earnestos — Restaurant in Taipei

I had the pleasure of dining with Earnest Toh this past Saturday during the soft opening of his new project, Earnestos, located in Rui An Street (瑞安街) near the Taipei Public Library and Da-An Forest Park. The main space features a large open kitchen, more like "home" than a typical restaurant, and we sat at the kitchen counter section near the chefs. If I were in the chef's position, I would have been really nervous, but they all breezily went about their business, chatting with us at the same time they were preparing a wonderful tasting menu. The theme of the cuisine is hard to pinpoint, but I would suggest "Southeast Asian inspired creative dishes made with local Taiwanese ingredients presented with European style." How's that for a mouthful.

The menu was separated into four phases. First phase was a series of one-bite snacks served at the same time, each packed with multiple complementary flavors.

Second phase consisted of three "appetizers" served one at a time, starting with slices of raw saurel fish with pickled onions and fish roe. Second appetizer was a fish head curry soup served with fermented potato roti-style bread. Lovely (and filling). The last appetizer was my favorite: dry aged mackerel, slightly seared, and served on a delicious butter sauce, gooseberries and chili sauce. For me, I tried to get each bite with a gooseberry, fish and butter sauce, which was just awesome in both texture and flavor.

Third phase was the main courses. Highlight was the smoked & seared beef rib in a smoked red sauce, together with mustard green (蓋菜), which is normally not my favorite vegetable, but in this case was pickled and smoked to perfection--an absolutely beautiful complement to the beef. Yum. Paired very well with the house red wine, Morellino di Scansano. Last savory dish was claypot mushroom rice with peas and subtle fine multi-pepper seasoning. I was stuffed at this point, but on to dessert.

Phase 4 was a series of two desserts. First dessert was a mix of fresh and dried persimmon with marigold leaves (think mint flavor) and vanilla sauce. Second dessert plate was a soft chesnut puff, and a special mousse layer made from Malaysian fruit 班斕 (I have personally never seen this fruit, but it is naturally green and delicious) + 糯米糕. We paired all of this with a sweet Muscat from the Rhone Valley.

Okay, admittedly, I was already a fan of Chef Earnest from NKU and MUME, but it is exciting to see him out on his own, making the type of cuisine that inspires him the most. Bravo Chef...we...

2025.04.30 Earnestos；$4,480/人

整體評價：★★★★★

先說結論：味道驚豔、服務熱情、風味獨特

這大概是我目前吃過最優且願意回訪的Fine Dining餐廳了。

4月29日晚上，老飯友緊急邀約，說隔天的團臨時缺一人；我也沒多問，就兩肋插刀的答應了。

來這家餐廳前，只知道是南洋風味的Fine Dining，網路評價次數不多、能找到的網誌心得也不多，本不抱期待的，但殊不知吃完覺得驚為天人！

整體環境店面小巧、裝潢簡約俐落但是不單調，服務部分是真的好，放眼望去所有的員工平均年齡不到30歲（有確認過，平均真的不到30），但能把菜色做到這樣的等級真的非常厲害，可能也是因為年輕，味道不循規蹈矩充滿驚喜，更重要的是員工之間互動的氛圍有種一家人的感覺，輕鬆但不隨便，和之前吃的餐廳感覺完全不同，用餐時身心更加放鬆。

吃飯至今，也吃過了幾家Fine Dining餐廳，米其林二星的LOGY、(前)一星的Longtail、演蒔光…等，對於菜色，在吃的時候總覺得還OK，大多是好吃、但是僅有幾道菜讓人眼睛為之一亮讓人有印象，讓我沒有意願回訪，覺得經驗過吃過就好了；但是Earnestos真的優。

對於南洋料理，可能先入為主的刻板印象會是香料味會很重、味道強烈、極端的酸甜苦辣之類的；但是Earnestos把味道做的超好，調味非常和諧不會過於突出，而且與食材本身的味道互相襯托，非常優秀！每道菜色都讓人眼睛為之一亮、非常好吃，完全不會讓有「喔，就這樣」的感覺。

螢烏賊的鮮甜、馬鈴薯麵包的香氣與口感、鴨湯酸白菜、烤魚跟周圍醬汁、牛排牛骨隨、玉露鴨搭配星馬風味醬汁與芥末、酸香的土鍋飯，每道都印象深刻。

更重要的是，主廚非常用心，在快吃完時，我們和飯友在細聲討論可能會吃不飽之後，主廚直接炒了一盤星馬炒米粉上來，雖然是隨手炒，但使用的食材毫不馬虎，還有使用螢烏賊在裡面，味道更不馬虎，好吃到我不知該怎樣形容XD，如果他有單獨賣炒米粉我一定吃爆！根本是調整賣相就可以拿出來當一道佳餚的等級。

