Clover Bellavita by Jean-Francois Piège

Jean-Francois Piège is a famous chef not only in his home country of France, but amongst the foodies in Taiwan. Piège was the mentor of the celebrity Taiwanese chef, Lanshu Chen, at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. He came to Taiwan twice in 2013 and 2018 as a guest chef at Chen’s restaurant, Le Moût, in Taichung. Piège has also been promoted by a Taiwanese journalist based in Paris. When rumors of Piège's arrival in Taipei started before the COVID pandemic, it was certainly exciting. And the fact that a space one-floor below L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon at Bellavita sat empty only added to the intrigue. However, the pandemic had seemed to stop everything.

To my surprise, seemingly out of nowhere in mid-November, 2022, Piège arrived in Taipei to open the doors of his first restaurant outside of France, Clover Bellavita. This is Piège's fourth restaurant under the Clover brand. The name is an English word but is pronounced in the French way. Each Clover restaurant in France is based on a different concept. They are not fine dining but a bistro, a grill, and a vegetarian restaurant, places to diversify Piège's portfolio. But what is Clover in Taiwan? While Piège hasn't officially declared his aspiration for Clover in Taipei, as he did when he opened his flagship fine dining restaurant in Paris in 2015, it is safe to say he and his investors are looking for a Michelin star.

Over the course of many months, I have been to Clover Bellavita four times for both lunch and dinner. Based on the food on the plate, the restaurant should easily get one Michelin star. I've tried many dishes on the winter and spring menus, and all of them are wonderful. In fact, the restaurant is only getting better with time. However, my sentiment runs contrary to some other diners.

When Clover Bellavita first opened, it was panned by many diners with unfavorable comments and one-star reviews on Google Maps. While the worthiness of the comments on Google Maps is debatable, some of the negative sentiments have been corroborated by a few of my discerning friends.

But if one examines the disappointing reviews, many were made based on meals in the first few weeks of the restaurant's opening. While paying customers certainly have the right to express their unhappiness, the early days of a restaurant is not the best time to render a judgement. All restaurants simply need time to work out the kinks in the operation with real customers. This is similar to professional sports as practice is never the same as the actual game. Furthermore in this current time, restaurants are most likely to be understaffed in the beginning. The odds of a great experience at a newly opened restaurant are usually not good.

Another problem with Clover Bellavita was due to expectation created by the marketing, which often touted Piège as a three-Michelin-star chef. Some people came to expect three-Michelin-star food and service, which the restaurant clearly was not intended to provide. Moreover, Piège is not a three-star chef.

Piège might be the most acclaimed chef in France who doesn't yet have three stars. He has received many accolades, including two Michelin stars for his current fine dining restaurant in Paris, Le Grand Restaurant. Prior to striking out on his own, he worked for Alain Ducasse as the Chef de Cuisine at Plaza Athénée and garnered three Michelin stars. Two of his subsequent fine dining restaurants, at Hôtel de Crillon and at Hôtel Thoumieux, both received two Michelin stars. In 2011, his colleagues named him the Chef of the Year after a secret vote organized by Le Chef magazine. From 2010 to 2019, he was a member of the jury in the French version of Top Chef. He has published numerous cookbooks. Not only is he a media savvy chef, he is one of the most accomplished chefs of his generation.

It is a mystery why the third Michelin star eludes Piège. There was the rumor of his feud with Alain Ducasse, but that seems to be ancient history. Ducasse has published a book by Piège under his imprint in 2011. One possible explanation is that prior to opening his Le Grand Restaurant, he has never stayed in a place for more than 5 years. Michelin is probably loathe to give a chef three stars and see the chef leave for another restaurant shortly after. In comparison, this year's three-Michelin-star winner, Alexandre Couillon, has been at his restaurant for 24 years; it took Couillon ten years to be elevated from two-star to three-star. Besides changing locales, Piège is also constantly changing his cuisine. He has adopted the motto: pour que rien ne change, il faut que tout change (for nothing to change, everything must change). Michelin probably prefers more stability and consistency. 

