Arrivederci Chef Angelo Aglianò

In late October Chef Joël Robuchon came to Taipei for his annual visit at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. My cousin and I, along with other friends were there to see Chef Robuchon again and to sample some new dishes. Besides his usual traveling companions, including the new Iron Chef French Yosuke Suga, Chef Robuchon also brought Xavier Boyer, who ran the L'Atelier in New York after Suga. It was an all-star team in the open kitchen and needless to say, the dinner was spectacular. However, the night was slightly diminished when I was told that Boyer is scheduled to replace the current chef de cuisine Angelo Aglianò in November.

I was disappointed when Suga left Taipei over two years ago and now I am disappointed to learn that Aglianò will leave. While I am sure Boyer will keep the restaurant being the best in Taipei, nevertheless it is always a bit sad to see a friend leave.

Before Aglianò left L'Atelier, I decided it was only right to go have dinner one more time and to say goodbye. My wife, Maria, and I asked a couple of my friends to join us. As with my first dinner with Aglianò, I forwent the menu and asked him to simply cook for us.

We arrived a little early but our friends were running late. As we waited at our seats at the counter, Chef made some tapas for us: ground pig trotters and ears on toasted baguettes; they were delicious. The sommelier Benoît Monier walked by and said this tapas is one of his favorites and that the kitchen should make it more often.

Shortly after we finished the tapas, our friends arrived. Dinner started with an amuse bouche of foie gras mousse. This was followed by a Robuchon classic, caviar with crab meat served in a can. Aglianò gave the dish a little twist in the ingredient and it was great, made even better with the champagne that Benoît kindly poured for us.

Since I have some pictures of my first dinner with Aglianò, I broke with my usual practice of not taking photos at dinner and put my iPhone to work. The next course was a seafood medley: squid stuffed with bacalao, scallop topped with sea urchin, and pan-fried mackerel. This was a very refined dish with delicate flavors. A beautifully presented multi-component dish that is great to have at a restaurant, since it would be too hard to do at home.

Risotto is one of Aglianò's specialties and the one he served this time was off the charts in terms of smell and taste. The risotto was cooked perfectly and layered with the fat from the Iberico ham, topped with girolle mushrooms, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and white truffle from Alba. In short, it was an umami explosion.

The last savory course for the night was a bit of a surprise: local pork from the nearby Yilan County, Tetragonia (New Zealand spinach), and polenta in lieu of the usual mashed potatoes. The pork, especially the fat, was simply delicious, and balanced a bit by the slight bitterness and crunchiness of the spinach. Instead of reminiscing, this dish suggests some sort of things to come.

Dessert was a new concoction by the pastry chef Kazuhisa Takahashi: profiteroles served on top of a chocolate disc and floating on VSOP jelly. I love modernized classic French dessert. The presentation was beautiful - the chocolate disc with circular openings of varying sizes could easily be incorporated into an architectural model of a modern design. This dessert was a great way to end the memorable night.

After a few sips of my espresso, I briefly chatted with Chef and thanked him for all the wonderful meals I had in the past two years at L'Atelier. It's no secret that L'Atelier is my favorite restaurant in Taipei and I look forward to eating Chef Boyer's food. However, Chef Aglianò will be sorely missed. Grazie mille Chef and until we see each other again.

Egg Caviar

Every great French chef seems to have a signature egg dish. One of my favorites is Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Egg Caviar, which he inherited from his mentor Louis Outhier. The dish was created in 1978 and it is still great and remains on the menu at Jean-Georges' eponymous restaurant in New York City.

Since I can only go to Jean Georges now perhaps once a year, I don't get to eat the egg too often. I miss the dish, hence the only way to cure the craving is to make it myself. I served the dish as a first course for my recent dinner party. The recipe is in Jean-Georges' book, Simple to Spectacular, written with Mark Bittman. In fact, the dish is on the cover of the book.

The dish is actually not too difficult to make. Start by cutting off the tops of the eggs with an egg cutter. The empty shells are sterilized in boiling water, cooled, and placed on egg cups. Next, heavy cream is whipped and spiked with some vodka, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice, then placed in a piping bag. The eggs are then poured into a small pan, whisked constantly over medium heat with some butter and seasoning until just scrambled. The assembling starts with spooning the scrambled eggs into the empty egg shell, layering with a couple of rings of cold cream, and topping off with some caviar. Since I can't be regal and dollop with osetra caviar, I use the much cheaper oeufs de lompe instead. Nevertheless, it is a delicious and beautiful dish.

