred. But that's the price I pay for taking too long to snap photos of all the food.

Steak is really expensive in Taiwan, because there isn't much that is locally raised on the island. So it must be imported from Japan, Australia, or the U.S.

Fifth course was a small collection of sushi (not pictured) and an amuse-bouche of hamachi.

Sixth course was a ginger lobster soup. The soup was extra gingery but delicious because it stayed piping hot the entire time. The soup was served in a bowl but lined with a water-resistant paper; inside the bowl, underneath the paper was a hot tile of granite to keep the soup hot.

Finally, for dessert we had mochi and cantaloupe. But this was no ordinary mochi, for inside this beautifully shaped mochi pillow topped with cocoa powder was a tiramisu filling. A wonderful little surprise to end the night.

In fact we were so inspired by the tiramisu mochi, that when we came back to the states, we had a holiday party where we took part in a dessert competition. We took the idea, and made a pumpkin pie mochi, which wasn't as beautiful (my first time making mochi), but a winning dessert none-the-less.

Waffle Tree near Sun Moon Lake - Taiwan

While on our tour in Taiwan, we went to a small aboriginal village in Sun Moon Lake in Central Taiwan. Strolling down the street towards the lake, I came across a random stand selling waffle trees. A waffle, shaped like a skinny Christmas tree, drizzled with a choice of sauce. I chose a coffee sauce which was delicious. I was a little bit concerned because a lady came out of the back with foil in her hair (getting her hair dyed)—when in Rome.

So it was a nice little treat after a long day of sightseeing. I was a little sad when I finished it in a few bites.

I Pity the Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Ray and Tracy at I Pity The Food.

Be sure to check out our photos from our trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong at our Shutterfly Site:
http://tracyandraytaiwanhongkong.shutterfly.com/pictures.

We promise to update this soon with all of our fabulous food from our trip and the holidays.

Bijan Wine Bar

Walking around the streets of downtown San Jose with a coworker after a conference, we encountered a waitress posted out by a restaurant patio with 4 glasses of wine, and asked if we wanted a sample. This wasn't some sample of deep fried orange chicken from a food court, these were generously poured glasses of a Port and Sauvignon Blanc.

Naturally we were sold, so we went in and sat down for a drink. The waitress looked really excited, likely because we were the only customers there. We learned that the Bijan Wine Bar had only been open for three days, and was owned by their more famous Bijan Bakery and Cafe located across the walkway.

We navigated three tabloid-sized menus of food, dessert, and drink, but the waitress persuaded us to trying the wine flights. I guess that's their thing. My coworker had a Sauvignon Blanc flight while I had the Pinot Noir flight.

Each set of three wines was presented on a piece of paper, with circles where each glass was supposd to be placed with the name and vintage of the wine as well as a detailed description and tasting notes.

The food—while not intended to be a meal, but rather to complement the wine—left us a little wanting due to ultra small portions. The saving grace though was the Opera Cake, layers of cake and almond, amaretto and chocolatey goodness.

Definitely a place to check out some evening, after dinner, but it still has some kinks to work out.

CHIFA by Iron Chef Garces

Parihuela

I was so enamored with Iron Chef Jose Garces at Garces Trading Company, that I took some of my coworkers to another of Chef Garces' restaurants, CHIFA—a hybrid of Peruvian and Cantonese cuisine. A little history on the Peru-China connection, according to the CHIFA website,  when Chinese workers "came to Peru in the late 19th century, they brought their cuisine with them. Over the years, they adapted their foods to work with Peruvian ingredients and incorporated native South American cooking techniques."

The food is served tapas style primarily—small plates. And our group of 6 ordered a lot of food to share and to hoard for ourselves. What did we order?

Pulpo

• BBQ ribs with a char sui glaze
• Spicy garlic ginger chicken wings
• Mussels with a broth of coconut, lemongrass, and Thai basil
• Lobster bowl with noodles, rocoto cream, bacon, parmesan, and green peas
• Red Curry with jumbo lump crab and coconut
• Chaufa with oxtail—essentially an oxtail fried rice
• Salt and pepper shrimp (which our group found to not be very good with the head and shell on)
• Thai beef salad
• Pulpo—rock octopus with a ginger gastrique
• Lomo Saltado—braised beef with potatoes and stirred vegetables
• Yuca fries with a red chile mayo and a chimichurri sauce (highly recommended))
• Parihuela—a ciopoino-esque dish pf lobster, clams, mussels, and scallops

Amazing meal along with excellent drinks. I had a Pisco Sour which is a Peruvian brandy and lime juice.

I'd easily give CHIFA a 5 stars. I don't pity CHIFA, I just pity the fools that don't have an opportunity experience it.