Nordcap

I've always wondered about this coffee shop and I finally tried it today. The shop is designed like a big gift box wrapped with flowy ribbons. It's actually a complex, called "Moving Box". There are a total of three different shops: in the corner occupies Nordcap, a coffee shop, to the east, a bakery shop, Moving Box and a steakhouse, 洛克牛排.

This is obviously an installation art trying to catch people's attention on 公益路 where every inch of the road stands a restaurant, a coffee shop, a patisserie or eatery of some sort.

I ordered my usual choice of coffee, Latte, which only cost me NTD$50. I wasn't exactly expecting espresso with that price, so as far as I was concerned, if it's got caffeine in it to wake me up, it'll do. With the coffee, we ordered a chocolate marble cake, which tasted really.. well, marble-like.

The good thing about this corner coffee shop is that the whole side of the shop is covered with a big pane of glass window, so it actually looks bigger than it does from a spatial prospective. It also allows coffee-shop hypocrites like me to look out the window pretending not to give a shit about the world (while the pedestrians can do the same thing to me).

Overall, I think this coffee shop is OKAY.. like, if you really can't find a Starbucks nearby and coffee is all you crave. Except for the deco that really was wroth writing about, I find the food just mediocre, and probably was manufactured from a factory in 三重 and distributed to 700 different coffee shops in Taiwan. (Okay, I'm sorry, I don't think there are actually that many coffee shops in Taiwan.. after subtracting the number of Starbux).

Anyways, nice to have tried it though.

Stumbling upon Las Vegas

I like Taichung, for its gourmet food, designer brand shops and mobbish people.

Last weekend, a casual sunbathing in Miaoli led me and Harry down to Taichung searching for food after two hours of frying on the beach. We were in a mood for American food, burgers, fries and sodas. Since we allowed ourselves in developing a taste for finer foods, the ol' Colonal and McDonald just simply wouldn't do. So in the spirit of exploration, we tried our luck in the vicinity of SOGO Department Store. And indeed, we stumbled upon Lusso Restaurant.

The whole restaurant's image is based on Las Vegas casino, it's not hard to see, cuz the restaurant logo gave it away.

It even says Nevada down at the bottom of the business card.
Not hard to miss the connection.

The bar, with music video of Moby and The Verve playing on the screen, I think it'd be cozy at night.

The velvet chairs, comfy.

The wallpaper, is this Victorian? Gothic? I've no idea.

The waitress was cute. She sat in the empty chair while taking orders from us. Really cool.

The stack of tissue paper was already present when we were seated. It wasn't till later that I realized why the whole stack.

The food was awesome! H ordered the beef patty burger, and I ordered the Jack Daniel Chicken burger. The beef patty wasn't actually really authentic, because it was actual a STEAK sandwiched in the buns! The fries tasted really good too. Hot and freshly fried, not greasy at all. Salty but not overwhelming. I didn't need any ketchup to finish the fries on its own.

My Jack Daniel burger was huge. I had a hard time finishing it on my own. The chicken was sauteed to exact tenderness, yet the skin was crispy.The sauce was sweet and it glazed nicely on the chicken. Both burgers were super juicy and that's why we needed the tissue paper, to wipe our hands and mouths.

This is H's order of beef burger.

This is my Jack Daniel chicken burger.

Lusso would definitely be much more relaxing and enjoyable at night. There was a section closed off when we were there. It probably will open up at night since on the door was a poster of party invitation scheduled on June 13.. hey, that's this Saturday.. HRRMMMMMMM...

finer things in life

I'm lucky, my body is very cooperative when I enjoy the finer things of life. No lactose intolerance, no bulimia nervosa, no known food allergies to peanuts or shellfish or eggs etc. And yesterday, the finer thing in my life was realized at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

This is the menu book of Ruth's Chris Steak House - Leather cover with gold embossed letters, classy...

The three of us shared an order of Porthouse Steak, Ruth's Chop salad, and with dessert, an order of crème brûlée. The restaurant also provides complementary bread and butter. I'm not eloquent with words at all, so the pictures will have to tell the story for me. The dinner itself is the epitome of how a meal enlightens my life - being able to taste food of such delicatecy and deliciousness, my whole life was worth it. The steak at RC's..outdid every other piece of steak I had in my life. And now it feels kinda disrespectable to even mention the restaurant names that served what I thought was "steak" in the same paragraph.. as though this would've tarnished their name.

This was the fillet we had last nite. Cooked to medium rare, meat was tender and extremely juicy, there needed no sauce at all, a pinch of sea salt was almost even too much. The sizzling butter was made possible by the super heated hot plate.

The Porthouse Steak. On the otherside of the bone was New York Strips. This is such a big portion of steak, even shared among 3, we had trouble finishing our own portions.

