r/MichelinStars

The dinner at Eika, Taipei has been concluded. First thing first, I would like to talk about the best aspect of the establishment, which is the ambience. Out of 5 places that I have been to in Taiwan that hold 2 stars and above, this is the place that screams high class the most. Designated waiting area with a frame of calligraphy and a wooden table designed in rather avant-garde fashion, the hallway with the dim light and the actual main dining area too. It is really pleasing to look at and feels like that you could bring someone here to impress them. Second thing that I would like to bring up is the service. It was hospitable, clean and attentive, basically something that I would not complain anything about it. Some of the staff members struggled a bit on the English explanation of the menu items, but that did not bother me at all. Considering the fact that there are places with the wait staffs that act like their guests are honored to be presented with their glorious existence, I would much rather be served by the staffs from Eika, even if they were not able to speak any kind of languages that I know. And lastly, the foods. Unfortunately, this is the part that let me down, even though quite a little bit, but certainly. First of all, the execution was really great. For instance, their Sashimi portion contains pieces of sea bass with torched skin. They aged the fish properly and applied the heat on the skin so precise to the point where it brings out the optimal amount the fat contents underneath the skin while maintaining the subtle chewiness of the raw fish, basically the best one I have ever tasted among the same items. Those kind of proper use of Japanese cooking technic could be witnessed from beginning to end. But I felt like, the whole course lacked a bit of ‘wow factor.’ There was nothing that I would have never expected or anticipated from the Japanese cuisine context. There was one item that got so close on that remark which was one of the appetizers. They froze the monk fish liver and shaved it thinly just like the typical chocolate topping on the cake on top of creme brulee’d fig. The closest thing that I experienced was the foie gras ice cream wrapped with the Peking Duck that I had at Tomono, Osaka. Frozen fatty livers actually go extremely well with the sweet fruits and its form being shaved added the extra layer on the texture and the taste itself too. I would like them to show this kind of side throughout the whole course, but unfortunately, it was not the case. I guess it is my personal preference to demand a bit of twist on the genre, so, I think the other person would give a totally different opinion about the courses.

The duration of the meal was approximately 3 hours, with 15 courses including the rice portion and 2 dessert items. Here are the dishes that have been served.

1.Sweet corn, wrapped with the fish roe and deep fried lightly. One bite dish.

2.Uni from Hokkaido wrapping around the ripe persimmon, on top of tofu skin tart. Also a one bite dish

3.Two pieces of sushi. One on the right, lobster and on the left, a sardine. Wrapped with the bamboo shoot.

4.Frozen and then shaved monk fish liver -Ankimo- on top of the fig, slightly torched on surface to bring out the caramelized surface. One of my favorites of the evening.

5.Sui mono, Shiro Amadai soup with the fish meat and black sesame tofu and the broth made out of the fish born.

6.First Sashimi portion, one of the right, Spanish mackerel pickled lightly and on the right, sea bass with torched skin -Tataki’ed-. Also one of my favorites, especially the sea bass. The sauce to be couple with the fishes was made out of aged tomatoes and yuzu, but the taste of tomatoes was quite subtle.

7.Second Sashimi portion, a mackerel, also applied with Tataki method. The sauce here is made out of white miso, vinegar and some chilli. Chilli’s spiciness was a nice kick to the whole thing and I was satisfied with the dish for the exact same reason with the dish number 6.

8.Taro imo, served with squid and kaluga caviar on top. Basically the weakest link of the evening.

9.Grape shrimp and pieces of pineapple served with the 2 different kinds of sauce. One is based on Japanese egg yolk and the other is Jus made out of beef and Japanese soy sauce. Might have been the weakest link, bu the perfect medium rare feels to the shrimp saved the dish, IMHO.

10.Abalone, lotus root and powdered ingredients that I missed the explanation. Beef bone and some kind of a fish roe, I think? Great texture on the abalone’s side, but the rest is bit pale.

11.Tempura, eel, Korean Perilla leaves and chili. Incredibly, done in perfect text book like fashion. Quite typical, but tasted really good. One of my favorites too.

