"By night," as the restaurant's name suggests, you'll find yourself walking into a cozy space mainly filled with indigo and grey design, which echoes the tone of nightfall seamlessly.
"I'm not carrying my heavy DSLR camera tonight," as I said to Mister. Instead, I'm going to use his recently purchased iPhone 14 for the food pictures. It's also a great opportunity to test out the new phone's camera capability in a very dark setting.
Without a bulky camera, I was happy to switch to my mini shoulder bag instead of a big tote bag. For that, I've also decided to put on comfy shoes, easy to walk long distance but still formal enough to dine at a Michelin restaurant. My plan is to stroll around the city after dinner. Considering the location of de nuit, there should be plenty new stores to see along the main roads, also a nice way to feel and explore the city at night once a while, on foot.
We arrived a bit early than our 6 p.m. reservation, so the roll-up door was still half way open. To kill the minutes in between, we started to investigate the surrounding neighborhood. Turned out there's a liquor store/wine tasting place right next to it.
Seems like the whole place has been booked for a group of young people. The reason for my assumption is that during our dinner at de nuit, I can hear the muffled cheering noise, must be watching FIFA World Cup there. We also stumbled upon one happy and buzzed couple outside the restaurant.
The noise from next door was totally fine even when we were having an intimate dining moment. It doesn't bother much, more so kind of "lively" and suited for a city setting.
Right on time, de nuit pulled up the door and we walked through a hallway into the main dining area. The place is rather petite compared to what I had in mind. There's also a small private room on the side.
My original plan of testing out the new iPhone under dimmed environment might not work here. The restaurant actually took some effort in fixing the spotlight to a certain angle on every table. That way, the servers or the diners can place the food under the light for the best image outcome.
That puts de nuit a picture-friendly fine dining restaurant, as long as you turn-off the flashlight and not pointing your camera or your phone to other customers.
Menu of the night, including drinks and pairings.
I was going to try their tea pairing, but hesitated because I already had my share of oolong tea during day time. Good thing is that as for the wine pairing, de nuit also offer half-glasses option, just the right amount for my recent tolerance level. Not quite buzzed at all but it'll do the trick of enjoyment and level up the dishes (don't drink and drive by the way).
Butter and fleur de sel for the upcoming bread -
I can't recall if there's one fine dining restaurant, especially Michelin-leveled offer tap water in Taiwan, so there it was, our fancy bottled mineral water -
The server asked if we would like lemon in our water, I said yes, but not for Mister. It's that little details they noticed and truly kept in mind. Towards the end of our meal, Mister finished his water and I still have more than half glass full. Doesn't feel necessary to get another bottle, I passed down my water to Mister instead. The server soon went up to Mister and asked if he would like the lemon inside to be picked out, since Mister didn't want lemon in his water initially.
First wine pairing: Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV, Champagne, France -
Not just for the food, even the sommelier pays extra attention on how the wine is presented and try to strike a best angle for the customer to take pictures.
Some hardcore customers would use a voice recorder to take notes on the food, that doesn't work for me. Before I would type down the descriptions from the server and sommelier to my phone right after their elaboration. Nowadays, I try to enjoy the food first, then perhaps key-in some thoughts in between courses.
Of course my memories faded even after such short time frame, but I take it as what's the most important will still remain in my head. It is a more compromising way for me to take note while not severely interfering with the dining experience.
Also personally I don't like the servers to see me jotting down the notes, not mentioning letting them glimpse and saw what I've wrote. So I tend to quickly put down my phone when I sense someone is coming or passing by. That didn't work out quite as well, half way through, the kind server came and asked if I need any more information. They can always come to me and tell me more about their food, ingredients used, sauce components and such if needed. I was a little shy, but thanks for the kind gesture.
Refillable sour dough and baguette. Server also suggested to use the bread to dip in some food sauces if applicable.
First course: Langoustine, fennel, sour cream. Second course: smoked eel, abalone, Oscietra caviar -
The langoustine course is the one presented in phyllo shells. Shells made with phyllo dough sheets are lighter with a paper thin crunch to it compared to traditional tart shells. I think the lighter shell works really well with airy mousse filling.
Then we moved on to the slightly heavier-textured second course with whole wheat bread. It's not hard to find the smoked eel, but where's the abalone? Turned out that they thinly sliced the abalone and situated in between the eel and the whole wheat bread.
Quail egg, aioli, ruby black tea -
The server asked us to be ready for the upcoming scene, better to get my video recording ready because everything happens so quickly. I thought I did. Unfortunately I wasn't that familiar with Mister's new iPhone function yet so turned out my video was either tilted or shaken. At least I got the still images alright.
