A Taste of Shanghai in Taiwan
It was time for a group dinner and what a better place to do that than 極品軒. It translates to ‘extreme’ but I’m not sure if that’s the actual meaning intended. However, the food isn’t just your traditional Shanghai dishes. They food here was pushing the envelope. And while we did have some classics there were some unique dishes. One of which was a dish you had to order in advance, their Eight Treasure Duck. I love duck so I was very anxious to try it.
We arrived for lunch and went with one of their set menus, $12000 NTD. That seemed like the right set for a party of six and it included the specialty. For the service, it was attentive. Each dish was brought out in a slow pace at times, but reasonable since there was always something on the table. As for the amount of food, it was more than enough food.
I didn’t take pictures of all the food. I was too busy eating and trying to talk to everyone. Even more problematic was figuring out exactly what we had. You’ll see generic names for some of the dishes. My bad. Sometimes you’re just caught up in the noms.
極品軒
No. 18號, Hengyang Road
Zhongzheng District
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Verdict: Aside from coming here to try their specialty dish, I’d recommend this place overall for Shanghai food.
One of the side dishes were these thinly cut veggies and cut bean curd mixed together in a light sauce.
This was their specialty, a dish you have to order in advance. It’s duck stuffed with wild rice, mushrooms, and other tasty ingredients (I can’t name them all). As much as I like both duck and specialized rice, it didn’t work for me. The duck meat wasn’t tender and juicy as you would want. Most of the moisture went into the rice, which was good. But I was hoping for this to be my favorite of the night.
I guess to be healthy, there’s the wood ear fungus mixed with different squashes and some goji berries. Not a bad way to refresh your taste buds.
Simple and delicious. Not sure what else I can say. If you’re a fan of tofu skin, you’ll love this stuff. We sure did. It’s that texture that keeps you coming back for more.
Okay, I may not have named this correctly, but that’s what it tasted like to me. Very tender and juicy cuts of chicken in a slightly tangy sauce.
These crispy little cakes were filled with a sweet red bean paste. A delightful way to end the meal.
This was definitely not your Western classic. This was a classic dish here that’s served up family style. Good and simple.
Can’t have a Shanghainese meal without the soup dumplings. Of course, it originated there but Taiwan seems to have perfected that delicate dumpling wrapper. And here was no exception. I think I ate like half of these.
An enjoyable dish of chopped shrimp with peas that’s lightly seasoned. This really let the fresh flavors come through.