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Eat Sum.
Eating, it goes without saying, in Taipei is cheap. VVG Table ("Very, Very Good Table") is located in the French District. I call this the French District because there are three French restaurants within two blocks of each other. And hipster, Asian westerners smoking Marlboro Reds and the occasional Gitanes and the Italian favorite, Merits.
The decor in VVG was North French African (Moroccan glass and table ware, colored chandeliers) meets Southern Med countryside (dark, soft wood, imperial chairs and chicken wired cabinets housing wine bottles). The plating was picturesque and the food was near perfect. Brunch started with frozen fruit drinks, Veuve champers, Nutella and Alsatian honey dipped on unsalted bread. The mains included black truffle accented scrambled eggs and caviar; spicy sausage, chickpea, olive and chili pepper something or the other; calamari salad; barley with toasted almond and roe released from a ramekin and black bean and peanut custard. The meal finished with head sized cappuccinos that needed two hands to sip at (think the old adverts from the Communist, I mean, communal noodle chain in London, Wagamama). The three of us paid a total of something like $62. Upon exiting we made a reservation to dine for dinner on Wednesday night; hoping that we'll have enough left in us to join the revelers at some bars in the area and chase the dragon. Wednesday at VVG. Living in Fast-Forward. It was the 4th of July in Taipei; America was still double-digit hours away from celebrating its Independence day. So, we planned a return to the scene of the brunch. Thoughts of Jefferson and Franklin and their inspiration from the French Revolution was the farthest thing from our minds. As mentioned previously, the setting of VVG Table is comfortable down to the last detail. Get on with it. The menu. Started with a rocket salad, prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano (three ingredients you can't find in Taiwan which made the entree into the meal a bit more exotic, like sniffing incense and drinking snake blood in nearby Night Markets). We coupled the appetizer with another Italian specialty, little bundles of beef "involtini" which were subtle and, therefore, a bit of a letdown. As for the main stage. We shared three dishes. A risotto (not an Arborio rice) but a simple Asian table rice cooked with scallops and mushrooms and dashed with white truffle oil to add a bit of savoriness to the earthy mushroom and salty, dense scallops. Following the risotto was a strange dish. A braised pig's leg. The dish was pure, artery clogging fat. Succulent, delicious fat. Seared fat and slow cooked, infused fat. Fat that makes me love my love handles. Fat that I would cover my body with and suntan and sizzle on the beach for days with. It was good fucking fat. Complimenting the pig leg was a gutted zucchini slice about a half-inch high filled with sauteed zucchini and bacon. We finished with a filet mignon with aged balsamic, caramelized onions and thyme. As for wining. We decided to BYOB, as most of Asia's restaurant wine lists are quite pathetic - a sampling of Australia's wine glut or some wine made in Thailand, who knew. We ate the starter dishes with Larkmead's Sauvignon Blanc, which showed bright and refreshing after walking in from the heat and humidity that weighs on the brow with pearl sized droplets of sweat. And for the claret. A 1997 Pontet Canet from Pauillac. A blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The wine was lean, with layers of complexity that only ten-year-old Bordeaux offers - earth and spice, cured meats and leather, berry fruit. Delicious. But not the wine for the Pig Fat; the wine left a bitter taste in my mouth when I tried to wash down the lovely lard. For dessert, a flourless chocolate cake and more Alsatian citrus honey. Followed by a short walk and stop at "Sofa" lounge to sit on day beds, smoke cigarettes and drink French Martini's. It was a very Enlightened and French Revolutionary (with some Italian culinary variants) moment in Asia, but I felt American all along the way. Rememberance of things lost:
Some Photos: Hong Kong Coming Soon.
Post - July'07 Back to home...
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