Since Clover Bellavita is not in Paris, Piège cannot be as hands on with the restaurant. To execute his vision and uphold his standard, he has asked Gildas Périn to be the Chef de Cuisine. Périn is young but highly experienced. He has worked for Piège in Paris before, and prior to opening Clover Bellavita worked in two restaurants in Taipei: STAY by Yannick Alléno and Orchid; he understands the tendencies of the local diners. Perin is also a very skillful chef. As his team gains more experience, I am confident the food will only get better.

Unlike Piège’s restaurants in France, Clover Bellavita is not located on the street with a storefront. Rather the restaurant is on the 4th floor of Bellavita, the fanciest shopping mall in downtown Taipei. The interior of the restaurant befits the image and characteristics of the mall: fancy and spacious. The reception is a generously sized sunlit space with a beautiful red wall. Strangely, the red color doesn't relate to anything else in the restaurant. The tent-like ceiling of the reception is interesting, but doesn’t seem to go with the rest of the space either. The reception leads to a curved bar with white countertop and orange bar chairs. In the center of the shelves behind the bar sits a big espresso machine. The shelves behind the bar are mostly filled with wine bottles and glasses. This bar isn’t really set up for cocktail making and doesn’t seem to get much use from the guests.

The bar forms one side of the main dining room. Two other sides of the room has large windows that allow ample natural light to come in, which is nice especially at lunch time. The space is structured spatially by two stone-clad circular columns, an off-centered circular step-down ceiling, and circular patterned flooring. The center of the space is a small table with a large floral piece that changes regularly; a very pleasant visual element that is probably costly to upkeep. Surrounding the center piece are tables with arm chairs and sofas that are nicely spaced apart. The chairs are comfortable but the sofa is a bit low in relation to the height of the table. The biggest eyesores are the electrical sockets for the floor lamps on the four corners. They are not flushed with floor nor under the sofa, thus are potential tripping hazards. There are a few floor-standing rattan screens in the space but they don't seem to relate to the furniture. While there doesn't seem to be a coherent idea about materials and colors, overall the space is still quite pleasant.

Piège certainly cares about aesthetics of the table setting. The black tabletops in the main dining room are shiny and reflective. In lieu of tablecloth, there are several types of round placemats by Chilewich in two different colors. The water glasses for the diners at the tables also come in different subtle colors. Every table has a small vase with flowers. I am also happy to see every table has a pair of salt and pepper mills. Some of the dinnerware is from the Ecume collection by Bernardaud and others are custom made; they are all very elegant. The silverware are also pretty and comfortable to use. The only thing I don’t like is the size of the napkin, which is too small for a fancy restaurant.

The restaurant has three private dining rooms. The large one can seat around 16 diners and has a view of the pastry station of the kitchen. The two smaller rooms, both with windows, can each seat around 8 people and each has its own private bathroom. However, the bathrooms are raised instead of being flushed with the floor; they are not wheelchair accessible. This is similar to the bathroom for the main dining room. The owner of the restaurant probably couldn't access the floor beneath so the drain pipes have to run above the slab. This is most unfortunate as one has be quite careful exiting the restrooms, especially after a few drinks. Since the ceiling in the restaurant is high, one wonders if the designer should have simply elevated the whole restaurant or large parts of the dining room. 

Clover Bellavita can seat up to 100 diners including the private rooms. In comparison, Piège’s fine dining flagship restaurant in Paris only serves 25 diners. Clover Bellavita is probably larger than necessary and it is not a haute cuisine restaurant. But it is certainly too fancy to be just a bistro. While Clover Bellavita has some dishes that are more bistro-like, they are all elevated in terms of presentation, number of components, and technique. For instance, the foie gras mousse is in the shape of a beautiful mandarin orange. The taste was wonderful, especially with a touch of acidity from the marmalade. The Pâté en croûte is well made with great ingredients and the presentation is elevated with the beautiful bouquet of vegetables on the side. The Steak au poivre is served with a tuile on top of the steak, and comes with a steak tartare on fried tendon topped with black pepper ice cream on the side.