What I failed to capture was the smoke flowing out when the server removed the lid of this quail egg dish. The scene was dreamy yet made you drool a little with all that beech wood smoky goodness.
The soft-boiled egg was infused with ruby black tea, thus the golden brownish hue. You devour the whole thing, the egg and the fried rice vermicelli all together at once. It's a mixture of velvety versus gentle crunch, a hint of smokiness and tea aroma, very good and eye-pleasing with the whole presentation.
Second wine pairing: Lvnae Bosoni Etichetta Nera Vermentino Colli di Luni DOC 2020, Liguria, Italy -
Note that it's half-glass pairing, plus the shape of the glass, I should be savour the wine rather than "drinking" the wine.
Ratatouille -
One of the classic French dishes, ratatouille was especially famous thanks to the popular animation back in 2007. The traditional ratatouille was compiled by assorted vegetable slices on a dish.
Here at de nuit, the ratatouille stood up as a three-dimensional cylinder with a vibrant garden theme. As you can see edible flowers on top, also the colorful basil, tomato, and carrot sauce surrounding.
Break the cylinder apart, you'll find red sauce hidden within. Surprisingly, this ratatouille doesn't taste as soft and gentle as its appearance suggests. The flavor had a unique scent to it, almost like the aroma from a fresh off the oven baked potato chips. A pleasant kick among all the tender ingredients.
Third wine pairing: Domaine Pattes Loup Chablis Vent d'Ange -
It was only till the time I wrote this blog post then I realized that the third wine pairing was different from the menu. However, I do enjoy it, both the taste and the little background on the wine label told by the sommelier. The French wine description said it all, but if you can't read it, would you like to take a guess which two elements can be seen on the wine label?
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Wolf claws and angel.
Market fish, vin jaune, scallop -
Such romantic color scheme, with pinkish hue brushing over these ingredients, it says the beginning of spring time to me.
The fish they used was red tilefish, which has been a popular fish selection among the fine dining restaurants in Taiwan. The cost of the fish was decent, and after basting or some other cooking techniques, the file scale crisps up, that extra crunch and fried aroma is always a crowd pleaser.
They poured over some tarragon oil in the center. A hint of licorice-like aroma add just the right amount of flavor to this delicate course.
The fun part is that I couldn't really recognize where's the scallop? Ended up it was that semi-sphere thing on the plate. Its texture is almost like a version in between the actual scallop and mousse. Normally not my favorite but I think its creaminess works well here as a side and let the main fish shine instead.
Lobster, citrus, couscous -
Inspired by the Brittany fish soup, but the commonly used starchy ingredient potato has been substituted by pumpkin flavored couscous. Very comforting and homey at the same time. The portion is good too, I can even get a big piece of lobster in every spoonful of soup.
Mister was choking, not too seriously, I guess he was trying to tell me something but started coughing instead. He tried to hold back and lowered the coughing sound as much as he could. Guess what? Soon after the server brought over a cup of hot water. Very thoughtful move. I felt back because I was like Mister will be fine just need to cough it out, so I didn't really do anything and just kept eating. Oops.
Aged quail, foie gras, fermented grape -
Lessons learned. The serve asked me to prepare to video recording the quail if preferred. Nope, not this time, I will stick to the pictures solely.
Another wave of scented smoke once the lid has been removed.
Aged quail was brushed with some grape juice during the cooking process. Underneath you'll find hay, grape leaves, and pine needles, all contributed to the smoky aroma. This was just for the show, the entire piece of meat soon sent back to the kitchen waiting for slicing and placing onto the final plates.
Forth wine pairing: Waterkloof Circle of Life 2020, Stellenbosch, South Africa -
I kind of like the fact that our sommelier put more emphasis on telling the story behind the wine label, instead of getting too much into detailed viticulture or grate varieties. I know grape varieties and flavors are important, but sometimes I wonder how many customers can really relate to that.
I actually studied wine back then just out of interest and passed WSET level 3, but that's just me. I would guess the majority of the diners don't have in-depth knowledge or interests in regards to such information. It's like a Google engineer trying to show me how the coding works, you'll only find my head spinning under my friendly smiley face. So why not take a different approach, putting more emphasis on the story behind the wine label, that might raise some eyebrows and draw in more attention instead.
So this bottle, circle of life, the sommelier showed us the images of booming and dying grapevine circled around the bottle, printed on recycled paper material too. I find that interesting.
Our aged quail has come back -
The color vibe is just as romantic as the earlier red tilefish course, but with a tad earthy tone to it. The center sauce was made with Kyoho grapes, cardamom, and quail bones. Unlike what one would usually expect from a concentrated sauce, it's actually quite delicate and had a hint of sweet scent to it.
