Chinese Italian Crossover

Some may argue there’s some sort of intricate relationship between the history of Italian and Chinese cuisines going way back – so it was an interesting idea when Chef Gianni Caprioli (of Gia and Giando) and the father-son team of Kin-wai and Chun Lau (of Kin’s Kitchen) collaborated to create two sets of special menu at their respective Italian and Chinese restaurant, each using ingredients from the other country and I was curious to see how they turned out.

Spicy Hotpot

While I thought it’s strange to spend time at a hot spring resort in the middle of summer, I have no problem eating at a hotpot restaurant in August – yes, talk about double standard. And this time in Taipei, we decided to visit one of the more popular hotpot restaurant chains for dinner.

New sushi place in Taipei

We managed to make a booking at Chef Yonglong Yang’s Sushi Ryu (鮨隆) restaurant in Taipei this time. The restaurant was just over one-year-old but already got quite a reputation, including the first Michelin star within 6 months of its opening – that was part of the reason why I was curious to give it a try.

Hot spring getaway in the summer

Seems like it’s a silly idea to go on a hot spring holiday in the middle of summer when it’s 30-degree plus out there in Taiwan, but it is what it is - let's just say it's not exactly my idea. The hot spring resort town of Beitou turned out to be much closer to the city than I thought – in fact technically it’s still within Taipei city limit and is easily reachable by MRT, their metro train system. While many opted for a day trip to Beitou from Taipei, we decided to stay there on our first night of our vacation at one of the newer resort hotels built in the mountains, with a car arranged as we landed in late morning which took us into Beitou right on time for check-in at the resort.

Tried and True

We pushed back our lunch reservation at Caprice by a month to early August (to make room for our another visit to the restaurant in July) and turned out it’s right on time as we kicked off a week of mini-vacation of sorts in the middle of summer. The restaurant seems to be catching a bit of a breather with a lighter crowd because half the people in town were travelling somewhere at this time of the year, and it’s the time for us to catch a breather too over a relaxing meal looking over the harbor from our window-side table on a sunny afternoon.