Address: 塔悠路317號 Taipei, Taiwan
Telephone: (02)2747-5888
As great as the street food is in Taiwan, sometimes its nice to have a meal with a knife and fork. And really, Vinotheque -吉悅酒窖 (cool name) is about as fancy smancy as you'd want without feeling like an utter snob.
Came here for a family dinner and walked away impressed. The food, the service, the atmosphere were all quality. The restaurant is nestled away from your typical busy Taiwan metropolitan thoroughfares, so it adds an even deeper sense of privacy than you get from the private rooms.
My typical process is: see alcohol, drink alcohol. So i wouldn't know anything about the desire to store wine, but regardless, the wine collection here is impressive and must be worth in the tens of millions of dollars. (yes, I just made up that number).
We were shown the climate controlled storage area, but unfortunately no photography was allowed. But it was what you'd expect: bottles and crates locked up in cages.. waiting to age until that perfect time.... honestly, I just don't get wine. Let's just move on.
Caviar and Oyster.. like I've had. Delicious. An elegant dish
Vegetarian option
Looks so simple. I thought the orange flavor was a little overpowering.
As you'd might expect, the menu is preset, but you can call ahead and let the chef know some of your preferences and they will be accommodating to your needs.
The decor is quite simple, but the ubiquitous wine bottles gives a place of feeling of opulence that is hard to properly describe. The waitstaff was excellent, the perfect combination of being there without you ever knowing it.
Added pasta dish for the kiddies.
If you've read any of these blogs before, you might have come to realize that I'm not especially skilled at describing textures and flavors, but rather go with the hmmm.. that was good/that was very good/that was bad system.
I rather let the pictures do the talking and let the general feel of the restaurant be the focus of any of these write-ups.
Why did I just waste your time with the obvious? Well, that's because I think its important to let you know that there was a lot of sophistication that went into these dishes that perhaps i'm not adequately describing. Just know that Vinotheque falls into the.. hmmm.. that was damn good category.
Served at the table. Soup/dumpling. Exquisite.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't get to see the actual bill. But you can expect to pay about 3000 a person to dine at Vinotheque. But for my money (or in this instances, someone else's money) it was definitely worth it. Its a fantastic place for some good food, and to just shoot the breeze with family, friends or loved ones.
There wasn't going to be anything left on my plate. I knew that from the get go.
My Lamb. Very Tender
What separates these high end restaurants from one another? I don't think I can nail down all the specifics, but for Vinotheque, I just felt that there was a very specific plan presented by the owner (a man with tens of thousands of bottles of wine holding up the place) and that vision was executed to perfection. There are just a lot of small touches here and there that make you feel like you are dining at a first rate restaurant.
In time, I think I would like to be able to explain what captivates me about food better than I do now. But for now, I can only reduce these thoughts into child like musings. But that isn't so bad right? Food is just a basic and visceral thing, keeping it simple can't be a bad thing.
Just that Vinotheque has taken the simple and elevated it to a different plateau. That is something even someone like me can recognize and appreciate.
Overall Vinotheque receives:
-Til Next Time-
Mother may I.