L'Air

"Do you remember Dana?" Benoît Monier, sommelier at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Taipei,
asked me a few months ago over dinner. Seeing a puzzled look on my face, he added, "She used to be a cook here. Now she is the chef of a new restaurant and you should go check it out sometime." Before I was able to make a reservation at the new restaurant for myself, I was invited to dine there twice by friends - lunch and dinner in a span of three days.

The name of the restaurant is 風流小館 L'Air Café Néo Bistro and it is a collaboration between Chef Dana Yu and Susie Lin of Boite de Bijou. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of an apartment building in an alley behind Xinsheng Elementary School and next to Jinhua Park.

Lunch was via the invitation of my architect friend who helped designed the restaurant. Given the limitations of the site, program and schedule, he did a great job. I particularly like the fact that he put in a new glass facade allowing views of the adjacent park from the inside. The look of the restaurant from the outside with the black window frames and awning actually remind me a bit of L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Saint Germain. The space of the restaurant is rectangular with the tables spread out along the windows. Part of the kitchen is open at the back of the restaurant. A small staircase leads to a room in the basement that can seat around 10 people. While the space in the main hall is simply designed with a limited palette of black, white and grey, the atmosphere is cozy and quite comfortable.

For both lunch and dinner the restaurant offers the same tasting menu and à la carte. The tasting menu consists of five courses for around NT$2,200. For à la carte there is around five starters and five main courses that range from around NT$200 to NT$800. I ordered à la carte for both of my recent meals, mainly because my friends did as they didn't want to eat too much with the tasting menu.

The meals started with bread and some nice butter. The bread is nice and warm but served only one piece at a time. This was followed by an amuse bouche of salmon topped with roe. For the lunch I went with the salad with fig and proscuitto as the starter. The ingredients were fresh but a little under seasoned for me. Moreover, the lettuce was cut into too small of pieces that made them hard to eat with a fork. For my main course I ordered the duck breast, which was served with a piece of foie gras and raspberries. This was a very nice dish as the different components were perfectly executed with nice flavors. For the dinner I started with the foie gras terrine that was layered with eel and served with toasted brioche. This was good and reminded me a little of a similar dish served at Robuchon. My main course was a fish filet that was also cooked well with crispy fish scales. The fish was accompanied by ham, squid, mussels, endives, all very beautifully plated. The savory dishes on the menu show the ambition of the chef and the restaurant, which is certainly more than a café or bistro as the restaurant's name suggests.

In contrast, the dessert selection on the menu is not as interesting as it only consists of crêpes. For my two meals I had the crêpe Suzette and crêpe with banana and chocolate sauce. Both of the crêpes were nice. It would have been more fun if the crêpe Suzette was lit up at the table, which it wasn't. There were actually more choices for bottled water than desserts on the menu. Even with just crêpe one can play with things like mille crêpe as a variation. Given that the restaurant is associated with the pastry and bread shop Boite de Bijou, I expected a bit more diversity of choices with the dessert.

Service is friendly and attentive but with one big problem: dishes don't come out together. For my two-person lunch, my duck came first and my friend's side of the table remained empty. My friend asked me to just eat first and I was a quarter of a way through finishing before my friend's fish was served. Our two orders of the crêpes for desserts also came in succession instead of together.

L'Air is a nice addition to the western restaurant scene in Taipei. I can quibble about the small size of the napkins and the light fixtures hung a bit too low above the table blocking views of my dining companions. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my meals at the restaurant. The chef is good and the place is quite pleasant. The restaurant has been opened for about four months and I am sure it will only get better. I look to go back and try the tasting menu soon.

Back on Hallowed Ground

Recently I visited the 9/11 Memorial and it was the first time since prior to 9/11 that I stepped on this hallowed ground. The Memorial is still a partial construction site and the visit required a timed-entry ticket.

Currently the Memorial is only accessible from the southeast corner after passing through security checks. Upon entering the Memorial, one encounters the rows of trees of the plaza. I quite like the simple and elegant landscape design.



