Cycle 16 – Item 200
POST 5,679
24 (Thu) July 2025
Lobster, “Taiwanese Style”
2.5
at Mountain and Sea House
-Zhongshen, Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan)-
with the Family
Summer Vacation in Taiwan: Day 1 of 4
-
- Day 1 (16.200 Lobster, “Taiwanese Style”)
- Day 2 (16.201 “Chicken Meat”)
- Day 3 (16.202 Pan-Fried Buns)
- Day 4 (16.203 Niu Rou Mian)
In Taipei with the Family. 2nd time for me (see most recently 5.112 Niu Rou Mian), 2nd time for W, 1st time for the boys. Before sending DJ off to college, the original idea had been to take a grand summer vacation to somewhere far and fancy, like Italy, but neither W nor I felt much like planning or paying for it, so we settled on somewhere closer and cheaper. No plans really, just looking forward to great food, a bit of touring.
Arriving at 10:50, we were in the city by noon.
HOTEL
We’re staying at the Grand Hyatt Taipei.
W’s boss at her other job – CEO of the Asia region, who spends a lot of time working out of the Taipei office (like 3 weeks per month) and stays at the Hyatt whenever he’s in town, making him quite the VIP – got us an upgrade to a luxury suite. While the places that we’d experienced in Dubai (see generally 10.296 Grilled Shaari Eshkeli and More) and Abu Dhabi (see generally 10.299 Black Pepper Chicken) were pretty impressive, this is the largest and nicest suite that we’ve ever had the privilege to stay – it even has 2 separate bathrooms. And to think, given a single king bed, it’s meant for 2 guests, at most – in fact, the boys have their own room, a standard room, just down the hall.
Realizing that certain famous hotel brands don’t feel the need to include “hotel” in their name anymore.
LUNCH
For our 1st meal in town, where else but Din Tai Fung, the flagship branch at Taipei 101, next door to the hotel.
Infamous for long waiting times, I instructed the taxi to drop of DJ at the mall and dispatched him to get a queue ticket at the restaurant, while the rest of us went to the hotel and checked in. DJ met us back at the hotel and handed me ticket #3105, suggesting a wait of 40 to 90 minutes. After completing check-in, we proceeded to the restaurant, arrived to find #3104 on the board, and within 10 seconds of arrival – no exaggeration (“literally!”) – our number was called. My greatest achievement in (personal) restaurant logistical planning.
This was perhaps the largest restaurant that I’ve ever seen, requiring what seemed like a 5-minute walk to our table in the back section – actually maybe 1 minute, which is still impressive.
On my first trip to Taipei back in 2014, the first meal had also been Din Tai Fung, though at a different location (see generally 5.110 Chicken Xiaolongbao), where I was underwhelmed by the experience.
This time, however, the food was excellent. Started out with a few items then couldn’t stop. Surprisingly fast service, despite the throngs of customers, each item arriving a couple minutes after ordering. While the dishes weren’t necessarily better than at Din Tai Fung restaurants in other countries – W and the boys seemed disappointed that the xialongbao were pretty much the same as that in Manila or Seoul, which I regard as a significant achievement for the global restaurant chain to maintain that level of quality control – but the menu was far more extensive, and thus more fun to experiment; in retrospect, we should’ve taken more risks, leaving behind standard items like Stir-Fried Water Spinach in favor of something more adventurous, like Stir-Fried Amaranth Greens with Yuba, or Vermicelli with Bean Curd Puff and Pork Roll, instead of Hot and Sour Soup. Next time for sure.
GMTD at Din Tai Fung Restaurants Across the World – 5 countries and counting (McDonald’s has only 4 countries (see FAST FOOD)):
- Republic of Korea – Seoul (3.202 Xiaolongbao)
- Taiwan – Taipei (Da’An) (5.110 (Chicken?) Xiaolongbao) / Taipei (101) (16.200 Lobster, “Taiwanese Style”)
- Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur (6.332 Pork Xiao Long Bao)
- Philippines – Manila (Ortigas) (7.184 Xiaolongbao) (7.214 Shrimp & Pork Shaomai) (8.246 Shrimp and Pork Wontons with House Special Spicy Sauce) / Manila (Taguig) (7.364 Noodles with Minced Pork Sauce) (8.254 Noodles with House Special Spicy Sauce) (8.307 Spicy Pickled Cucumber)
- Abu Dhabi – United Arab Emirates (14.062 Sautéed Sword Lettuce (Three Times))
SIGHTSEEING
After lunch, a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art.
