A notch or two below

I was away on the parental units' anniversary, so I made sure I took them out after I got back into town.  We went back to our old favorite Paris 1930, since it's kind of a tradition.  And truth of the matter is that Rolf and team have always taken care of us.  The parental units haven't been back here since the new chef came onboard last December, and I thought we'd go and give it a try.

As is typical, each of us took a different menu so we could have a range of dishes.  I decided to take the Ocean Special menu since I'd brought a bottle of white…

Amuse bouche - yellow squash panna cotta with red beetroot jelly.  Pretty yummy, as the squash flavors were surprisingly strong.

The warm embrace of an old friend

I'm back in Hong Kong for a few days, and my kind friends arranged a lunch for me... knowing that I've been missing lots of different kinds of food.  Hard to believe that it's been more than 6 months since I was last at my beloved Caprice (having a few glasses of wine earlier this year doesn't count), so I was really happy when Legolas Jr set us up with Jeremy at Caprice for some cheese.

Cheese is one of the things I miss most being in Taipei.  Selection is pretty poor, since most people don't really eat it and don't have the knowledge.  The fact that I was given some La vache qui rit spreadable wedges as part of a cheese plate at a restaurant says a lot.

We were seated in the bar area away from the main dining room, which is where guests can have a simple meal of wine and cheese.  This will soon be renovated to an expanded bar area with wine and cheese cellar.  I'm really looking forward to seeing it when it's done!

No tuna, please

I'm back at Gyodoike (魚道生) for an impromptu dinner.  It really has become one of my favorite places for Japanese in town, and I think the chef has started to recognize me.

As usual we let the chef make the call on what to send us, although I did ask for beef to be left off the menu, as well as tuna.  I've asked for tuna to be taken out almost every time that I've been here, but I still have to specify that it's ALL cuts of tuna.  They don't seem to get it here…

Whelk (つぶ貝) - very crunchy.  Nice way to kick off.

Flounder (平目)

Early Mother's Day dinner

For the first time in memory, the family decided not to wait till the last minute to figure out what to do for Mother's Day.  Mom decided that we should avoid the crowd and celebrate a week early, and tasked me to figure out the venue.  In the past we had always left it up to Last Minute Uncle… who would always decide at the last minute…

I was browsing through blogs for inspiration when I was suddenly reminded of Shanghai Restaurant (豫園上海湯包館) in the Capital Hotel (首都大飯店).  I had been there once for our company annual gathering, and I thought both the food and the setting were pretty decent.  It seemed like a good place to take the family, as we desperately need some new places to go for our gatherings…

I left the ordering to dad and Last Minute Uncle, and sat back and enjoyed the food.

The old standard

I was invited to dinner by some friends at the last minute, and joined them at the original location of Mitsui (三井).  This was the original restaurant to take Japanese dining upmarket in Taipei, offering something more refined than what we were used to before.  Over the years, though, the quality hasn't kept up with the rest of the market, and there are now many other choices in town.

I decided against ordering one of the usual set dinners, since I wanted to control my intake.  So I picked a few items from the menu to try to achieve a "balanced" meal…