Le Palais in Taipei

In the past, when foreign friends or business partners visit Taiwan, maybe you will consider to take them to the night markets to taste some Taiwanese snacks. Recently, due to the cooking oil problems in Taiwan, you have better to choose a restaurant strictly so that you can confirm all the ingredients you eat are safe for human bodies. Therefore, high-class restaurants are likely to be an ideal choice, for they usually manage their ingredients with higher standard. 

The dining wares of  Le Palais 

 There are many high-class restaurants locate in Taipei providing exotic cuisines, but if I want to treat the friends from other countries, I will invite them to try Chinese food. The reason is that food is also a part of our culture which totally merging into our lives. “Le Palais” is the restaurant I recommend; and its Chinese name is “頤宮”. Le Palais not only chooses fresh ingredients in the season but also provides great atmosphere in the dining space which has high privacy. There are some popular dishes in Le Palais, such as barbecue pork pastry, roasted baby duck in chief’s special and steamed egg yolk custard buns.

 

The roasted baby duck in chief's special

The  barbecue pork pastry and roasted baby duck were so popular, a famous dancing star, Jen Liu, had recommended these two dishes on a famous TV show of Taiwan. As a result, If you feel like ordering these two cuisines, you can order these “must eat” dishes when doing reservation so that you won’t miss them. I’m a lucky person who has a smart friend, so when I first visit Le Palais, I can eat all the famous dishes! 

The barbecue pork pastry was a traditional Chinese cuisine. The cooks roast pork covering with sugar or honey. After roasting the pork, the cook will take pork out and cut it into slices. Actually, you can eat barbecue pork pastry at any corner of Taiwan. However, why the barbecue pork pastry of Le Palais becomes so delicious? What is the secret of the pork? First, they need to choose the pork of mature pig with enough fat because the fat on the pork can let the pork taste chewier after roasting. In addition, the roasting skills of the cooks also play an important role in preparing the barbecue pastry pork. They need to be care of the temperatures of the herd and the cooking time carefully; in consequence, the surface of the pork will become crispy and the gravy will be maintained in the pastry pork.

The barbecue pastry pork 

When it comes to the roasted baby duck of Le Palais, we must talk about the duck the cook chooses. The baby duck is not as gamy as other mature duck. Therefore, choosing the baby duck is the first successful step of the process. Besides, as I mentioned above, the roasting skills are essential in these Cantonese style barbecues. If you are worry that you don’t know how to cut the whole duck in slices, don’t worry! The cook will come to your table and cut the main part of the dark into slice in Le Palais. After this service, the cook will also inquire what you want to do with the remained duck and the duck bones. Customers can choose duck soup or duck porridge. Either the soup or porridge tastes fantastic. By doing this, people won’t waste any food!

Sliced roasted baby duck

Duck porridge

Sides of the duck porridge

After all these dishes, it's dessert time!!! What kind of traditional Chinese snacks should we choose? My answer is definitely the steamed egg yolk custard buns!! With a mediocre appearance, people may think those buns are quite bland. Conversely, when tearing the little bun apart, the gold egg yolk custard will flow out. When tasting these little buns, you will find they are so different from the custard breads from western countries. The taste of custard is sweet while the egg yolk taste kind of salty. Surprisingly, these two kinds of taste can incorporate with each other so perfectly. Thus, you can’t help but eat one after one!

The steamed egg yolk custard buns 

The gold liquid flows out

These three cuisines I introduced are the basic ones you must try when visiting Le Palais. There are still other Chinese dishes, snacks and desserts in Le Palais, for example, soybean milk film with shrimps and pork, chilled mango sago cream with pomelo and so on. Next time when you get a promotion, celebrate anniversary with your spouse or entertain important family members or friends, Le Palais is a restaurant you will never regret to choose! 

