C'est dans l'air

I'm back in Taipei for a few days, voting in the presidential election and spending a few days with the Parental Units.  While I either ate very simple meals outside or mom's cooking at home over the last few days, I decided to have lunch at some place I've always wanted to check out.  I managed to drag my friend Cathy from HaoKouFu to L'Air café néo-bistro (風.流.小.館.).  I've passed by this place many times while walking between grandma's and Yongkang Street (永康街), but never had a chance to walk through its doors... until now.

The first part of the amuse bouche was a little cube of pork terrine with pickled cucumber.

These cheese sticks seemed a little bit stale.

Crispy fried prawns with grilled Napa cabbage, sliced pear, and orange vinaigrette (酥炸花色紅蝦搭烤白菜與西洋梨薄片佐柑橘油醋) - the battered and deep-fried prawns were pretty good, with crispy batter that wasn't greasy.  Interesting to pair it with cooked Napa cabbage and what seemed to be slices of poached Anjou pear, along with a few arugula leaves.  The orange vinaigrette was nice.

Radish bisque with stewed radish and pan-fried scallop (白蘿蔔濃湯搭清甜燉蘿蔔與煎干貝) - this was very nice, especially on a slightly chilly and rainy day.  The bisque was creamy but still light enough in terms of texture, and the sweet flavors of radish come through - enhanced with a little bit of piment d'espelette and grated yuzu rind.  The chunk of stewed radish was very nice, too.

The pan-fried scallop was done mi-cuit.  Very delicious.

Pan-fried chicken confit with sautéed mushrooms, potatoes, and quinoa in thyme chicken jus (煎脆皮油封雞腿搭藜麥洋芋炒菇佐百里香雞汁) - not bad at all.  The sautéed mix was seasoned with what seemed to be cumin or curry powder - which made it a little more exotic.

Pink guava sorbet (沁涼冰沙) - not bad, and served with a slightly acidic foam - which my friend thought was made with Calpis (カルピス).

Crêpe with salted butter caramel (焦糖海鹽奶油風味可麗餅) - the salted butter caramel was nice, but the crêpe itself was too wet and fluffy.  It should have been thinner and crispier.  But hey, we're just two nitpicking people who have eaten their fair shares of authentic French crêpes...

This pâté de fruit was made with pink guava.  Pretty nice.

Honestly, this was a pretty decent lunch.  Classic stuff.  Nothing wow'd me or blew my mind, but then again... this was a casual lunch at a bistro, after all.  All that mattered was that the food tasted good and I enjoyed my meal.

I guess I can come back here for more casual gatherings with friends, when fine dining isn't the order of the day.

P.S.  one interesting thing about this place is that while it's headed by Chef Dana, it seemed the whole kitchen was female - at least when we looked in today.  That's gotta be pretty rare...