The leg section was stuffed with foie gras. From there, I put down my fork and knife and decided to enjoy by hand. Once again, thoughtful server soon came over and presented with a bottle of disinfection alcohol, so that I can spray some to the napkin to clean my fingers with.
Fifth wine pairing: Ximénez-Spínola Fermentación Lenta 2019, Jerez, Spain -
Iberico bellota pluma, juniper, morel -
The server specifically asked if we were good with the doneness from the previous quail course, it seemed that some customers prefer a more cooked-through version. Not us, we like it just the way Chef thinks what's the best doneness to enjoy the meat.
Just to be safe, the server came over and inquired about our preference for the bellota pork. With such high quality pork, again, we are totally fine if the center of the meat turns out on the pink side. It was a nice gesture from the restaurant though, to really put the customer first even it means the kitchen had to prep the meat well-done.
We do love our pinkish bellota pork. It was tender and slightly juicy as you continue to chew on it. The green bits inside are pistachio and spinach. To accompany the pork, there's juniper-infused sauce in the center and red cabbage purple sauce on the side. A hint of bitter, slightly peppery and herbal, goes hand in hand with the result of acorn-fed pork.
Cheese plate -
We're at a French restaurant after all, so here it came a small assembly of cheese plate, which includes blue cheese and 30-month aged comté, paired with 10-year balsamic vinegar, jam, nuts, and gold dusted honey.
Sugar apple, chrysanthemum, sake -
Sorbet came to my rescue. Opposite to Mister, I enjoyed the blue cheese but was having a hard time with comté. What a pleasant sight to see a refreshing sorbet coming up. It's like getting your hand burned by the oven then this chilly water stream pouring down right on time to sooth the sensation.
We get one dessert each, so we chose two different kinds in order to try out all the options on the menu.
Chestnut, blueberry, cumin -
Inspired by the classic French dessert Mont Blanc, here the chestnut component undergone liquid nitrogen treatment, became icy topping above the cumin-infuse dacquoise. However, with its temperature and the strong character of chestnut, one would hardly know that there was cumin involved unless known beforehand.
Grapefruit, orange, lemon marigold leaf -
The flavor combo can trick you into thinking that this is supposedly a refreshing citrusy dessert. Well, if you treat the idea "refreshing" differently...
They took the idea from another French dessert baba au rhum, which is basically yeast cake soaked in rum syrup. I definitely underestimate the alcohol level here, the kick was more than all my half-glass wine pairing combined.
Mignardise -
Religieuse on the left, which is made of two choux pastry cases stacking on top of each other looking like a miniature snowman. Paired with vanilla filling and dusted with salt flakes on top. In the center you'll find matcha and oolong tea combo with texture similar to chocolate bonbon. On the right, Poudre de Piment d'Espelette AOP and passion fruit flavored macaron.
I double checked with the server in regards to which one actually used the chili powder Poudre de Piment d'Espelette AOP. I thought I got the sequence wrong and the choux pastry was in fact the one infused with chili powder due to its darker appearance. Ended up the softest-looking macaron was the one with a spicy kick.
Server even brought over the spice jar in case I want to find out more about the chili powder. One more example of their thoughtful and extended act.
After paying the bill and ready to leave, the server accompanied us on our way out the restaurant. At the door, she gave us a little gift before we start our "on foot" tour of the city. The bag had two madeleines inside, a sweet act from the restaurant.
We didn't really have in mind how long we were going to walk down the streets. Just miraculously we happened to show up at a sweet treats place that opens till late night in the east area of Taipei. We weren't even hungry, but again, I have no idea why we ended up with one extra sugary dessert on our way home.
Mister devoured the whole thing that night.
By the way, the take-home madeleines were to die for. They were so good that I even thought about having them all for myself and not sharing to Mister. The madeleines taste a bit like canelé, especially the edges had a condensed caramelized aroma to it, and the center was moist. I would order many boxes and send to my friends and families if de nuit decides to sell these goodies on the side. It's that good.
de nuit currently holds one Michelin star status.
de nuit French Restaurant
Number 175, Section 4, Xinyi Road, Da'an District,
Taipei City, Taiwan
+886 2 2700 1958
Restaurant website: https://www.denuit.com.tw/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denuitTaipei
Opening hours:
Lunch - Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:30 a.m. ~ 3:00 p.m.
Dinner - Tuesday to Saturday 6:00 p.m. ~ 10:30 p.m.
Closed on Sunday and Monday
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