The menu has a few large format dishes which I really appreciate. They bring the pleasure of sharing with friends at the table. These are especially nice to have when the weather is a bit colder because the food stays hot longer. One of the dishes is Poule au Pot, which is hearty and delicious. The diners are first served a foie gras caillette in broth, followed by a large pot of chicken and vegetables in broth. The chicken thighs and legs are very good. The breast meat is a bit tougher but that is to be expected. The vegetables are vibrant and cooked perfectly. The broth is simply wonderful. It is interesting to note that rice is not served on the side as Piège does in Paris. Instead a small portion of mashed potato with hazelnut is served on the side. The mashed potato is well made but it is problematic in relation to the chicken. Eating the whole chicken takes time. While the hot broth keeps the chicken parts warm, the mashed potato gets cold relatively quickly. Ideally the servers would bring out fresh servings of the mashed potato as one progresses with eating the chicken. My friends and I have also tried the Chou Farci (for four persons), a more refined version of a traditional French dish, and it is simply wonderful. Some fresh black truffle shaved table side only upped the luxuriousness. Having the large format dishes at Clover Bellavita is highly enjoyable. I wish more restaurants in Taipei would offer similar dishes. Why eat little dainty food of a tasting menu when you can have these glorious large dishes?

Besides the variations and modernizations of French classics, Clover Bellavita has some dishes that show Piège's imagination and creativity. The mark of a good chef is the ability to create his or her own combinations of ingredients and flavors and generating emotions from the diners. One of my favorites is the squid carbonara, a play on the Italian Pasta Carbonara. Instead of pasta, Piège uses thin slices of squid. This dish only has a few ingredients, but the combination, technique, and playfulness created something really magical. Another dish I enjoyed is a sticky corn soup with smoked eel and foie gras. Again, a dish with interesting combinations of ingredients with great flavors. There is also the langoustine with consommé. The langoustine is cooked table side on a heated Parisian granite paver. The use of stone brings a certain flair but it is more than just a gimmick. The stone’s porosity absorbs the fat used for the cooking. While the stone stays hot, it also cooks the langoustine slowly. For Piège, the technique is a modern variation of doing a stew.

There are five desserts on the menu at Clover Bellavita and the selections change periodically. I am particular fond of the Blanc à Manger, a truly wonderful creation that only has four ingredients: milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla. The dessert is a variation on Île Flottante. But instead of the meringue floating on the custard, Piège places the custard on the inside of a cylindrical meringue. The dessert looks so simple yet it is very technical. This is a signature dessert of Piège and is also served at his haute cuisine restaurant in Paris. The dessert connects Piège to his grandmother, who made an Île Flottante that formed Piege’s first memory of food. Île Flottante is a classic French dessert that everyone in France would know. To see Piège transforms the classic dessert into a very refined and new version is very exciting. The same can be said for another dessert on the menu, Raw Apple Tarte Tatin, which is a very interesting variation on the French classic Tarte Tatin. Recently, Clover Bellavita has been serving another classic, Crêpes Suzette with Grand Marnier and confit orange. I love the modern takes on these classics. The combination of ingredients are familiar but allows the diners to experience them anew. And they are delicious. Many classic French desserts are not to be found in restaurants in Taipei. So it is so wonderful to see references to them at Clover Bellavita. While Piège’s versions can certainly be enjoyed without the knowledge of the classics, the diners would probably appreciate the desserts a lot more if they do.

Some of the desserts, such as the Blanc à Manger, are very simply plated and not large in portion. They seem to be more suited as an ensemble and for the tasting menu format. For the diners who order à la carte and enjoy eating desserts, one dessert doesn’t seem quite enough. I almost wish I could order a set of desserts like at Pierre Gagnaire. After the dessert, a trio of mignardises are served, which are a nice way to end the meal.

