Galette des Rois by Loic Colliau for Yannick Alléno

Since my wife, Maria, is Catholic, we always celebrate Christmas and put out a small nativity scene in our house. Of all the characters in the scene I am actually most interested in the three kings. The three kings make a visit to baby Jesus shortly after his birth. Today a special cake (La galette des Rois) is made for the occasion which is known as the Epiphany. Since I don't mind eating like a king, I am too happy to buy a galette to celebrate.

This year I ordered the galette made by chef Lois Colliau from Sweet Tea by Yannick Alléno. While I have reservations about Alléno's restaurant in Taipei, I like the desserts at Sweet Tea.  There is no doubt in my mind that Colliau is a very good pastry chef. For the galette he creates a special one that is different from the ones being sold at the other stores in Taipei. Instead of the traditional galette, he makes it with chocolate puff pastry filled with rum infused chocolate frangipane. He marks the top of the galette with the Alléno logo. As always the cake from Sweet Tea comes in a very nice box. The seven-inch galette is priced at NT$880, which seems quite reasonable.

After our dinner I warmed up the galette in our oven and served it to the family. Once again, I didn't get the fève, which is a small tile with the Alléno logo.

Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the galette. The puff pastry is flaky and the filling is flavorful The galette is just delicious, certainly fit for a king.

Avec Xavier Boyer

When L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon opened in Taipei over three year ago, it was the first restaurant in the City operated by a three-Michelin-star chef. The restaurant set a new standard for the industry in Taipei and, in my opinion, still unmatched by any other western restaurants. My friends have often accused me of only favoring and writing about L'Atelier. I don't deny the charge, but what are the alternatives? I flirted with Yannick's Alléno's STAY many times last year, but the restaurant wasn't consistent and never really loved me back. I ventured to other western restaurants in town, which are often a little cheaper, but only to find ordinary or terrible experiences, certainly not worth dressing up for nor the hassle of hiring a babysitter to care for the kids. If the intent is to spend good money on a great dining experience, why not go with the best in town?

Actually, L'Atelier is not just a restaurant for special occasions. While it is still pricey, in late October the restaurant introduced a new set menu for lunch at the price of NT$980 plus 10% service charge. A few weeks ago my friend and I tried this new lunch, which includes an amuse bouche, a starter with around six choices, the roast of the day (generally pork or chicken), dessert of the day, and coffee or tea. We started with the bread basket and an amuse of foie gras mousse with Parmesan foam. For the starter I went with the calamari stuffed with salted cod, a dish with simple ingredients exquisitely presented that I always enjoyed. For the main course, my friend ordered the pork while I tried the chicken. The meats were served with some roasted vegetables and the justifiably famous mashed potato on the side. While both the chicken and the pork were cooked well, I liked the pork a little better. The portions were generous - mine was essentially half a chicken. The dessert of the day was a tart, similar to the ones at the Salon de Thé on the third floor of Bellavita, that was nicely plated and served with a scoop of ice cream. To finish I ordered a double espresso that was served with a canelé. The new set menu at lunch is a great deal. Just the dessert and espresso would have cost over NT$300, even in some random half decent pastry shops around town. While the price for lunch is relatively low, there was no skimping on the food nor service. The starter and the main course were both expertly prepared and beautifully presented. As usual the service was wonderful. My friend who doesn't frequent fine dining establishment was so satisfied that he vowed to return for lunch with his new girlfriend in the near future.

Of course L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Taipei is still very much a restaurant "worth a detour" to celebrate a special occasion. Besides the unfantastic fling with STAY a year or so ago, my wife, Maria, and I have dined at L'Atelier for our wedding anniversaries. In fact, our first dinner ever at L'Atelier Taipei was on our anniversary: a memorable meal executed with precision by the kitchen led by the first Chef de Cuisine, Yosuke Suga. The next anniversary dinner was under the careful watch of the second Chef de Cuisine, Angelo Aglianò, who ran L'Atelier for two great years, sometimes with an Italian sensibility. Since late November, L'Atelier has a new Chef de Cuisine, Xavier Boyer.

