About a week or so ago, I was in Taipei. Here're some of my impressions of restaurants that I ate at. (They don't include some of the neighborhood hole-in-the-walls that serve some very tasty stuff.) Pictures will follow in a later post.:
Name: Very Thai
Style: thai
Website: www.verythai.com.tw
Phone: 2546-6745
Location: About 2 blocks from Sherwood hotel, around the corner on FuXing (Fu Shin?) N. Rd.
Dishes: Best: softshell crab with sweetened, slightly spicy fish sauce with cilantro
comments: Open late… slightly dressy… background music was a bit intrusive (contemp. R&b with hip hop beats)
Name: Las Vegas
Style: buffet
Website: www.splendor-tp.com.tw
phone: 8913-2222
location: South side of city (actually seems to be in XinDian city, near the Da Pinglin subway station)
dishes: Best: fish – raw or cooked… for locals, best thing is unlimited Hagen Daz ice cream
comments: Too much to try in one sitting… avoid the awful red wine… the little dishes containing custards and puddings are cute and manageable quantities after stuffing oneself
Name: Yishang Garden
style: Shanghainese based
website: ?
phone: 2871-7755
location: Tien Mu area, a little north of the baseball stadium, on Tien Mu E. Rd.
dishes: Most dishes ordered had subtle flavor, except a shrimp dish (maybe it was the only one of non-Shanghainese style?)
comments: Smelled stinky tofu from another table. (At first, I thought someone in our party had let loose a really smelly fart.)… wondered if our tomboyish/butch waitress was lesbian
Name: Goldmine (or Gold Mtn.) Trout
sytle: fish
website: www.goldminetrout.com.tw
phone: 2408-0678
location: Yamingshan park (north side, near coast)
dishes: Good: grilled, small fish (shaped like miniature salmon, but white meat) comments: Be careful not to overcook your fish at the table… didn’t try trout but other species… the place also seems to be a freshwater fish farm, so you can buy them to bring home to cook