Friday, September 16, 2011

Hualien

Intro
Silks Place Taroko Hotel - Dude Grade: A-
No. 18, TiānXiáng Rd, Sioulin Township
Hualien County, Taiwan 972

Our final tour of Taiwan led us to Hualien, a beautiful town up in the mountains on the east side of Taiwan. The wife did a fantastic job and we stayed at the beautiful Silks Place Taroko Hotel. Although we stayed in the hotel most of the time, the food was pretty damn delicious and the views in the hotel were amazing. Highly, highly recommended.

Mei-Yuan Restaurant Menu
Assiette of Appetizers **
A delicious cold appetizer plate - octopus was tender with a slightly sweet sauce. The veggies were so delicious - crunchy and very flavorful.

Braised Scallop "XO" Sauce *
As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of the scallop dishes in chinese cuisine since they're usually boiled in oil till they're tasteless. These still had that boiled texture but at least the scallops were pretty sweet and tasty with the veggies and the xo sauce.

Teriyaki Beef Tenderloin **
Insanely tender beef with decent beef flavor. It was great with the julienned scallions and the slightly sweet sauce.

Soft Shell Crab Tempura, Japanese Mayonnaise **
I love me some soft shell crab and this was pretty damn fun. Coating was light and crispy and the crab flavor still came through.

Braised Pork Tendons with Rock Sugar ***
One of my favorite food memories in Taiwan is the delicious Don Po Ro. This has the essence of the don po ro (slight sweet, insanely porky, tender) but instead of it being pork belly, this was using a bone in cut. So delicious and great with white rice.

"Sate ayam" Chicken Satay, Peanut Sauce
Crispy and pretty juicy chicken which is usually a-ok in my book, but the curry powder was a lil too en-tense. I still finished the thing, so it was a borderline good dish.

Stir Fried Seasonal Vegetables *
Sauteed gali-chi (taiwan cabbage) - sweet and slightly crunchy. Can't ever complain about this - it's always delicious and my favorite cabbage.

Steamed Sliced Fish with Fish Sauce **
An incredibly delicate fish perfectly steamed. Great flavors on this bad boy.

Palm Heart with Spare Ribs Soup **
A surprisingly light broth that had this beautifully sweet and slightly porky undertone. Definitely a broth that puts you in a comforting mood.

Beef Noodle Soup *
This wasn't part of the set menu, but the wife wanted to order it and so glad we did. Solid noodles, tender beef, and pretty delicious broth.

Desserts ***
A big surprise in the dessert section as we had this incredibly buttery and flaky pastry served with sweetened pork - the Taiwanese love their pork. The other dessert was this marshmallow type texture that tasted of sweet milk. Both were big time wtf dishes.


Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way | (no stars - poor to average) | * Good | ** Great | *** What the F – in a good way

Overall Hotel/Restaruant Experience
  • Food (B+) – Surprisingly delicious food at a hotel.
  • Service (A) – Hotel staff were excellent. When you first arrive, you get tea, a hot towel, and some cookies. The restaurant staff were extremely accommodating and the food comes out pretty quick.
  • Atmosphere (A) – The hotel itself is definitely a top tier hotel (not the best), but what sells this place is the beautiful surroundings. You're up in the mountains and at night you can actually see the stars perfectly. A 10 minute drive and you see an incredibly blue ocean. Great stuff.
  • Price (N/A) – We got a phenomenal deal at the hotel, but it regularly costs $600 a night which is pretty damn pricy. The dinner was 800NTD which comes out to $30 a head which is a phenomenal deal. 100% worth it overall
Closing Comments
An incredibly beautiful place and definitely so glad we saw the area. Oh and their breakfast buffet rocks also :)

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