In contrast to fond memories of very interesting exhibits on my prior visit (see generally 5.112 Niu Rou Mian), they mostly had a lot of very weird and abstract installations this time. Most memorably, a video with three parallel panels each featuring a pig living in a different situation, subtitles to show its inner dialogue musing about the meaning of life – the farm pig ultimately gets slaughtered and eaten, and ends up as a pile of shit (perhaps an actual pile of shit) and flushed down the toilet; initially, the boys couldn’t contain their laughter at the sheer absurdity of the piece but eventually watched the whole thing through and found it quite profound.
Next, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
On my prior visit, I had come too late to visit the museum under the hall, but this time we arrived with a few minutes to spare.
I can’t recall ever seeing a museum dedicated solely to one person. His cars, uniforms and clothing, writings, awards, even the ball point pens that he’d used.
Now that I’ve accomplished the duty to show these places to my family, I doubt that I’ll ever be back.
DINNER
Mountain and Sea House is a Taiwanese restaurant. According to the Michelin Guide, where it currently holds a 1-star rating: “…the interior and the food of this luxurious mansion are evocative of 1930s glamour.”
3 reasons for choosing the venue to host our welcome dinner. 1: the menu offers a range of “traditional/classical” Taiwanese dishes, none of which I’d ever heard of, but I was intrigued by the prospect of experiencing high-end cuisine in a country famous for street food. 2: Michelin star. 3: Situated near the sightseeing locations that were on the schedule for the afternoon.
In the final hours of my last visit to Taipei, wandering around a few blocks from the Museum of Contemporary Art, I had stumbled across a store for Ka Va Lan, new to me at the time, a year before its Solist Vinho Barrique was named the best whisky at the World Whiskies Awards in 2015, launching the distillery to global fame – I have a signed bottle of the Solist Vinho Barrique from Master Distiller Ian Chang (“From Ian to Ian”), scored at the Whisky Live event in BGC in 2018 (see generally 9.308 Käsespätzle).
Browsing the wine list, I was happily surprised to discover Omar, a Taiwanese single malt whisky, new to me. And shocked to find the basic expression (“bourbon type”) priced at only NTD 1,650 (about USD 55) for a 700-ml bottle, compared to a 45-ml shot for NTD 480 (about USD 16); the next level of Omar (cask strength, lychee liquer barrel finished) went up to NTD 11,500 (about USD 390), which made more sense, especially at a Michelin-starred establishment – convinced that the pricing must be a typo, I asked the waiter, who confirmed that it was indeed promotional pricing.
Alas, the food was disappointing. The signature dishes, such as the suckling pig, were available buy advance reservation only, so we had to choose among the non-signatures, which I hadn’t bothered to research, so we went with the server’s recommendations. Unlike other regional Chinese traditions that I’m familiar with, such as Cantonese, Mandarin, American, Korean, and a bit of Sichuan, the flavors of this so-called “traditional/classical” Taiwanese cuisine were distinctly austere, very little in the way of seasonings, sauceless. Perhaps this restaurant, proud of its farm-to-table approach – in fact, it’s the first restaurant in Taiwan to be award a Michelin Green Star – keeps things light to highlight the natural flavors of the ingredients. In any case, we were all left very unsatisfied.
In light of the lousy return on the initial spread, I was happy to take advantage of the opportunity to order a live lobster, in hopes of ending on a high note and salvage the meal. Choosing the biggest baby in the tank, I was offered various preparation options, including “Taiwanese Style,” described as a stir-fry with bean sprouts and eggs – sounded awesome. Like everything else that had preceded it, the dish was bland and dry. Each individual component was okay, but didn’t really come together in harmony. NTD 3,500 (about USD 120). Oh well.
The bill came out to NTD 13,299 (about USD 450). By comparison, we’d paid NTD 3,498 (about USD 115) at Din Tai Fung. Spoiler alert: the combined cost of our remaining meals for the next 3 days will come out to less than NTD 3,000 (about USD 100).
NIGHTCAP
As an alcoholic, what I appreciate about vodka is that I don’t need to worry about nuances, like bouquet or mouthfeel or finish. As long as it doesn’t taste bad, it’s fine. Which is why it’s the preferred poison of alcoholics, as accurately portrayed in popular media.
(See RESTAURANTS IN TAIWAN)
(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See BOOZE)