 

soybean milk film with shrimp and pork

Gelatissimo in Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city of Australia. The temperature of Sydney is between 13.78 and 21.68 degrees Celsius during year. Therefore, Sydney is cozy for people to travel around in any season. When I visited Sydney in 2012, the trip was in July, winter of south hemisphere. However, Sydney is not only warm but also shinny. Comparing the winter in Taipei, in Sydney, I’m willing to take a walk in the city rather than stay at home

The Sunshine of Winter in Sydney

If you are a person who like travel in slow pace and enjoy wandering around the city without specific destination, Sydney will be a great choice for you. Today, this essay is going to introduce a delicious dessert which you can eat easily when walking. It is ice cream! Ice cream is one of the cheapest food in Australia, for example the ice cream in Macdonald only costs 30 cents. Hence, there are always lots of people lining in front of the ice cream stand even though it is in winter.

People are waiting for ice cream

This ice cream shop is called Gelatissimo, which sells Italian flavor ice cream. Gelatissimo is a multiple shop in Australia. One of my friend in Australia told me a romantic story of Gelatissimo: a couple, who were both love eating ice cream, found Gelatissimo after getting married. Although they divorced at the end, the ice cream brand still be very popular in everywhere I traveled in Australia. Due to their love story, the flavors of ice cream in Gelatissimo have some fancy name bout love, boy and girls, such as “you had me at hello” and “high heel”.

Flavors of ice cream

"You Had Me at Hello"

The first time I tasted the ice cream of Gelatissimo was near Darling Harbour, a famous scenic spot in Sydney.  After laying on the grass and having a sun bath at the afternoon of winter, I started to feel warm and I knew it is time to having an ice cream cone and wander around the harbor. Though Gelatissimo didn’t provide customers with comfortable dining space, it was still an enjoyment to eat ice cream on the stairs around the harbor. There were many different kinds of boat and ship. Seagulls were flying above the sea. Everything is peaceful and enjoyable.

Darling Harbour

 Stairs around the harbor

The recipe of the ice cream is traditional Italian style. They make the ice cream with fruits on the selling day to make sure all of ice cream is fresh. Furthermore, the ice cream in Gelatissimo is less sweet just as the cake in Hopetun Tea Rooms in last post. The ice cream has the sense of multi-level, for instance, the chocolate flavor tastes bitter and sweet at the same time. 

At the end, Gelatissimo is a multiple shop, so now you have it a try even in Taiwan. Nonetheless, why I chose to introduce the Gelastissimo in Sydney? According to my personal experience, the tastes of ice cream of Gelatissimo will change with the locations. Once I tried it in Brisbane, it tasted much sweeter and I didn’t think it taste as awesome as the shop of Sydney. By the way, the Gelatissimo in New Zealand tasted great, too. I haven’t tried all of the shops in different locations, but I can promise the one in Sydney is perfect. Last but not least, the scenery and the weather are also the best. You must give it a try when arriving in Sydney!

Scenery people can see from Darling Harbour

Little girl staring at Gelatissimo 

Hopetun Tea Rooms in Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria State, and it is also the second populous city of Australia. Melbourne locates in the southern of Australia. Due to its location, it belongs to temperate marine climate which is suitable for people to live in. Hence, Melbourne is one of the most livable cities in the world. In 19^th century, Australia was the colony of Great Britain, so when wandering in Melbourne, we can see many antique British architecture, such as Queen Victoria Market. Besides, there are also some famous afternoon tea house in this elegant city. In this essay, I’m going to introduce “Hopetoun Tea Rooms” which has already operated for more than one hundred years.

Signboard of Hopetun Tea Rooms

Although there are many modern shopping malls stand around Melbourne, many arcade malls still remain in the city. However, Hopetoun Tea Room has located in one of these arcade malls, which is called Block Arcade since 1892. Hopetoun Tea Room doesn’t have a noticeable signboard outside but passengers will never overlook it when passing by. The reason is there are many people lining outside the tea room all the times, even in the winter. From these phenomenon, we can see how popular it is. According to my friend who studied in Melbourne for couple years, if people don’t want to wait in the line, they need to arrive the tea room earlier than 11am. 

