Taipei City - Mik 2

*Invited*

Value for money: 5/10

Cleanliness: 8/10

Service: 5/10

Quality of food: 8/10

Overall: 6/10

As previously said, I was set to cover all 4 restaurants in the MIK chain of Indian restaurants. This is Mik 2, on MinSheng East Road 民生東路. 

The restauraunt set-up is a lot like the Mik 4 on TongHua Street. 

I apologize in advance for picture quality, however, we were seated at one of the more dimly lit areas of the restaurant.

When we arrived, the staff were bemused as they had not received our reservation, we spoke in both English and Chinese - they were still confused. We were (eventually) seated at the back of the restaurant on a long table which was dimly lit - not ideal for taking photos.

The menu was a little similar to Mik 2 but they did have a section which was Taiwanese Indian inspired. We ordered our main dish from there, this time.

What we ordered:

1. Mixed Vegetable pakora $190

2. Chilli chicken $325

3. Nan bread $70

We were presented with a similar version of the appetizer provided at Mik 4, however, this one has a different dipping sauce - this one being a chutney and the previous one being a yogurt dip.

1. Mixed Vegetable pakora $190

Here is the vegetable pakora. It is a healthy portion of deep fried tempura vegetables of which there are potatoes and cauliflower. Maybe it is a personal preference, but I prefer my vegetables to have a little bit of a crunch (potatoes maybe not so much so). However, these vegetables seem to have been cooked a lot before frying, rendering them fairly tasteless and soft (almost soggy).

2. Chilli chicken $325

This dish claimed to be an Indo-Chinese hybrid, and I could certainly taste that in the sauce. The sauce almost resembled a dark black bean sauce with a slight tangy aspect I would expect from sweet and sour in the UK. There was also a mild Indian spice kick, too.

It did what it said it does: mixes Indian with Chinese. It didn't wow me, but it was worth trying to see if I could detect the different aspects they seemed to be aiming for, however, it is not worth the $325 price tag.

3. Nan bread $70

The nan bread is probably the best thing here: it is thin, but not crispy, it isn't doughy or stodgy in any way. It also is not greasy. It's everything I look for in a nan, so I would be happy to order more. However, what does it say if this is the best thing I ate?

As you can see, we didn't order much. The incompetence of the staff, the confusion surrounding the reservation (even after continually confirming for 2 weeks in advance) and the fact that we got placed in a dimly lit area and couldn't move because the rest of the seats were 'booked' made me lose my appetite. 

From what I tasted, the chefs are clearly good and they know what they are doing. They seem to work very professionally and what appeared to be the 'head chef' was clearly telling the serving staff which table and the dish as they were at the pass to take it out. My problem here is the serving staff. The serving staff also had to confirm numerous times with the kitchen staff as to 1 - what the dish was and 2 - which table the dish had to go to. This isn't what you want from your serving staff.

Therefore, I will not be returning to Mik 3 or Mik 1, which is a shame. I feel like the restaurant has good food and the ingredients are well prepared and dishes well executed. However, the running of the restaurants and the serving staff are not up to scratch.

I Love Mik website

Eating in Taipei

台北市松山區民生東路3段103號

No.103 MinSheng East Road, Section 3, SongShan District, Taipei City.

Happy Eating!