After passing through the greenery I made my way to one of the on-site kiosks to locate a name, Arkady Zaltsman, a former colleague at SOM who perished on 9/11; he was attending a meeting at the south tower. I didn't know Arkady well as we worked on different floors and in different departments of the firm. However, I still vividly remember being told by a partner in the firm that a member of the office died on that tragic day. Therefore, whenever I looked at the World Trade Center site, I cannot help but think about Arkady and my ordeal on 9/11.

My First Challah

When I was living in New York City, my Sunday brunch typically consisted of challah French toast at the neighborhood diner. The Jewish bread, challah, along with the bagel were two of the staples of the City. In Taipei, I can find bagels in stores, but no one seems to sell challah. What to do? It is pretty clear that the only way to get challah is to make it myself.

I use the recipe by Maggie Glezer and it is relatively straightforward. First mix a little flour, instant yeast with warm water and allow them to ferment for 20 minutes. Whisk in 3 eggs, a little salt, oil, and sugar. Then I use a large spoon to incorporate the rest of the flour into the mixture. Since the dough is too large for my small food processor, I knead it by hand for around 5 minutes or so. Afterwards the dough is placed in a lightly oiled bowl covered with cling film and allowed to rise for around 2 hours. Punch the dough down and cut it into 3 equal parts and roll into three long tubes for braiding. I use the three-strand braid but I don't quite have the technique down yet. Let the bread rise again for another 2 hours or so until the bulk doubles.

Afterwards just brush the dough with some egg wash and bake in the oven at 325F for around 40 minutes. The result is a delicious loaf of bread that costs less than NT$60 and certainly great for French toast on the weekends.

Chang Dai-ch'ien's Residence

Chang Dai-ch'ien 張大千 is arguably the most famous Chinese artist in the twentieth century. He was born in 1899 and lived in many parts of the world until 1977 when he moved to Taiwan and remained there until he died in 1983. Afterwards his family donated his residence to the nearby National Palace Museum as a memorial.

Chang's house is named 摩耶精舍 or Abode of Maya. While the residence is open to the public, the visit requires advance booking and the tour is limited to less than one hour. Recently my wife, Maria, booked a tour to take overseas guests to see the house. Since I have never been there before, I tagged along and was eager to see the home of this great artist, who is known not only for his art, but for his love of food and his exquisite taste.

The house is located in a gated residential neighborhood within walking distance of the National Palace Museum; Chang chose this location as it is the place where a stream splits into two. Our group of five people were greeted at the front door of the house by a tour guide, who started the tour at the front courtyard just inside the gate. The first thing to see was actually Chang's limo given to him by the government, which is parked in an open garage. We then proceeded to step inside to tour the two-story building, which was designed as a four-sided courtyard house.

The more public functions of the house are placed on the ground floor. The first room we visited was the dining room, which has a large round table and a few simple chairs. On one corner of the room is a small table with a large television on it. I suppose Chang was into watching television while taking his meals. A framed calligraphy of a menu for a dinner party is hung on one wall, except it is just a copy as the original is owned by a private collector. Next to the dining room is the parlor where Chang received his guests. The room consists mainly of large sofas, photographs of Chang with dignitaries, and some of the scholar rocks from Chang's extensive collection. This room is linked to Chang's large studio where he paints and teaches. A wax figure of Chang stands next to his large desk. The space is a bit awkward and Chang stands in front of a green fabric door that tour guide didn't know what it leads to. On the way to the small sitting room, we passed a wall with a collection of Chang's walking canes, which are just beautiful objects.

The small sitting room was where Chang's wife entertained her guests: a simple carpeted rectangular space with a few sofas and some more of Chang's scholar rocks on display.

The courtyard in the middle of the building is a bit messy and crowded with plants. The large outdoor garden is located behind the small sitting room. The garden is stretched out with varying levels and views of the hills on the east side and overlooks the split of the stream. This is also where Chang is buried. Chang also has a small birdhouse on one side as well as a hibachi grill. The tour ended with a visit to a cage on the second floor where a couple of monkeys reside. The monkeys are sort of like stage props; I am not sure if it is all that necessary. This was the extent of the tour as the rest of the house is closed to the public.