當然，Earnestos也不是沒缺點：

1.菜色少：只有7道菜，如果沒有主廚招待的炒米粉真的會吃不飽，再加上草仔粿這道菜雖然是500盤，但我真的無法XDD，覺得過於一般。

2.甜點可能要加強XD：我覺得應該不是甜點不好，而是因為主餐菜色每道都太強了，反而甜點給人的驚艷度低上許多，但相較其它餐廳用咖啡紅茶和糕點帶過，Earnestos在甜點上的創意真的用心太多，但能夠再昇華加強甜點部分的話，真的就是完美的收尾了。

總結：Earnestos真的是目前吃過最優的餐廳，雖然有可能是因為是不常吃的味道所以覺得很新奇，但我覺得味道的呈現依然是Fine Dining中數一數二優秀的，雖然道數少了點導致價位稍高，但是依然值得推薦的一家店！下季回訪。

我是分隔線=====

2025.08.22 Earnestos；二訪；$5,522/人

整體評價：★★★★

先說結論：與春季菜單相比較為遜色、澱粉爆擊、甜點等級大幅度提升

自上次吃完讓人大開眼界的春季菜單後，夏季又回訪了一次，也是至今吃過的2,000元以上餐廳唯一回訪的一家。

服務依然舒服，積極熱情，還額外提供「白新春茶莊」的不知香作為招待。

與春季菜單相比，夏季菜單讓人讓人眼睛為之一亮的菜色少了一些，但必須強調並不是味道不好，而是和其它家Fine Dining菜色較相近，少了春季菜單獨特感。

菜單選擇上，做了一些微調，有3,300+10%和4,300+10%的兩個價位，但4,300+10%的菜單需要使用包廂才能點選；雖然3,300也可以加點4,300有的菜色，但是看到可以加點的預定菜有上次吃到驚為天人的星洲炒米粉，馬上就選了4,300的菜單了XD，感謝主廚的寬容XD，雖然沒使用包廂，還是讓我們點選4,300的菜單。

《好吃但沒印象的菜色》

日本穴子：吃起來沒印象XD，唯一的印象就是葉子的香氣，但也不是葉子香氣重壓過了其它食材，應該是我個人問題，吃不太出其他味道XD

夏季剌身：生魚片熟成味道很不錯，口感也好，好吃穩定的菜色。

和牛豆皮壽司捲：吃不懂，吃下去的瞬間還是吃不太出味道XDD

《好吃很讚的菜色》

南洋雞雜布丁：多種不同的肉類內臟(?)絞成漢堡排的形狀，搭配咖哩與提燈，味道超級香！不同肉品呈現的味道層次在口中化開，沾上咖哩後味道更上層樓，最後搭配一如既往優秀的馬鈴薯麵包，真的超讚！

甜點娘惹糕合集：娘惹糕、椰子麻糬(?)、香蕉咖啡蛋糕，其中以香蕉咖啡蛋糕超級優秀！個人通常不愛甜點中有加香蕉的甜點，因為總覺得香蕉的味道很難處理，一個不小心味道太突出搞得全部都是香蕉味。但Earnestos的香蕉咖啡蛋糕真的非常優秀！香蕉跟咖啡的香氣拿捏非常平衡，香蕉的淡香味結束後，咖啡香氣慢慢竄出，蛋糕本身口感也好吃，超讚！

娘惹糕在春季菜單上也有，一如既往優秀，椰子麻糬不愛外層的椰粉口感（純粹個人問題XD），但麻糬內餡包的是流體的椰糖(?)，吃起來像湯圓的感覺，整體上來說不錯。

冰品：自製冰淇淋搭配玄米、龍眼、葡萄水果，口感、甜度、香氣都做得很平衡，覺得有愛。

《需改進之菜色》

星洲炒米粉：XD，沒錯，第一次去吃，主廚招待的驚為天人炒米粉正式上架了，但是上架後反而失色了許多。在春季時，主廚用手邊既有的材料螢烏賊、香菇、高麗菜等的食材即興做出炒米粉。可能是因為正式開賣想讓炒米粉物有所值，菜色呈現方向改為減少炒米粉內的食材，然後額外提供一大塊燉煮的牛臉頰肉。

必須澄清，牛臉頰肉真的做的很好，肉質超級軟嫩且入味，吃起來爽度超高！只是炒米粉變成純調味、使用食材較少的炒米粉，味道還是好吃，但相較於春季版的味道差了許多；雖然主廚有說明為什麼這手法來呈現，但個人還是喜歡把所有食材炒進米粉做成一道菜，而非用外掛附件的方法呈現。...

What a memorable New Year Eve that the team at Earnesto had brought to us last night. What a pleasure to be part of Earnesto’s soft-opening.

The first impressions upon walking in: homely, warmth, incorporated. Then looking over to the right side into the pristine open kitchen -“Actions”!

I felt like I was going down the stalls at Sgp’s hawker center doing dishes tastings during the appetizers courses. But then there is a twist to the what supposedly familiar ingredients and taste which the chef has skillfully brought into the dishes. What a wonderful kick start.

What an amazing tour through the courses. The sommelier is awesome and his wine list is very interesting. Staffs are well trained running a very smooth operation....