The food at Clover Bellavita is consistently good. The main problem with Clover Bellavita is the service. On every one of my visits, there were problems with service. At a lunch with my family in the middle of January, no one took away the alcohol wipes after we used them; no one asked if we wanted more bread; no one, besides the Chef Périn, asked how was the lunch; no one asked if the sunlight was too bright and if the shades should be closed more; no one asked if we were still eating the soup with the chicken before taking the bowl away; no one asked if we wanted coffee or tea after the dessert; no one took away the salt and pepper mills before the desserts were served; no one asked if the alcohol in the chocolate petit four was okay for the kid; and no one paid attention to how our lunch was progressing. With the myriad of problems, the biggest one was the mignardises were brought to the table before I ordered the dessert. And instead of bringing three menus for the three of us to select the desserts, we shared one. The service at the end of the meal was just unprofessional. All this happened when the restaurant was not busy. I cannot imagine what happens when the restaurant is even half full.

The front of house team at Clover Bellavita is not well trained. Their movements in the dining room don't come naturally. They are stiff and not relaxed. When the servers seem tense, the diners don't feel as comfortable. While I can understand why the servers are all masked up, it doesn't help with engaging with the diners. You don't feel anyone is smiling behind the masks. The service team is also afraid to make mistakes which makes them more prone to making mistakes. At one of my dinners, the sommelier dropped a bottle of wine on the floor; luckily the bottle stayed intact and no one was hurt, but the wine was gone. The servers and managers lack experience and some of them are simply too young. As such, they don't have the abilities to read the diners and the situation. For instance, at one of my dinners, the server should have considered providing the bread before serving the cheese course; instead the diners had to ask for it. Good service is not just about bringing the food to the right person. Robots can do that and some restaurants are already using them. Service is about anticipating the diners’ needs and caring for them. At Clover Bellavita, I didn’t feel I was under the care of anyone. 

A diner expects good service at Clover Bellavita because the prices are not cheap. A three-course lunch costs NT$2,580 plus 10% service charge or around US$92. A full tasting menu is NT$5,980 plus 10% service charge or around US$215. Wines are prominently displayed in glass cabinets around the perimeter of the restaurant. The wine markup is not unreasonable, but it is certainly not a bargain. One of the wonderful things about Clover Bellavita is the diner can order à la carte. Very few western restaurants at this high level in Taipei offer the option of à la carte because it is more demanding on the kitchen and less economical. Appetizers are around NT$900 and main courses are around NT$1,300. The prices at Clover Bellavita is comparable to Piège‘s restaurants in Paris, besides Le Grand Restaurant. For instance, the Poule au Pot in Paris is 48 Euros per person, roughly NT$1,600, while in Taipei the dish is NT$1,639 per person. While the Poule au Pot in Paris is served in a bistro, the prices at Clover Bellavita make the restaurant more of a destination dining in Taipei. 

Clover Bellavita is a wonderful addition to the restaurant scene in Taipei. It is very nice to finally have another great French restaurant in Taipei besides L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. In comparison to Robuchon, Clover Bellavita is actually more French. Robuchon has long adopted Asian ingredients and been influenced by Asian cuisine, especially Japanese. In contrast, Piège has said in the past that he is French, makes French food, and doesn’t use ingredients that don’t have a French identity such as Yuzu. Piège is more focused on modernizing French cuisine from within. 

I love having Piège‘s France in Taipei. We don’t really have anything remotely similar here. However, for a restaurant with an English name in an Asian city, one wonders how that will influence or change Piège‘s cooking in the future. What does it mean to use Taiwanese products to cook French food? Or for local servers to provide French service? The context for Piège‘s food in Taipei is completely different than in Paris. The typical diners in Taipei didn’t grow up with French food culture and are not as familiar with the classic dishes and the stories behind them. They won’t be able to connect with the food on an emotional level as Piège would have liked; there certainly won’t be any moment like the end of the movie Ratatouille. Nevertheless, Piège‘s food can certainly be enjoyed for their superb techniques, great flavors, and elegant presentations. Clover Bellavita is a great place to eat and It will be interesting to see how the restaurant develops as time goes on.