In short, Chang's house was a big disappointment. It is clear Chang's house is preserved as it was at the time of Chang's death. By now the whole place just feels a bit run down. It also doesn't help that all the paintings that are currently hung on the wall are copies of the originals. While the house may look like the way Chang has left it, the feel of the space is definitely not the same. Moreover, I was disappointed with the setup of the house. Chang didn't seem to have much interest in designing and decorating the house. The spaces are not very interesting. The garden at the back with the collection of rocks and bonsai trees is perhaps the nicest part of the house, yet there is very little link both spatially or visually to it from the various rooms of the building; Chang cared more about his garden probably because they serve as inspiration for his paintings. Overall it was just a very banal house. For someone like Chang, who carefully crafted his appearance, often with a traditional Chinese long robe, tall hat, and a sculpted walking cane, the house doesn't seem to quite fit the image. Perhaps Chang's interest lies only with the imaginary spaces in his art. As an artist, Chang has few peers and his paintings certainly rank as some of the bests in the history of Chinese art. In contrast, his residence is not really worth a visit.

China Academy of Art at Xiangshan

We took a long weekend trip to Hangzhou, China in early April. It was my first time in the city, the hometown of my maternal grandmother. The city is certainly beautiful and one can understand why it has often been referred as heaven on earth.

On one of the afternoons we went to visit the China Art Academy in the Xiangshan district, mainly to see the buildings designed by the new Pritzker Prize winner, Wang Su and his partner Lu Wenyu. The campus is about a 45-minute drive from the West Lake. Prior to the trip and the Pritzker Prize announcement, I didn't know much about Wang and Lu's architecture and ideas.

Since my young kids were not terribly interested in looking at architecture, I wasn't able to spend too much time at the campus and only walked around a few of the buildings in the Phase 2 of the master plan. Below are some pictures of the buildings that I took. Just about all of the buildings are rectangular in plan. Some of the buildings such as Buildings 11 and 18 are organized to have open courtyards in between the volumes.



While the buildings are very simple in their floor plans, the elevations and sections are often more angular and varied. Furthermore, the elevations of the buildings are often given a seemingly random pattern of windows and openings.



The openings on the long sides of Building 13 consist of irregularly shaped openings reminiscent of Chinese garden architecture. The short side of the building is designed with horizontal sun shading constructed of roof tiles often seen in vernacular buildings.

Besides Chinese architecture, to my eyes, Wang and Lu also seem to be influenced by the works of Louis Kahn with the combination of exposed concrete and wood panels.



The building I like the best is No. 14: a pair of rectangular volumes linked on one end that protrude on to a reservoir. The shape of the roofs recalls the local traditional architecture. The exterior walls  on the different sides are given different expressions. The south facing side consists to a glass facade with vertical sun shading, which reminds me of the the windows at La Tourette by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis.

The facades facing the courtyard inside are in wood.



Below is a view from the inside towards the courtyard through the irregularly shaped portal.



Most impressive are the exterior walls that are made of recycled materials such as bricks and roof tiles from dismantled buildings. The result is not only an interesting visual effect, but a powerful material presence, especially up close.

While I didn't get a chance to spend much time at the campus, I like Wang and Lu's works. Their buildings at the Academy seem to be very economical and practical, especially in the floor plans, yet at the same time the buildings are raw, sculpted, and dynamic. The designs also have a nice sense of scale and very good use of materials. Next time when I am in Hangzhou I will be sure to find time to visit more of their buildings.

To STAY or to Go

In late March, Chef Yannick Alléno was back in Taipei again. Since I wasn't terribly thrilled with my dinner at STAY in December, I was a bit reluctant to go back. However, after speaking with a good friend, who said I should give the restaurant another try, I went ahead and made a reservation for two.

My wife, Maria, and I arrived at the reserved hour and was promptly seated at a table near the communal table. The sommelier, Yohann Pinol, who recognized us from our previous visits, came by to say hello. For dinner, Alléno was running a special menu for NT$4000, which I promptly ordered; I thought the price was very reasonable. Maria went with one of the regular set menus. In short, the special menu was really good and the regular menu was unremarkable. I said to Maria that it felt like there were two different teams cooking.

