Juski

3.5/5

Certainly a new concept! My gal pal was there the previous night and told me I gotta try it so last night we did. We were seated upstairs in the smoking section. I believe there is a downstairs. Not sure though. Each person pays 699 (no service charge) and you get 20 dishes--tapas sized--served to you. The more of you, the more the serving. You get eight different sauces to use at your whim. Want to add spicy Korean sauce to your Indonesian chicken satay? Sure, go ahead! Feel like adding Indian spiced yogurt to your Thai shrimp salad? Why would you want to? But sure, go right ahead! Three of the dishes are served cold; one is a big pot of rice, one is a big pot of Thai coconut soup; the other 15 are from different Asian countries. There's Vietnamese fish cake, Iranian lamb, Japanese miso aubergine, etc. There's a big metal plate on your table where the server places four tea candles underneath to keep your food hot. I ain't no scientist, but tea lights don't really keep anything warm...The plates the food come in ARE kinda thick...

The main chef (and part owner) is a French man who's been in the business for almost two decades. I like his concept, though. I wonder where he came up with this idea.

Food: The menu tells you exactly what the 20 dishes are. You also get to choose any (unbottled) drink for free. Pop is unlimited refill, and other unbottled drinks are one refill each. The drink list is extensive, and includes fresh juices and cocktails. Just ordering a cocktail and refilling once is a good deal. We both just had pop, though. But the syrup must have been out because both regular and diet Cokes tasted the same. Also on each table is a description of what is in every item, so that was nice, you could refer to the table top menu.

Of the 20 dishes, eight are refillable: rice, soup, kimchi, lemongrass fruit salad, and some other vegie dishes. Unfortunately, my favorite dish was the kimchi. B-boy's was the rib eye beef.

Our server was very nice. He was not pushy and was in no rush to take plates away. He spent time explaining each dish and which sauces went well with what. I did tell him the food was honestly bland, and about the pop. He remedied it immediately by asking if we wanted different drinks, but we had to leave so said no. He also mentioned the food used to be heavier, but customers didn't like it, so now they don't taste as heavy. Hmm...the eight different side dish of sauces did help, but some of the food just weren't marinated enough or the quality just wasn't there. Remember how I said there are no good tapas places in town? This might be it. The drink selection and the ambience is perfect to chat and chew.

The restaurant was clean, everything was placed nicely, all dishes were white. I must say, the colors of the sauces and the food with the white plates and dishes was very pretty. But the quality of ingredients was not good. The basic dish, stir fried greens with garlic, was not tasty at all, just garlicky. The Indian rice pulao was tasty. The soup was bland, but it looked pretty! This place is good value, I mean you can try all sorts of pretty looking foods. I would go back. But if quality is what you're looking for, it's not all there. It's a fun place to go to though, that's for sure! This picture shows the Indonesian lemon grass prawn kebab. There was no bite to the whole thing. Not chewy like it should be.

Washroom: I didn't check out the washroom.

We got there at 8.30 and stayed till around 9.45. The whole time there were three tables, including us. As we were leaving, another couple came in.

Breakdown: I give it 4/5 for ambience, service, presentation, comfort. But 3/5 for disappointment, and lack of quality of food. I really was impressed with the look and colors of the food. I am a sucker for bright colors. I read an online review and many people didn't like it. But taste and quality aside, the experience was great. After all, you got all these sauces, just drench your food in them! With 20 dishes, you can't get them all right, and at that price. We left there full and satisfied, I even took a doggy bag. Our server gave us some pieces of aluminum foil and I made origami take out animals with them.

Once again, compared to restaurants of similar price and ambience, this place did well. I wouldn't compare it to Mei Kung, or Tandoor, or any other authentic delish ethnic restaurant here in Taibei, though.

And a nice creme brulee to end the experience.


zest.golotz.com. #1 Lane 105 Ren Ai Road Section 4. Right behind Miss Sixty at the Ren Ai Circle. 11-2 AM. 02.8773.3714. Credit cards accepted.