Prior to coming to Taipei, Boyer ran the kitchen of the New York branch of L'Atelier after Suga departed for Taipei. While in New York, Boyer earned two Michelin stars. Now Boyer is following Suga's footsteps again and lands in Taipei. While I never tried Boyer's L'Atelier in New York, it is nice to have a New York connection again in Taipei. It is also interesting to note that now Taipei has a L'Atelier while New York doesn't (the branch closed in the summer this year); this was something unimaginable to me a few years ago and still boggles my mind.

With a new chef in charge, I expected some changes at L'Atelier; after all, L'Atelier means workshop. Sure enough Boyer immediately started tweaking the menu and adding some new dishes. Like any good chef Boyer started to try out some local products and to use them. Since Boyer is French I expected the L'Atelier to shed some of its Italianness and move back towards France. While this is the case, Boyer's cuisine still surprised me a bit. At a dinner in early December, I was able to try some of the new dishes. The starter, salmon tartare, came with flying fish roe mixed in. The roe gave the dish a nice texture, almost like pop rocks. Boyer looks to have an interest in providing different textures in the dish. The same can be said for another new dish, braised pork cheeks. The fork tender pork was served with even softer tofu, crunchy vegetables (carrots and cucumbers), and topped with crispy Middle-Eastern rice noodle. While the texture was contrasting, the flavor was harmonious with depth. Boyer also seems to be more playful than his predecessors and stretches the realm of influences to more regions in the world. An off-the-menu new dish paired local shrimps with basil and Gorgonzola cheese raviolis and was served with a flagrant Thai broth. I was surprised by the combination of seafood and cheese, but it worked.

Recently, we returned to L'Atelier again for our anniversary dinner. This time I asked Boyer to just cook for us. People often ask the chefs in Japanese restaurants to just cook for them without looking at the menu. Why not do the same in a western restaurant? Sometimes, it is best to just trust the chef. Furthermore, instead of going through the thick wine list, leave the wine selection to the sommelier. Since I don't know anything about wine, I just put myself in the hands of Benoît Monier. Benoît started our night with a Bellini-like drink made with champagne and fresh raspberry juice, a refreshing drink and actually my first ever cocktail at L'Atelier.

Since many of the dishes for our dinner were new, even for the front of house staff, and can't be found elsewhere on the web, I took some pictures, and pretended to be a real food blogger. Chef started with a delicious canapé of sea urchin "brûlée" on lightly fried polenta and garnished with some arugula and a slice of toasted baguette. The food was served on a beautiful golden plate which made the dish a bit harder to photograph with my iPhone. Actually, our golden anniversary would be something to look forward to.

The first course was a "salad" of foie gras terrine, arugula, radishes, black truffles and potatoes. I love this dish, not often seen at L'Atelier. The last time I had something similar was two years ago when Chef Robuchon was in town. At that time, the foie was served with Parmesan shavings. If I have to complain a little bit about the dinner it was the garnishes for the first two dishes were the same: arugula and slices of toasted baguettes. Otherwise it was perfect.

The next course was a shrimp served on a tomato purée and topped with fried Middle-Eastern rice noodles, which provided a nice crunch. Benoît poured us some white Burgundy by Leroy, to enjoy with the seafood dishes. I really enjoyed the wine, which was fruity with nice acidity.

This was followed by a large scallop served on top of cauliflower purée. The drops of chili oil gave the dish a little kick in the mouth, which was a nice surprise.

The fish course was Maria's favorite dish of the night. The skin of the fish was very crispy, providing a nice texture. The sauce is an orange juice and balsamic vinegar reduction that has an almost Asian sweet and slight sour taste. To further the Asian flavor, the baby cabbage on the side was tossed with some ginger and garlic, which gave the vegetable a very pleasant crunch and heat. It was also a pleasure to see fennel, a seasonal vegetable rarely seen in Taiwan.

