Fresh & Aged Italian Steakhouse

Address: 台北市內湖區民善街128號2F

Telephone: (02)2796-1566

Hours: 11:30-14:30; 17:30-21:30

What is simultaneously as gratifying and simplistic as a piece of perfectly cooked meat?  I've been through this, but it warrants repeating.  Steak somehow manages to go beyond appealing to our basic five senses, but reaches a plain where it causes a more visceral reaction in all of us meat lovers.  Like trained dogs we salivate and begin to ooh and aah as that slab of meat (in all of its medium rare glory) winds its way towards our dining plate.
How many of histories most important conversations have occurred across a dining table? How many of those very same conversations involved steak? I'm willing to bet a rather high percentage.  Of course, I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, but i'm playing with a gut feeling here, and really, it is my gut after all that has gathered us here on this page... so it's something I've learned to trust a long long time ago.

This is all to say that food plays an important role in our lives that goes beyond mere subsistence.  It is something we congregate over, it is something we look forward to, and it brings us (well, most of us) so much joy.  It's been a while since I've ran my fingers over a keyboard to tout the virtues of food... again, I thought it worth repeating.  It's what makes writing this blog so much fun.

With that out of the way, let us get to the point of the review, and that is the steak and accoutrements offered at Fresh & Aged Italian Steakhouse (located in Neihu).  
I'm slightly out of practice in writing reviews, and I'll freely admit to experiencing Fresh & Aged over two months ago now.  I still have a clear idea of what I felt at the time, but I plan on keeping this review to the nuts and bolts and give an attempt to be quick about my overall opinion about this particular establishment.

Fresh & Aged Italian Steakhouse is going to cost you a pretty penny.  But that is always okay as long as that one underlining question is answered... is it worth it?  Well, in this instance, I'll have to be wishy washy and give it a resounding... kind of?

The restaurant is a sight to behold and offers a brand spanking new modern atmosphere for its diners to drink in.  They have private booths (that will cost a little extra) and ample seating in the main dining hall as well.  Fresh & Aged offers a variety of non steak options on its menu (such as fish/pasta/soups.. etc.) in addition to an extensive salad/dessert bar buffet.

Liked the atmosphere, loved the salad bar.

Soups left a lot on the table.  Emphatic thumbs down.

For my money, the best part of the dining experience involved the salad bar/buffet.  For some reason, it always seems like this is the case for me.  These steakhouse/salad bar deals ends up with me eating copious amounts of food from the salad bar (while of course devouring the steak as well).  This maybe has something to do with my love for variety and eating my money's worth, but whatever the case, I found that the salad bar  at Fresh & Aged delivered the goods.

There was a good selection, and it was fresh and colorful.  The desserts were yummy, and I really had no complaints with what was offered in this area.  The best part? The salad bar is included in the dining experience at no additional charge.

As usual, this is the star and the main point of my review.  A steakhouse of course is selling its steaks, and in my opinion.. I've had better.  We ordered a t-bone and rib-eye to share among ourselves, and I thought all the steaks shared the same issue, a bit too chewy, some parts of the steak were burnt and overall, just an underwhelming experience.
But honestly, I'm only judging on what I expected.  If this was offered in a different type of establishment, I would have something different to say, but in this environment for this price tag (roughly 2000NT+ per person).. I found the quality to be lacking.

Some pasta and meat cut off the bone.

A few dessert options.

Fresh & Aged just went through a grand opening (re-opening?), so there is room for tweaks and such.  I have yet to experience the same level of Steak perfection here in Taiwan that I've found in the U.S.  It is true that I spend the bulk of my dining time enjoying the food and delicacies that Taiwan does oh so well, but that doesn't mean this area should be deficient.

There is also a grocery downstairs that is a part of the ownership group of the restaurant.  They offer a host of meat and seafood products for you to peruse at your own leisure.  

So let us sum this up quickly shall we? Did I enjoy my time at Fresh & Aged? Yes, yes I did.  But it also left me feeling like something was missing.  The price tag was handled by my ever loving sister and aunt, so perhaps the disappointment was mitigated someway by this.  But whatever the reason, I am willing to give Fresh & Aged another go if the opportunity arises.  After all, bad or mediocre steak is still steak after all.

Overall Fresh & Aged Italian Steakhouse Receives:

-Til Next Time-

Speaks to life in general.. kinda.  Trying to be philosophical and failing probably.

Looking good.

MEAT! All you can buy and more.

Toscana - Sherwood Hotel Taipei

Address: 111 Min Sheng E Road, Sec.3,Taipei,Taiwan   台北市松山區民生東路三段111號

Telephone: (02)2718-1188 EXT.3001

Hours: Breakfast: 7:30AM-10:30AM; Lunch: 11:30AM-2:30PM; Afternoon Tea: 3:00PM- 5:00PM
Dinner: 6:00PM-10:30PM; Brunch (weekends only): 10:00AM-2:30PM

For our caveman ancestors, I imagine there was no more glorious thing than the invention of fire.  Not necessarily for the ability to battle the elements, but really for the ability to cook meat.  Think about how excited they must have been to sink their teeth into a slab of whatever animal was running around at the time.  Somethings really don't change, since many of us still revert back into cavemen when we are talking about beautiful beautiful steaks.  That visceral reaction we get as that perfectly cooked medium rare steak is brought forth...salivating over the keyboard as I think about it.
Toscana really is more than just about the steaks however, as they have a menu full of other options plus a salad bar that is teeming with gourmet choices for you to chow down on.  But even as I say that, it sounds hollow even to my ears.. as steak was what I came here for, and it was steak I got.

