Taste Test 試試 — Restaurant in Zhongzheng District

My last meal in Taipei, and I am so grateful I ended my trip here. Albeit different from what you would expect your last meal to be in Taiwan, but my friend from Taipei told me this was her favorite restaurant, so naturally I had to check it out. And I am over the moon that I did.

Atmosphere: Very trendy, minimalistic, yet homey. The lighting is warm, a place I would go to meet up with friends or coworkers to catch up over a nice meal.

Service: Wow. So kind and welcoming. My waitress was soooo lovely; when she realized I could not speak Mandarin, she quickly apologized and started talking in English (when I feel like I should be the one apologizing for not being able to speak their language?) I always feel a bit embarrassed not being able to speak a country's language, but the staff was still friendly, helpful, and warm toward me.

Food: Outstanding. I am still thinking about it. The food is simple and clean but prepared VERY well. I ordered the grilled vegetables as an appetizer, and I could have two plates of that alone. I loved the charred smokiness from the crunchy greens and the contrast of earthy, savory mushrooms. Because it was not downing in sauce or seasoning, you could really appreciate the veggies. For my main, I had the dry-aged duck breast. Probably the best duck breast I have had. It was cooked perfectly medium rare, and the skin was still crispy. The balsamic glaze was not overpowering and paired well with the meat, which I personally loved because it allowed the duck breast to be the center of attention. Finally, for dessert I ended with lemongrass ice cream. Initially I thought it was a strange flavor for ice cream... but once I tried it I only want lemongrass ice cream after my meals. SOOO refreshing, the perfect palate cleanser after a hearty meal. And the addition of caramel popcorn to the ice cream strangely works as well? I am upset lemongrass ice cream is not more widely available and that this was my first time ever trying it.

Overall, such a fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit again. It's great for those who don't want overly seasoned food that's screaming in your face, but want a nice meal...

Solid 10/10— from taste, quality, price, to service. The dry-aged duck breast and sea urchin scallop risotto were the highlight & worth mentioning.

The duck breast was just the right amount of done-ness— most duck breasts are cooked till medium rare & thus a bit “squishy” on the inside. Theirs however, was cooked more well-done (so no squishy feel), but still preserves the tenderness. The sweet potato puree and pickled plum on the side adds a nice touch, although the duck itself was already nicely seasoned.

Risotto was cooked perfectly to an al dente texture, & came with 4 grilled scallops and a generous amount of sea urchin. Their risotto not only has sea urchin flavor in the rice itself, but at least 3+ identifiable chunks of sea urchin on top. However as it is a creamy dish, with the addition of sea urchin and salmon roe’s rich flavor— this dish can get quite heavy and is recommended for sharing.

Overall an extremely pleasant dining experience. The staff (Yulie) was super friendly to us, so thanks to Yulie for being...

This was a very random choice of restaurant, but one of the best we visited in Taipei. We had not checked the menu before going there, but we only saw Chinese writing on the outside black board and thought this would be a good choice for local foods. The waitress was very sweet, funny and made the entire visit even more pleasant. She also recommended what we should try and if you end up going there, just trust her recommendations! It turned out to be a lot of European inspired dishes, but very good ones. I'm trying to remember what we had to eat, seafood, fish, fish/chips, stir-fried vegetables, mussels, break with basil butter, both ice-cream and cheesecake desserts - and probably something more. It was all really good, small dishes and enough to share and taste. Did I mention the waitress was nice and kind? She was sharp-witted, spoke really good English, was joking right back at us. This was all in all a very nice evening. I will try to go back next...