The special menu had 5 courses. First was a sea urchin topped with whipped cream and caviar. The dish was excellent and I told Maria that "now we are talking"; it was also nice to finally see some caviar at STAY. This was followed by a basil soup, which was light and flagrant. The third course was a braised sea bass covered with a thin layer of squid and topped with caviar. On the side of the plate was a little lemon cream, which provided a nice acidity to the dish. The fish was served with a small bowl of creamy cauliflower purée on the side. This was perhaps the best dish of the night. The fish was perfectly cooked, the flavors were good, and the dish, except for the caviar, was a study in the color white. It was a very impressive dish. The last savory course was pork cheeks with diced black truffle and wrapped in a cabbage. I was just telling a good friend a few days ago that I don't know why Alléno doesn't have pork on the menu, given that Chinese people like pork and Taiwan produces good pork. Therefore I was very happy to finally see some pork on the menu. The cabbage was bright green and the cheeks were just delicious. The pork was also served with the cauliflower purée and this was the only strange thing of the night. The cauliflower was absolutely delicious, but I didn't need to eat it twice. What's worse, when it was first brought to the table I asked the server if this was the same cauliflower purée. The server said, no, it was a potato purée. After a few tastes, Maria and I were pretty sure it was not potato. We asked the server again and she said she would go and check with the kitchen. Few minutes later, she came back and said it was the same cauliflower purée and it was a "gift" from the kitchen. Maybe this was a test to see if we could tell the difference? It was just strange and a bit random as no spoon was offered to eat it with either; the service was not quite there yet. Dessert was essentially a deconstructed mille feuille, which was nicely plated. The cylinder-shaped vanilla cream and ice cream were both excellent. It was a good dessert befitting the restaurant and not just a pastry placed on an empty plate or a little disc. Through out the meal I kept wondering if they will put some of the dishes on the special menu onto the regular menu.

In contrast, Maria's regular menu was not so great. The first dish, burrata, was perhaps the best. The chestnut soup that followed was a bit too sweet and the texture of some of the components were too hard. The third course, the eggs, were good but the last savory course, roasted veal tenderloin, was a bit overcooked. Maria thought the dessert, brownie, was a bit too sweet.

Near the end of our meal, a captain came by and asked if the meal was better than the last time we were here. I didn't remember seeing this captain last time, so I was intrigued by the question. Does this mean everyone knew I wasn't so thrilled with my last meal at STAY? If they really cared, perhaps they should have noticed that Maria didn't finish her veal, nor her dessert?

Before we left, Alléno came by and sat down and chatted with us. We talked to him about his new bistro in Paris and his new "hot dog" dish. I also asked him to sign two of my books. Alleno seems like a great guy and he is a tremendous chef. I am sure he can do the special menu in his sleep. The special menu that I had was at the level that I expected STAY to be at. It is a menu that makes one want to go to the restaurant, and for us, worth paying for a babysitter to keep the kids at home. If the restaurant can remain at that level, I will go back more frequently and be quite happy. The current and soon to be replaced menu was just a bore. I told Alleno that the special menu was fantastic but we didn't have the heart to tell him that the regular menu was really not so good. Perhaps they know already and it wasn't worth it to keep beating a dead horse. Alléno said a new menu and a new chef de cuisine will be in place in April. I haven't seen the new menu yet. However, I wish the restaurant will push harder and operate at a higher level. I really want to like STAY and I hope they will let me.

Sweet Tea

Sweet Tea by Yannick Alléno opened recently on the 4th floor of the Taipei 101 Mall, not too far from STAY. So far I have not sat down at Sweet Tea and only purchased a couple of things to go and I quite enjoyed them.

The first time I went I bought a St. Honoré and it was excellent, just as I remembered when I ate it at STAY. The pastry is priced at NT$190, which seems to be a better deal than eating it at STAY. The packaging is also very beautiful and fancier than a Hermes tie box: a square box with magnetic closure, light grey on the outside and green on the inside. The pastry sits on a folded cardboard with handles that that can be lifted out of the box. The St. Honoré was just delicious and beautiful to look at.



The second time I went I bought a box of macarons which are priced at NT$80 each with a box of eight at NT$580; the prices are very reasonable. There are eight flavors to choose from and all of them are quite good. The packaging with the pink color lined sturdy box is also very nice.



While I didn't really like STAY, I am quite happy with Sweet Tea. It is a nice addition to the pastry shops in Taipei and certainly on par with two of the bests in town: Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon and Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki. I look forward to buying more things from Sweet Tea.