Taipei #6 - Thursday

Today, all 3 of my meals were at the Hyatt, which while probably not as authentic of an experience as going to a local place, isn’t as bad as it sounds. The Hyatt has several really good restaurants where they don’t dumb things down very much for the tourists. Lunch was at Irodori, which is easily the largest Japanese food buffet that I have ever seen. In addition to the standard nigiri and sashimi and rolls, they had a huge amount of other options covering a large swath of non-sushi Japanese foods as well. Where to start… Well, they had some made-to-order rolls, but instead of the standard cylindrical roll, they made a cone out of the seaweed wrap, so it was like a small sushi ice cream cone. They had tempura, they had a noodle bar, where you chose your type of noodles, your broth, and some ingredients and they’d make it for you, they had a raw oyster bar with several types and presentations of oysters, and they had some hibachi-style cooked items, including whole fish if you were so inclined. They also had beef nigiri! Yes, that is what it sounds like – a very thin strip of tender beef (a bit thicker than carpaccio might be) over sushi rice. The flavor was very delicate, and the beef wasn’t chewy like I was expecting it to be, very high quality, very tender. They had a selection of Japanese desserts, none of which I know the names of, but I do note that they aren’t usually that sweet, and often are chewy, with fruit flavors.

Dinner was a group event at the Hyatt’s Shanghai Court restaurant. They gave us a private room that had a couch and chairs for sitting with drinks before dinner, and then a large round table for the 10 or so of us. There was a set menu of multiple courses, and all of it was really good, but I should certainly highlight a few things. Included in the appetizers were some deep-fried sardines. It has been a long time since I’ve eaten sardines, but these were very tasty and not too salty, with a nice delicate crunch. Next was “double-boiled chicken soup with Jin Hwa ham, fish lips, and bamboo piths.” The ham was quite salty, the bamboo didn’t have a lot of taste, but when cooked got nice and tender, and I didn’t run into any strange textures, so I guess fish lips just taste like fish. Another fun one – “wok-fried scallops and cuttlefish with peppers in spicy chili sauce.” Cuttlefish is a lot like squid – very tasty if prepared properly, like eating a dirty rubber band if not. Fortunately, this was well-prepared, tender and delicate. The texture may still be off-putting for some, but I quite enjoyed it. There were several other courses of fish and pork, all very tasty. One of the last courses was “wok-fried asparagus with Gingko Nuts and Fresh Lily Bulbs.” Gingko nuts remind me of a soybean or chestnut, a somewhat soft, pasty consistency, and a mildly nutty flavor. These are indeed the same as the source of the smell when female gingko trees drop their leaves, but they didn’t smell bad at all when cooked. Lily bulbs are starchy and a bit creamy, but pretty neutral-tasting. Lastly, we had “sweetened sago cream soup with coconut and red bean,” which was a cold dessert soup. It was interesting – not something I’d crave, but a nice end to the meal. I couldn’t really taste much coconut flavor, so my hunch is that it used coconut water or similar.