Block Arcade

Nonetheless, how can a little tea room attracts so many people lining in Australia? What is the magical power of Hopetun Tea Rooms? To unveil this secret, I decided to go to there to have an afternoon tea when visiting Melbourne. As I was lining before the tea room, I can see all kinds of fancy desserts, like cakes, macarons, fruit tarts, sweet pie and so on in the glass closet. As a sweet tooth, I can’t imagine how fantastic it will be to taste all of these desserts.

Cakes in Glass Closet

After entering Hopetun Tea Rooms, I was fascinated with the all dark green decorations and mirrors in the house. Dark green decorations and mirror make the  dining space looked ampler. On the tables, they also put a rose or a tulip in a thin transparent vase. All the decorations make the atmosphere in the tea house elegant and cozy. The other scene which impressed me is there were lots of elder couple having a date in the tea house, I thought there will nothing more romantic to enjoy leisure time with our beloved person in such a great place.

Dining Space

When the waitress delivered the cake to me, I couldn’t wait to taste it. I found the cake in Hopetun Tea Rooms taste sourer than cakes in Taiwan. In Taiwan, cakes are always decorated with cream and chocolate which make cakes taste much sweeter. However, the disadvantage of these cakes is it will make people feel fed up with the savor in few minutes. In contrast, cakes in Hopetun Tea Rooms tasted a little bit sweet at first, but when I kept the cake remaining in my mouth for a longer time, then I savor the sour taste and the taste of fruits and fresh cream. Furthermore, tea in Hopetun Tea Rooms also play an important role to balance the sweet tastes of desserts. For example, the tea I ordered was called “Snow White” is brewed with apples, cranberries and rose buds, and these ingredients let the tea have great odor, but taste very plain.

Cake of Hopetun Tea Rooms

In conclusion, though the price in Hopetun Tea Room is somehow high, it still worth the price. Next time, when you travel in Melbourne, no matter after a tired shopping in arcade mall or during the leisure afternoon, having a piece of cake and a cup of hot tea in Hopetun Tea Room will definitely be an excellent choice.

Union Oyster House in Boston

Boston is the capital town of Massachusetts which is full of history, culture and with high living standard. In addition, there are many outstanding universities in Boston, such as Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). However, there must be some amazing restaurants in Boston. Before talking about the restaurant, what kind of ingredient will come up in your mind when people talk about Boston? I guess in Taiwan, 99% of people will give “lobsters” as their answers. As a result, the restaurant I’m going to introduce is famous with its lobster cousins. 

Quincy Market in Boston

Union Oyster House was founded in 1826. It have already stood on the Union street of Boston for more than 150 years. Union Oyster House is the restaurant which has the longest history in United States. Due to its long age, in 2003 the Union Oyster House even was designated as a national historical landmark. Besides, John. F Kennedy was a regular customer of Union Oyster House. 

After the brief introduction of the restaurant, it turns to the food here. The top 3 popular cousins in Union Oyster House are boiled lobster, oyster and clam chowder. In this essay, I will mainly focus on lobsters, the well-known ingredient in Boston. First, I’m going to introduce the nutrition of lobsters. One lobster contains 18.9% of protein in its body. Comparing to chicken, beef or pork, lobsters contain only 0.2% of unsaturated fat, which benefits human’s bodies. Besides, lobsters are abundant with vitamin A, C, B12 and minerals. In consequence, lobsters are truly an awesome ingredient ! 

Menu of Union Oyster House 

In Union Oyster House, they have 2 ways to cook lobsters. The first one is boil and the other one is bake. I will recommend people to order boiled lobster because it contains more water inside the lobster. Hence, the boiled lobsters taste more tender and juicier. However, if you are a person who can live without seasonings, don’t worry! They also provide some melted butter to let customer eat with boiled lobsters. On the other hand, although the baked lobster taste drier and saltier, many people think they smell better. Besides the cooking way, the other key of delicious seafood cousin is whether the ingredients are fresh or not. We don’t need to worry about this part in Union Oyster House because they will keep all lobsters alive until customers order it. 