After the seafood courses, Chef served us a consommé with some root vegetables and black truffle, which acted like a palette cleanser. The last savory dish of the night is a more traditional French dish. In turn Benoît poured us a Bordeaux to pair with the food, quail and foie gras wrapped in green cabbage with a quail leg and pomme de terre purée on the side. The meat is slightly gamey and dish was rich and delicious.

After the savory dishes, the pastry chef, Kazuhisa Takahashi, personally brought out a little tart with a candle in celebration of our anniversary; just a delight. Later came a pre-dessert followed by a beautiful white dessert, which consisted of three layers: fruit purée on the bottom, rum sorbet in the middle and coconut mousse on the top. A small and delicate butterfly made of edible rice paper perched on the edge of the serving glass and meringue "straw" completed the composition and provide some texture to the dish. This was a light dessert and an playful but elegant way to end the meal.

Benoît finished our night at L'Atelier by generously pouring us some Chartreuse, a strong drink he said will help with digestion. I told Benoît that by coincidence we are actually working on a building that will hopefully have Chartreuse as one of the main colors on the facade. While enjoying the digestif, I can't help but wonder if any other restaurants in Taiwan would pour us an after dinner drink.

As always the service at L'Atelier is excellent. While there are some new faces, many of the front of house staff are the same as the opening three plus years ago. They are always glad to see us as we are delighted to see them. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Taipei takes the business of pleasure seriously and in turn we always leave the restaurant happy. L'Atelier will evolve and Chef Boyer looks to take L'Atelier to some interesting new directions. I look forward to the journey.

La Festa: Party Pooper

Ever since the news broke in the middle of last year that Grand Victoria Hotel invited the Michelin one-star chef, Igor Macchia, to collaborate on the Italian restaurant, I was curious to try. I am not sure why I waited over a year to finally go to the restaurant, La Festa, but recently my wife, Maria, and I took our two kids for a family dinner on a Sunday night. We had high hopes for the restaurant, but in short the dinner was thoroughly disappointing.

The restaurant is inside a long rectangular space on the second floor of the hotel. The are two rows of tables and one row of booths. The tables are large and spacious, but the booths were a little tight and not too comfortable. Overall the decor was okay though I wasn't too impressed with the ceiling mural depicting the horse race in Siena.

We ordered two starters: the Uovo Morbido, a slow cooked egg with porcini mushroom sauce and the Minestrone soup. The egg was cooked to a nice temperature, I am guessing around 62°C. However, the dish was severely under seasoned and didn't have much flavor. The same can be said about the soup. The vegetables in the soup were chunky and more abundant than the soup itself. The dish was not refined and felt more like a home-cooked meal but without the heartiness.

For our main course, we went with a pizza and a calzone for the kids and two pastas for the adults. The 8-inch pizza (NT$500) with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes was awful: little flavor and undercooked crust. The calzone with Bolognese sauce was a little better but not by much. Frankly, Pizzeria Zoca on the other side of the town does both things better. My spaghetti (NT$780) with sea urchin and a tiny dusting of bottarga was under seasoned, lacking in flavor, and very little aroma. The spaghetti was cooked to the right texture, but frankly that's not too hard. The pasta was served with snap peas that didn't quite go with the rest of the ingredients. Maria had the Agnolotti del Plin, which were served on a napkin. The little dumplings were too dry and without much flavor either.

We ordered a gelato for the kids to share and I skipped dessert and asked for an espresso, which was pretty good. The service was pleasant throughout the night and was probably the only positive aspect of the meal. I do have one issue: I ordered a glass of wine and would have preferred for the wine bottle to be shown and for the wine to be poured in front of me.

We did not leave La Festa in a festive mood. I don't know how much involvement the Michelin-starred chef has with the restaurant. However, if I am the Michelin inspector and La Festa is an acceptable standard by the chef, I would take away his star. The food didn't have much flavor and didn't even smell good. Unless some changes are made, I am not going back.

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.