Meat Options

 Lovely Room.

Free Bread!

Toscana is located on the first floor of the Sherwood Hotel in Taipei.  It is a very luxurious looking room with seating for 92 patrons.  I found myself here with my family on a Sunday evening, and while when I arrived (6:30) the place was relatively empty, the restaurant filled up nicely as the night progressed.  

As you enter through the double doors, you will immediately notice the all you can eat salad bar laid out for your dining and viewing pleasure.  It costs around 800NT, so it's definitely not cheap for something that most likely won't be your main course (although it easily could be), but there was a multitude of options available and seemed very fresh.

 A quick look at the salad bar.  Loved the quiche and cheese options.

Simple pizza.  Didn't get to sample it, as it was reserved for the kids.  

I didn't order the salad bar for myself, but I of course picked off the plate of those who did.  This might be frowned upon, but when you are about to pay upwards of 5000NT for a steak, eating some cheese, veggies and quiche seems justified.  I forced my sister to keep getting more and more goodies for me from the salad bar, because lets face it, pilfered food just tastes so much better.

The menu also has other options on it as well, much of it Italian.  From antipasti, soups, pastas, pizzas and other items.  I decided to share a sea urchin pasta with my nephew.

 Sea Urchin Pasta

 Carbonara Pasta

 Simple Green Salad.

Lobster Bisque

The pasta was cooked well, but the flavors of anything else were drowned out by the heavy heavy taste of garlic.  There was only a faint hint of sea urchin in the pasta, and overall I thought the dish of a bit of a failure.  The look of the pasta was a little bland as well.  The colors were not there, and in an establishment like Toscana, I expected a little more out of any dish that I would happen to order off of their menu.

 Dry Aged Bone-in Wagyu New York Strip (18oz, 3200NT)

Some Fixings.

The cuts of meat at Toscana are all dry-aged.  Dry aging beef comes at great expense as it involves hanging the beef and storing it in near freezing temperatures.  This can only be done with the very best cuts of beef, as the process requires meat with a large, even distribution of fat content.  The effect of dry aging is that the concentration and saturation of the natural flavor of the meat.  

The moisture is evaporated from the muscle, and the beef's natural enzymes break down the connective tissues in the muscle.  Enough of the biology lesson? Just know that this process results in an higher quality of beef that is more tender than it would've been.  More tender = more yummy = more money.  

Add the dry aging to already prime cuts of meat and you have just entered meat nirvana.  The above picture is of a Wagyu New York Strip, done medium rare.  It was the choice of a few people of the group and the meat was incredibly tender and of course full of natural flavor.  Not much sauce is needed to enhance the flavors of the meat, but they have some horseradish and mustard options available.

I also thought the mashed potatoes were delicious.  Light and airy and not clumpy whatsoever.  

 Some accoutrements

 36oz Dry Aged Wagyu T-Bone Steak (5000NT).

 Tenderloin Steak side.

Strip Steak side

Ahhh.. the star of most steak restaurants.  The 36oz dry-aged Wagyu T-Bone Steak.  What makes the T-bone steak so enticing is the fact that its comprised of two different types of beef, the larger is a strip steak, while the smaller side is the tenderloin.  

The tenderloin is typically the more desired side of the steak as it is probably one of the most tender cuts of beef there is.  The juices were oozing from the steak, and really, it was difficult not to grin manically as I started cutting into the meat.  There are those that like their meat to be slightly tougher, but I enjoyed the tenderloin cut much more.  While the strip side was also very good, it was no match for the tenderloin.  

There were small bits of the beef that were slightly burnt as we got nearer the T-bone, but that was negligible as far as the overall enjoyment of Toscana's steak.

 Nice dessert options.

Had to do it.

There are also smaller sizes available (24oz for the T-bone at 4500NT, 16oz for the NY Strip at 2850NT) for the steaks above as well as other cuts on the menu.  A dessert bar laden with all manners of sugary treats is also there for your eating delight.  To be perfectly honest, I still don't know how it works.  Meaning i'm not sure if its there for everyone, or only for those that ordered the salad bar, since everyone at our table just basically started in on the desserts without asking.  No one accosted us for this behavior, so I'd say... go ahead and behave the same way.

If I had to do it over again, I think I would have laid off on all the other menu options outside of the steak and added the salad bar onto my dinner.  As you can see, eating at Toscana will run you a pretty penny, but realize that you are getting excellent service along with excellent food.  Perhaps dining in this manner shouldn't be done on a day to day basis, but it is a great place for special occasions or just for when you're feeling especially ravenous.  

I would have liked a little more in the way of perhaps sauces for the steak or dressing up the dish itself.  But the extensive menu options, along with the bountiful salad bar more than make up for these other deficiencies. 

Overall Toscana Receives: 

-Til Next Time-