This is the crème brûlée we ordered. The creme was filled with vanilla seeds, making it so fragrant and tasty. The strawberries and blueberries balanced the dessert so it wouldn't become sickening after the fifth bite. This is actually one serving, can you believe it?

The dinner was so satisfying. We all went home with an exploded stomach. I really appreciate Ruth's Chris Steak House for serving and appreciating gourmet food. This would be another restaurant I wanna work at. When I do get the chance, I will talk about Aqua in Taichung. Food is my passion, my career, my goal, and I hope I'd never forget it.

PS. I bought the salt and pepper grinders today, finally! Say good-bye to sucky ol' table s&p!

Curry, serve it smooth

I know bringing your own lunch to work in Taiwan is kinda rare -- especially in this part of the country where eating out (and cheap) is what most people do. BUT like I said, if I don't get good food, I get cranky. And so Curry has become one of my favourite recipes, cuz a big pot of it can last for about 4 meals, and variation is just as easy.

I'd been making Curry the same way for god knows how many years because Food Network Canada doesn't really teach Japanese-style curry rice. I'd start by heating the oil with some curry powder, and add in onions later. This way, it gives the Curry a hint of spiciness, which is a good balance to the sweetness of Japanese curry roux. And since I decided to take my cooking seriously, I Googled "Curry" "好吃" and "Recipe". Along came some real good tips, and by summing it up and slightly modifying it for single gals or living-on-your-owns, here's the recipe -- without the measurement. (Because I don't really have a gauging machine at home, and I always cook by feeling it out.. takes time I know, but I've never really gone awfully off track before!)

Ingredients:

• Garlic (couple gloves)
• Onion
• Carrot
• Potato
• Butter
• Sugar (Powder or Brown -- I'm not a big fan of Powder, though)
• Curry powder
• Curry roux of your choice
• Extra Virgin Olive OilWater
• + Meat of your choice

How to make it:

1. Heat the extra virgin olive oil at medium with some curry powder
2. Add in coarsely diced onions & garlic into the curry-infused oil and cook until soft and tender and brown-ish
3. Add in water, enough so it submerges all onions for about 3cm
4. Add in chopped potato & carrots and bring the water to a boil and turn it down to simmer
5. Keep on simmering the veggies for about 15-20 minutes till it softens
6. Remove from heat and let it set for 5 minutes
7. Add in butter & curry roux and stir till both melt
8. Add in a small amount of sugar for smoothness

With the curry sauce done, actually you can do whatever with the meat. Slightly season and flour the meat and sautee them in a frying pan. Just remember, don't mix the meat into the sauce, so the sauce stays "pure" and smooth.

After Work Salad

Well, before I start writing about the "salad", lemme just explain why I started writing at ALL.

I work for a multi-national American IT company in Taiwan. The thing I enjoy everyday is the fact that I get at least three chances of encountering with good food. I try to make sure every encounter is worthwhile, but this doesn't always happen. And whenever I have a "bad encounter", I get cranky. So yeah, I love food, and have been in love with it since Food Network Canada taught me how to cook my first plate of pasta. Not surprisingly, just watching TV isn't going to make me a good cook. So this blog is going to be my journal on becoming a real good cook. (fingers crossed)

So it's summer now in Taiwan: hot and humid, and I have lost my appetite. Knowing that if I don't eat something for dinner, my stomach'd end up growling and starting to burn like hell. I picked up a box of salad at the 7-11 near my office.

So this is the salad I bought... 12 veggies: romaine lettuce, green cabbage, tomato, red cabbage, corn, yellow bell pepper, carrot, and what else?

I am never a big fan of raw veggies, actually, and I especially hate pre-packaged salad dressing, so of course, I decided to take things into my own hands. And a little SPAM always makes everything all that better! So i cut up some and added in the only cheese I can find in my fridge, Emmental.

Like I said, I don't like pre-packaged salad dressing, especially when it's a Thousand Island. I donno, the image of a factory somewhere in the Peasant State, churning up the sauce day after day, just doesn't sit right with me. So i figured, well, Emmental's got a nutty flavour to it, and SPAM is salty enough, so a little bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil w/ a pinch of pepper should do the trick (I really donno what I was thinking).



Anyhow, the salad wasn't all that bad, at least I didn't lose my appetite after I'd already lost it. Emmental didn't really fit in though, it wasn't the taste, it was more because of its creamy texture. If this was to be a better dish, maybe the SPAM strips should've been lightly sauteed and the dressing........ hrmmmmmm........ haven't really figured out a better option that won't turn this salad into a Caesar. Any better idea?

Just on a side note, I really love Emmental Cheese. I used to take two pieces of toast and just sandwich Emmental, lettuce and ham in between. Cut it in quarters, and Voila! a simple snack for studying the finals.