12.Wood fire pigeon. This is my second time having pigeon as a main and this was far better than the first time. The first time was from the 2 star establishment in NYC that I am not going to name, but that was practically swimming in sauce almost impossible for me to appreciate the bird itself. But this one, this one was actually bringing out the ingredient marvelously. Another good one.

13.Rice portion,congee made out of flying fish and Taiwanese avocado.

14.The first dessert, water melon, fashion fruits and the basil sorbet. Served with the sauce made out of cinnamon.

15.The second dessert, pear, salted caramel and homemade milk ice cream

Visited on 15/09/26 with my partner who has several food allergies including ceoliac.

Overall an incredible experience, and probably my favourite so far (only been to 5 or so Michelin starred restaurants, mainly Europe).

The restaurant is part of a boutique hotel near the town of San Pantaleo. We were staying elsewhere and had a hire car - it was a bit of a drive to reach the restaurant with some narrow winding roads going uphill, but so worth it.

The setting is stunning at the top of the hill with a backdrop overlooking the coastline, and perfect if booking around sunset time.

Service was great, friendly and helpful - especially with my partner's food allergies and making her feel comfortable and looked after, yet not treated differently or made to feel like a burden.

One of the main aspects I loved was the flexibility with their menus and being able to pick and chose the dishes we wanted from the various menus. They have 3 different tasting menus (if I remember correctly), 1 of them being the signature dishes, 1 the seasonal, and 1 a vegetarian menu - they also have the option to do a la carte or 2 or 3 courses only.

I can't quite remember the names of the dishes, but I had chosen a few dishes from each menu, and the dishes from the signature menu were definitely the standouts. My partner ended up going for the vegetarian menu. My favourite was the lemon linguine, which was packed full of zingy but deep and rich flavours, I could have eaten 10 more plates of the same dish

Photos of dishes are a mix of mine and my partner's dishes. Highly recommend!

The last stop of our trip through Slovenia was at DAM Boutique Hotel & Restaurant. The chef and owner, Uros, runs the hotel and restaurant with his family. First time a starred chef has checked us in to our hotel room!

We had dinner at DAM our last night. We chose their larger pre-fixe menu, which was Mediterranean seafood focused.  Uros and his son served all the plates, and it was cool to see the chef in the front of the house for much of the night explaining the dishes, including a smoked Adriatic prawn dish that he prepared table-side.

The food was fantastic, skillfully cooked and artfully presented. We even enjoyed the dishes that had ingredients we normally aren't crazy about, like the scallop and zucchini.

As a bonus, DAM had a very rare Slovenian wine we had been hoping to try, the 2016 Unico M from Marjan Simcic.  It is a special blend that has only been made a couple of times, in the very best years. For 2016, there were only 1,333 bottles produced.  The wine was awesome. 

After all the tables were served, we invited Uros to join us for a glass. We enjoyed learning more from him about his life, influences, and style of cooking.  It was a wonderful end to an epic trip.

Pics:

1 - Amuse bouche

2 - Soca River Trout Mosaic

3 - Scallop and zucchini soup

4 - Gnocchi with shrimp

5 & 6 - Adriatic prawns prepared table-side

7 & 8 - Signature truffled egg with shaved prosciutto

9 - Seafood risotto with scent of oyster

10 - Salt baked sea bass with lemon puree

11 - “DAM Olives” made of white chocolate shell and nut puree

12 - Unico M 2016

My gf and I are going to Sepia this weekend for our anniversary. From what I have read, it seems like it is firing on all cylinders right now. I haven't been there since having one of their $25 lunches back in 2014. My main question is whether or not to do the prix-fixe or the tasting menu. The most recent review I found on Reddit was of the tasting menu, but that was from 6 months ago. Since I would insist on the caviar course, all in on the prix-fixe is $150 and the tasting menu is $195. Do folks have an opinion on which is the better option? For example, is there something on the prix-fixe menu that is not on the tasting menu?

For reference, other Michelin/nice places I have visited in Chicago are Elske, Oriole, Indienne, Carino, Valhalla, and Boka.