In October, I got to spend 3 weeks of holiday in Taipei. It was a great opportunity to visit family and friends, and also a wonderful chance to enjoy Taipei's food. Taipei had a big variety of food, ranging from the cheap and delicious, to the top end restaurants. I got to sample lots of different types while I was there, and will share with you a few notable places.
After recovering from the flight to Taipei, I ventured out with my family the next day. We decided to have afternoon tea at a Salon opened by French chef Joel Robuchon.
The restaurant is located inside the fancy Bellavita department store. Bellavita is a luxury department store housing many international boutique brands. These are definitely too expensive for the average joe, but there's no harm doing some window shopping before eating. The food court in the basement has a good range of food with reasonable prices. There are also several restaurants in the upper levels.
We went to Salon de The by Joel Robuchon on the 3rd level. French chef Joel Robuchon, is a Michelin Star winning chef with many restaurants around the world. In 2009, he opened 2 restaurants at the Bellvita department store, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon and Salon de The de Joel Robuchon. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon is a high class French/Italian restaurant, aim to serve the Michelin standard food (along with the price tag). The Salon de The is the less serious sibling, serving light meals, pastry and baking.
As soon as we walked into the Salon, we were welcomed by the beautiful displays of macarons, baking, and other treats. It has a modern decor, with lots of black, a bit of red, and plenty of spotlights.
I was instantly attracted to the pastry display cabinets, where the stars of the show stood. Each little pasty had its own place, and were all beautifully presented. I could just look at them all day!
Next to the pastry, were the freshly baked French style bread. These not only looked good, they also smelled wonderful.
The afternoon menu gave us choices of an afternoon tea set, crepes, breads, and pastry. We decided to share an afternoon tea set (NT$1200 + 10% service fee, about NZ$58 total) between the 4 of us. This was meant to be for 2 people, and came with a sandwich, 2 pastries, 2 macarons, 2 madeleines, and 2 drinks. We also ordered 2 extra drinks and a basket of bread.
For the drinks, we had 3 coffees and a tea. I had a latte and it was alright, but I think I prefer the coffee in NZ. The coffees from restaurants are also quite expensive in Taipei, and the latte was about NT$200 + 10% (~NZ$9.60).
Mum had a pot of Earl Grey tea. This came in a heavy black iron pot to keep the tea warm. We've also seen other diners with the red version of the tea pot which looked brighter. The teapot was actually too heavy for mum to pour her tea, so I had to help!
The basket of bread looked rather cute in the little red bread sack. It came with a good selection of bread, including Ciabatta with sesame, ficelle with olives, mini baguette, brioche, and slices from a bread loaf. At NT$180 + 10% (~NZ$8.60), this was a bargain compared to the rest of the meal. It was met with great approval from dad, the bread lover. We all enjoyed it too, and actually thought the bread was the highlight of the afternoon tea.
The afternoon tea set arrived, and it was quite spectacular. All of these would have looked nice individually, but even better together! We got to choose 2 pastries from the cabinet, and there was also a choice of the sandwich (chicken salad, ham & camembert, or vegetarian). We went for the chicken salad sandwich. This came already cut in 4 pieces, so we didn't have to make a mess. The chicken salad was delicious, with great flavours. We also love the baguette, which was fresh and perfect with the chicken salad.
The afternoon tea set also came with 2 macarons and 2 madeleines. We didn't get to choose the macarons. One was lemon, and the other was rose. I thought the macarons were nice, although the rest of the family found them too sweet. The madeleines were just alright, as we prefer softer cakes.
For the pastries, we chose a chocolate tart (Tarte au Chocolat) and a sesame napoleon slice (Mille feuille au praline de sesame). It was quite difficult trying to cut the napoleon slice into 4 pieces, but we managed somehow. I quite liked the napoleon slice, with light pastry layers and creamy sesame custard.
The chocolate tart looked pretty, and even came with a gold leaf. The tart was filled with custard and chocolate and topped with dark chocolate. It was quite nice, although once again, the others thought it was too sweet.
We had an interesting dining experience at Salon de The. The whole meal came to a total of NT$2002 (~NZ$87), not too bad for NZ standard, but definitely expansive for Taipei. We loved the bread and I liked the pastries, although the rest of the family found them too sweet. Not for everyone, but might be worth checking out for a special occasion and if you like French pastries.
Salon de The de Joel Robuchon
3F, No. 28 Song Ren Road
Taipei
Taiwan
台北市信義區松仁路28號3樓
(886) 2 8729 2626
www.robuchon.com.tw
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