In Bellavita, for my 20th birthday…
Let’s start the review
Mise en bouche
Scramble eggs with some black pepper and brown sugar, and an espuma (i didn’t really get what it was…). Very light, and the eggs were really nice and smooth, that was the first time that i had eggs like this, like a cream.
Le caviar
Caviar with a duck jelly (tasted like foie gras but in jelly) and a mousse under (again i didn’t get it). Sooo yummy. I thought i would like caviar, but that’s soo good. With the jelly the caviar taste isn’t too strong and salty. And the top: you had a pearly spoon.
La truffe blanche d’Alba
The sommelier Benoît told me that they used potatoes from Taiwan that were sweeter than ours. That’s true that they were quite different. However i thought that the foie gras was a little bit too salty compared to the one i’m used to (maybe because of the potatoes since i ate it with it), but it was really smooth and had a nice texture. And the white truffle doesn’t have much taste compared to the black one i think. Maybe i’m not good enough to find the subtility in it, but so far i prefer the black one. I don’t understand why this one is so expensive (there was one guy that was in charge of the truffles, haha he was wearing white clothes and had dyed his hair in white too!).
La langoustine
From Brittany, with an italian ravioli with Espelette chili pepper, Foie gras sauce, white Alba truffle again, and a steamed little green cabbage. Loved the ravioli; but i would have eaten 10 more if i could have. It’s supposed to be the oldest dish of the restaurant. I understand why they keep it. My favorite with the meat.
Le parmesan
A parmesan broth with tiny mushrooms glued together with a beef stuffing. They looked like mini macarons, so cuteeee. And so good! But why did they give a spoon that is so not convenient to scrape the little broth left? Loved it too.
The guy who served it to me was so nice. He saw that i was taking pictures, so he told me if i wantedd to take one with the lid on it before he starts to explain the dish and remove it.
L’amandai
Lemongrass juice, ceraver purée with violet flowers that come from Japan (i can’t remember what the sommelier said, but they’re used as we use some escort, like mustard). The fish is also cooked in the Japanese way, which means that they didn’t flake the fish but rise the scales, which is why the fish is crispy. Delicious. And an espuma with chili pepper.
L’onglet
OMG. So so so good. SO tender. And the juice with it…The best i ever had. Again the sommelier told me that this was an Australian beef that was half Japanese (because Japan doesn’t sell Japanese beef to foreigners, and only sell some of their cows). So this half Japanese beef only drank beer during its life, had a lot of massages and heard classical music to make it relax and let the fat penetrate inside. And after killing it, they used the american way of drying meat, like steak, so that the blood would leave and give the meat more taste. Yeah, all this for my food. Yum. And the famous Robuchon’s purée with half butter and half potatoes, an artichoke, a little carrot (that didn’t taste like one, so i’m not sure that it was one) and a pastoral salad.
Les Fromages: Fourme d’Ambert and Reblochon
Last time i tried a fourme d’Ambert, it was in “Le vieux logis”in a mousse. That was the first time eating the real thing. Quite strong, but nice…. Reblochon is ok, but i prefer the fourme d’ambert. Served with grilled nuts bread. Actually, i prefered the way “Le vieux Logis” put it, because here it was quite simple and plain and quite small. But maybe that’s because Taiwanese may not like cheese so they prepare small pieces.
Le granité
Red wine sauce with blueberries and a chantilly (i think it was a cinnamon chantilly, or something that i put when i made my compote the other time for sure, but again i’m not sure of the spice). And some pistachios. Fresh, nice.
Le sucre
It should have been “La Poire” but i asked to change since there was a profiterole with chocolate and i’m not fond of it. Furthermore “le sucre” was with coffee, so of course i had to try it. It came with a lot of smoke, like a pearl. Really beautiful. The coffee mousse was nice and i loved the game of temperature between the bottom that was cold and nearly like a granité and the top, that was nearly like an espuma. However i think it lacked real material, because it was like only eating an espuma. So of course it was light, but i expected more something i had to bite a little bit at least, not air-like. So nice in taste and fun to eat, but i was disappointed.
Le café
Single Espresso! Moooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuhhhhaaaaaaa i had forgotten how much i missed it. And a strawberry macaron. Delicious, fresh and creamy.
Les pains
Oh, breads, again i couldn’t restrain myself and ate 12 little breads (OMG i didn’t count them while eating but i really ate a lot! i’m expensive for restaurants concerning breads). There was a bacon one (ate 2), a tomato one (ate 2), croissants (ate 3), mini baguette (2), cheese bread, something maybe like a ciabatta but not sure, and a countryside bread. Overall, they were fairly ok, but certainly not the best i ever had. Some were too hard -too cooked?- (the baguette and the countryside bread) and the croissants were really so-so (and why do they have croissants for diner by the way? i still don’t get it…).
Les vins
Hahaha the sommelier really had some fun to see how little i knew about France geography and wine. But he was quite patient and explained to me. Actually he had his baccalauréat exam in the city i live in France so it was quite fun. He had been living in Asia for 8 years now and doesn’t wish to return to France. He made fun of me since i didn’t know the regions he was talking about when he introduced me the wines. I first took a fruity white wine called “Coteau des Tricastins” (i think it was from 2001). He told me that they changed their name because of the nuclear power plant that was not far from there, and now they’re called Domaine de Grangeneuve.
Then when i finished my glass, he gave me a glass of red wine (for free, isn’t that awesome?), a Ventoux. A nice one too. I still don’t know which one of the two i prefer. As for water, i found some sparkling water: Perrier!
The waiters were also all really nice. We chatted a little, and they were more relaxed when they knew that i was a student (even though they still called me Madame). What’s cute is that they were always asking me if i was already full after each dish, and looked surprised each time i replied thatn i was ok (actually i still could have eaten a lot more). I also met the Chef, an Italian (well, seeing the menu, that’s not a surprise) called Antonio and who’s fluent in French. What i liked is that people are not too stiltled, even some customers are regulars and talk about rugby with the sommelier or call him by his first name. The atmosphere was really nice. And and and….Benoît told me that Robuchon was coming from the 29 to the 3rd of December. Oh oh. It’s gonna be tough, really tough to resist to not come again in december to see him…
However, dreamy dinner comes with a price: 9,493 TWD (8,000 TWD for the menu, the rest for wine, water and VTA). Yeah, that’s not what mastercard tells us with their “ça n’a pas de prix”…
Ho, but as Bulgari is opening in the floor below (yeah, this shopping mall is only for luxury brands…), they give you a bobble of San Pellegrino with a special packaging if you had the degustation menu. So i came back with my sparkling water in a super classy bag! haha
taipeifrogtongue.wordpress.com 
Leave a comment