Bao Dao (Chatswood Sydney)

We went to Bao Dao (Treasure Island, a nickname for Taiwan), a newly opened casual dining place at Chatswood, for dinner on a Friday night. The menu was very simple with all the classic Taiwanese street food in night markets – salted fried chicken, stewed pork knuckle, noodles... I particularly enjoyed the rice bowl with pork crackling. The greasy pork fat mixed well with the streamed rice. It is probably not good for your health, but certainly will satisfy your taste buds.

Details:
Bao Dao
Shop 8, 376 Victoria Avenue
Chatswood
http://www.baodao.com.au

Taiwan Selections

In my 3 days in Taiwan, I have also experienced the local delicacies on top of the fine dining experience.

Beef noodles is a given. Noodle stalls and shops are everywhere and the quality is consistent. The Taiwanese ‘yellow cows’ produced flavourful beef with a rather tough texture – great with noodle soup.

Make sure you pay one of the night markets a visit (or two). A huge variety of local foods is available: rice with a pork mince and soy sauce, oyster omelette, mixed veg and offal, deep fried chicken fillet… the list goes on.

Cuisine M! (Taipei)

During the Taipei visit, we were recommended by Cuisine M for a Japanese meal. The restaurant, situated at the ground floor of a bank’s office building, had a rather dark dining room which gave diners as sense of privacy – perfect for a business lunch.

For less than TW$3,000, we had a full Japanese banquet with all the fresh seafood: melt in your mouth toro tuna sashimi, juicy grilled crab legs, sweetest geoduck from the hotpot. And for main course there were wagyu steak and foie gras. The variety excited our taste buds and made an excellent lunch.

Details:
Cuisine M!
台北市松智路1號1樓
1F, No.1, Songzhi Road
Xinyi District
Taipei City
www.mitsuitaipei.com.tw

Danny & Company (Taipei)

On my first night in Taipei, I was taken to Danny & Company for dinner. Prior to the visit, I didn’t realise such restaurants exist – a full French menu served in Japanese teppanyaki style.

The food was awesome with taste and presentation rivalling Michelin-starred restaurants. It was high quality from start to finish – crusty warm bread, porcini soup, seared foie gras… and the dual beef of Australian 9+ wagyu and USDA prime cap certainly lived up to the ‘king of steak’ reputation by head chef Danny Teng.

Mr Teng’s generosity in sharing his knowledge of food was a bonus. Thanks!

Details:
Danny & Company
台灣台北市四維路52巷33號
No. 33, Ln. 52, Siwei Rd
Da'an District
Taipei City, 106
http://www.dannyandcompany.com