Eating in Taipei: Taipei City

Value for money: 8/10

Cleanliness: 10/10

Service: 10/10

Quality of food: 9/10

Overall: 9/10

Ephernite has been on the scene in Taipei for a little while, now. However, this was my first visit.

French cuisine is revered the world over, and, this restaurant has all the makings for a world class experience. After training in a 3 Michelin starred restaurant in France, the head chef of Ephernite packed her bags and moved over to Taiwan with her husband.

Ephernite isn't big inside, but its enough.

Enough seats for just over 20 seated, Ephernite aims for intimate French cuisine with precision and fun.

One of the things that I really do admire about Ephernite, is that it is quite conceivable that each day can be a different menu. The team behind Ephernite work hard to bring in only the freshest of ingredients each day with an emphasis on seasonal produce.

As we sat down at the table, our bread was brought shortly after confirming that we were going for the $1800 per person set menu (exc 10% service charge). There are other sets available, but also subject to daily/weekly/monthly change, I guess. Best thing to do would be to look on the Ephernite site for more details.

The $1800 Set

Amuse Bouche

Mini bordon bleu

送你手工火腿藍帶豬排

sòng nǐ shòu gōng huǒ tuǐ lán dài zhū pái

Sweet potato poutargue

鳥魚子芋頭著薯

niǎo yú zǐ yù tóu zhuó shǔ

Wasabi leaf tempura

鯷魚芥木葉

tí yú jiè mù yè

This was definitely a solid start to the meal. We were recommended to go from right to left, starting with the mini courdon bleu. The flavours were good, solid, fresh, and very French.

Moving onto the wasabi leaf tempura, this is something I haven't experienced before. I was expecting the leaf to still have a little moisture in it, but it was bone dry and just crumbled as soon as you touched it. The flavour was great and the anchovy sauce didn't overpower it.

The purple sweet potato with daikon radish flower wasn't something I particularly enjoyed as I thought it was a little too sweet to kick off the meal with. The flower brought a bitterness which helped take the sweetness away slightly, but still too sweet for my liking.

Entrees
Hokkaido scallop, lime ceviche and garden salad
北海道干貝,萊姆漬生魚醬汁,庭園有機生菜

běi hǎi dào gān bèi, lái mǔ zì shēng yú jiàng zhī, tíng yuán yǒu jī shēng cài

It sits beautifully on the plate, prior to to the lime ceviche arriving.

However, when the lime ceviche does arrive, there's a bit too much of it and it's a bit too sour for my liking.

The scallop was perfect in every way, it was very meaty!

Chestnut pumpkin soup
栗子南瓜湯
lì zì nán guā tāng

"A soup usually has croutons and other things sprinkled on top. However, we decided to present it the other way round, this time".

Thankfully we had to wait for some soup, as this would be too pretty to eat, had it been left just like this. Flowers, cream, air dried ham and crisps dressed the bowl.

On came the thick pumpkin soup. As soon as it was poured into the bowl, pumpkin infused the air and I couldn't wait to dig in. The flavours were all spot on and the slightly thicker-than-normal cream worked very nicely with the earthy and sweet soup and crunchy crisp 'croutons' on the side.

Poisson
Sea bream, sage passion fruit, farm vegetables, cappucine sabayon

(No Chinese given, for the fish and the meat course)

How big is that flower?!

Really though, where is the fish? You may not spot it on first glance, but it is underneath that gigantic orange flower on the right side. The passion fruit sauce on the right near the fish isn't needed, I don't think. I get that it brings acidity and looks to balance the dish, but I think the flower offers enough bitterness in itself to not warrant the sour passion fruit sauce.

The purple brocolli and the green Romanesco brocolli add a good crunch that the fish needs. The fish is well cooked and the whole dish is good. However, it isn't great. The green sauce hasn't got much to it, really.

Viande
Grilled local pigeon, burdock chips nest, peach radish

My favourite dish, by quite a way.

Not only is the dish visually stunning, but each component works well and is delicious together, too.

The pigeon is perfectly cooked, the radish has bags of fresh flavour, the fried seaweed offers nice saltiness, the carrots and mashed potato offer up good flavours, and the gravy is delicious. The burdock chips could have done with putting somewhere else on the plate, as they got drenched in the gravy, which made them too soggy. However, they still tasted great.

Pre-Dessert
Parsley wild berry sorbet
木莓歐芹雪酪
mù méi ōu qín xuě lào

I am not quite sure where the parsley went to in this dish. The strawberry sorbet was delicious and just what was needed after that pigeon, before we took on the igloo dessert. The meringue-like crisp on top was great to add texture and the biscuit crumbs did similar, too.

Dessert
Igloo
埃斯基摩冰屋
āi sī jī mó bīng wū

This was a great way to finish the meal, how cute is it?

A panna cotta ice cream on the outside with mulled wine jelly on the inside, this igloo was delicious.
Mignardises - Petit Fours
小茶點
xiǎo chá diǎn