Saturday, February 25, 2017

Taipei City - Yellow Lemon

Value for money: 7/10
Cleanliness: 4/10
Service: 9/10
Quality of food: 7/10
Overall: 6/10







Yellow Lemon has been here for over 3 and a half years, this was my first visit.


I've seen their 'picnic' sets for a while on Instagram.


It's a lot of fun inside the place, itself. There's lots of natural light as it's a corner space with very big windows, and everything is clean and well presented.





I am also a big fan of the open kitchen where you can see the kitchen staff working on things. Often I get caught staring...



I also like the long marble worktops, perfect for pastries and desserts.






I only took photos of the 'sweet' area of the menu, as that's all we came for, this time. However, Head Chef Andrea did show us some pictures of the rest of the menu and it looked great. So, I am pretty sure we will be back to try out those bits.




Picnic for 2
$600 x 2

The basket arrived on our table, along with the 'turf'. However, said 'turf' was very dirty. It seems like either it can't be washed, or hasn't been washed in quite some time as there were lots of bits of food over the turf, itself. Also, as the desserts made it to the table on the logs, stones or such, they also appeared to be fairly unclean, too...





Crab macaroons with salmon roe were one of the savoury pieces that came with our picnic. The macaroon was crunchy, which went nicely with the delicate crab meat and then topped off with the salty salmon eggs.



These little jelly babies arrived, shortly after the macaroons. The yellow was mango and the red one strawberry. If you've had a jelly bean before, you'd probably be expecting a chewy gummy. But, this wasn't chewy in any way. The flavours were fresh and natural.




Chocolate eclair. These were one of the better things we had at Yellow Lemon. The choux pastry was light, the raspberry jam inside was good and the cream with fruit on top was a nice finishing touch.



Whisky gummy. Possibly not for the weak of heart, as the whisky flavour is pretty strong. Luckily, I am a big whisky fan! So, I enjoyed these.




Creme Brulee. The Creme brulee was pretty decent, with a crunchy topping. However, the burnt sugar topping was a little bit too thick.


These jam filled madeleine's were good, but the jam filling was a little too much inside them, which made them a little soft and 'mushy'. On the trowel, there was some 'dirt' which was a chocolate crumb. It was fun, but didn't pack a whole lot of flavour.



Grandma's apple pie. The granola-like crumb was delicious, the chocolate covered bottom was delicious and the cinammon flavour going with the crunchy apple crisp on top was great, too.



Pizza. At first glance, the pizza didn't look great and I thought it was going to be quite doughy. However, it was crunchy, light and tasty. In fact, I could have eaten two.


Served atop a jar of dry ice, panna cotta was filling the bottom of the passion fruit, topped with passion fruit on top. The combination of sweet on the bottom and sour on the top combined together nicely.


This 'caviar' came in the forms of mini chocolate balls with a nice crunch on the inside. A couple of layers of these mini balls gave way to panna cotta.











Yellow Lemon photographs really well. However, the truth of the matter is - it just isn't as good as I was hoping for.



Opening Times:
Monday - Friday
11:00 - 20:00

Saturday and Sunday
10:00 - 20:00


Tel:
02 2533 3567


臺北市中山區明水路561號

No. 561, MingShui Road, ZhongShan District, Taipei City



Happy Eating!

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Monday, January 09, 2017

Taipei City - 吉峰 香菇魯肉飯 - JiFeng mushroom and pork

Value for money: 7/10
Cleanliness: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Quality of food: 6/10
Overall: 6/10


I'm a sucker for this stuff, I think in my past life I was Taiwanese...


An unassuming place.


I enjoy watching them plate it up as the gravy drips down the side of the bowl and onto the rice. It just looks gluttonous, don't you think?



It could do with a make-over, but I guess it does the job.


The menu, and what we ordered:


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Mushroom and pork gravy over rice
香菇魯肉飯 (小)
xiāng gū lǔ ròu fàn 
$30
A solid start. When it arrived, you could smell the gravy and the mushrooms. It's clearly been cooked for a long time, and for a small bowl, this one was packed full of both rice and gravy. I was quite happy, indeed. As for the flavour: it wasn't overly salty, but it still had plenty of flavour coming through from the pork and mushrooms. Expect to chow down on silky smooth fat - yum!


Oily Tofu
油豆腐
yóu dòu fǔ 
$15
A poor translation, but nonetheless, not a bad dish. I probably wouldn't order it again, as I have had better elsewhere. But, it's still alright. There was too much sauce for my liking, but when you've let the salty sauce drain off, the flavour from the tofu is just fine.


Bamboo shoots
筍絲
sǔn sī 
$25
Again, it isn't going to set the world alight with news of incredible bamboo, but it's a tasty way to get your veggies in for the day.


Squid

魷魚焿
yóu yú gēng 
$50
I do enjoy squid, this one was very distinctly average, though. My recommendation: don't bother. Check out RaoHe nightmarket's squid stall, instead.


Pork belly soup
豬肚湯
zhū dǔ tāng 
$50
It's tough to decide whether this or the mushroom and pork gravy over rice are the best dishes, so why not just have both? It's no secret that I love me some pork belly (I even cooked it for Christmas day!), and done this way in individual soup pots really intensifies the broth flavour and forces the meat to become effortlessly delicate. The flavour is good, the texture is good and the soup is clean and lovely - top marks.


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My final thought
If you're in the area, then drop by. If you live far away, then there are possibly better alternatives if your craving is for the pork gravy over rice, such as: JinFeng in GuTing or ChangJi pig blood soup near YuanShan. 


Tel:
02 2579 5606

台北市松山區八德路3段144號

No. 144, BaDe Road, Section 3, SongShan District, Taipei City




Happy Eating!

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