Boiled Lobster

Baked Lobster

Furthermore, eating lobster won’t make us full. Wetter. As a Taiwan still need some sides. When ordering a lobster, customer can also choose their own sides. There are 3 choices, rice, French fries and cake with butter. As a Taiwanese, I’m sure I won’t enjoy American rice cooking way too much. Nonetheless, after arriving USA, I ate French fries almost every meal, so I chose cake with butter as my side. The cake is spongy, salty which tasting good with butter on it.

Cake with Butter

At the end, I want to share which clothes customers should wear when eating in Union Oyster House. Actually, we don’t need to wear formal suits or dresses, but, we should never forget the sport culture in Boston. For example, they have Rex Socks in baseball game and Celtics in basketball game. Last time, when I visited here, I forgot it. As a fans of New York Yankees, I even wear the hat with Yankees’ logo. When I dropped a spoon on the ground, the man sitting in next table kidded me that it is all because I wear Yankees’ hat in Boston. Therefore, if you don’t like Red Socks , maybe just wear a common t-shirt when dining in Union Oyster House!

Don't wear Yankees' Hat in Boston !

Peter Luger in NYC

When I travel in NYC in the summer of 2013, I visited the best steak house of NYC-Peter Luger. Since then, as a lover of steak, Peter Luger has become one of my favorite restaurants of New York City. Peter Luger was founded in 1887. It not only holds a Michelin star but also be chosen as the NYC’s No. 1 chop shop for successive 30 years. 

Peter Luger in Brooklyn

Peter Luger serves expertly broiled cuts prime, dry-aged meat. The levels of beef in USA are divided into 8 levels. The top level is called “prime” which comes from 18-moth mature cattle and with perfect marbling. On the other hand, the key why the steaks of Peter Luger taste so tender and juicy is that they use a tactic which is called “dry-aged”. In the next paragraph, I will introduce “dry-aged” in detail.

All the Prizes Peter Luger Takes

When cattle are slaughtered, beef will become harder when time elapses. After 6-12 hours, the beef will be totally hard. Now, to make beef tender, cooks need to let beef ferment so that the enzyme inside the beef can soften the fibers, and this process is called “aged”. Dry-aged means that after cut beef into slices, the cooks will put those beef slice in a room with constant temperature Celsius 0 degree. During the aged process, surplus water in beef will evaporate. Hence the aged beef will have thicker flavor. In addition the dried surface of beef can keep remained grease and water from losing to make beef tasty. However, “dry-aged” takes 21 days to complete and it also makes the dried surface of beef (about 30%of total) become too hard to eat. Therefore, only those top restaurants will use this process to prepare beef for steaks and Peter Luger is one of the best professionals in this way. By the way, even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are big fans of dried-aged beef!

Steak of Peter Luger

Peter Luger uses the highest level of beef and complicated cooking way to prepare their steak, so it is easy to imagine how fantastic of it beef. Nevertheless, if you are an adherent of Hinduism, what can you order? I’ll recommend you to order a bacon. Bacon may not attracts people a lot because when we think of bacon, the bacon slices in toasts which are extremely thin will come up into our mind directly. However, bacon of Peter Luger will break your stereotype of bacon. The thickness of Peter Luger’s bacon is about 2 cm (as the picture below) which is with crisp surface. In addition, these bacon with perfect seasoning is chewy. To be frankly, if you haven’t tasted bacon when visiting Peter Luger, you can’t tell anyone that you have ever visited Peter Luger.   

Bacon of Peter Luger

At the end, I want to share an anecdote of Peter Luger. When a reporter of New York Times visited Peter Luger, he considered whether to order “fresh fish season”, the waiter responded huffily, “Will you go to Hawaii to ski?” As a result, next time, when you visit Peter Luger with limited budget, you can order the classic courses I mentioned above. As the anecdote said, even the waiters of Peter Luger don’t recommend customers to order the other cuisines. Still, if you are a fan of steaks, don’t miss Peter Luger when traveling in NYC! 

Dinning Space of Peter Luger, Brooklyn