A-Plus Dining Sake Bar

Date Visited: 3rd of December, 2011

Name:
A-Plus Dining Sake Bar
花酒藏 A-Plus 

Address:
No. 33, AnHe Rd. Sect. 1, DaAn District, Taipei City
台北市安和路一段33號 

Hours:
Lunch     Mon-Sun    12:00PM~3:00PM
Dinner    Mon-Sun      6:00PM~2:00AM (last call 1:30AM)

 

It’s kind of awesome they are opened so late!! Quite rare in Taiwan.

What a smart idea! That’s plum wine. 

 

 

Burdock Roots Salad

 

 

 

 

Fish Liver

 

 

Duck meat from the rivers of Yilan (a county in Taiwan)

 

 

 

 

More duck!

 

 

Cold udon with sesame sauce

 

 

Mushroom with Cheese

 

 

Grilled riceballs with salmon and salmon roe

 

 

Steak with hot sauce and honey mustard sauce

 

 

Coconut fried shrimp

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There were 12 people, 800NT per person for this whole meal. Slightly expensive (Taiwan standards) but it IS a sushi bar! It might not look like a lot of food but, trust me, by the end of the meal you will be full.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to have any fusion sushi rolls, e.g., California rolls, Spider rolls. Might have to go back for those. Nice place to celebrate special occasions. =)

Chaya Brasserie

Date Visted: 20th of April, 2011

Name: Chaya Brasserie

Address: 8741 Alden Drive Los Angeles, CA 90048

Got the 5-course prix-fixe dinner ($65) with wine pairing ($32). So as for what I ate…I’m still unsure haha.

Bread & Butter – Source of life.

 

1st Course

 

2nd Course – Salmon Tartare

 

3rd Course – Mushroom Risotto with Japanese Brown Rice, Asparagus and Parmesan Chips

 

4th Course – Braised Pork and Seared Filet(?) topped with Marrow Juice

 

5th Course – Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

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The executive chef for Chaya Brasserie is Japanese, who grew up in France. So he takes both cultures to create an unique, Euro-Asian dining experience. (Chaya website)

The prix-fixe dinners varies week to week. It depends on what the local farmer’s market has to offer.

I had a little bit of a hard time following the explanations for each dish. Bleh.

1st course – The soup had a soft, mousse, cloud-like texture. I can drink this all day.

2nd course – Really fresh salmon. The decorations are edible! The pink stripes on the bottom are actually pickled daikon. Even that was too good to not eat.

3rd course – Delicious risotto. The rice wasn’t too soft and had a nice bite to it.

4th course – It was interesting that I was served beef and pork! The beef was savory while the braised pork was sweet so it was hard mixing the two together. Everything was cooked to perfection. I’ve never had marrow juice (seems kinda odd…) but it ended up really flavorful!

5th course – At this point, I was already stuffed. But I couldn’t waste any of that bread pudding!!! I love the contrast between the top crispy croissant skin with the extremely soft, gooey center.

Chaya Brasserie is on the pricey side but I have nothing but praise for this place. Absolutely delicious. Another important factor is the ambiance isn’t intimidating. It’s actually friendly…people are talking and laughing!! There isn’t any pressure to dress in a floor-length dress.