TiT Dining: Cantonese "Set-dining" Making the Best of Taiwan's Culinary Legacy

Cantonese "Set-dining"
Making the Best of Taiwan's Culinary Legacy

By Sylvia Yu

The Golden Royal's delicious set dinner includes shark fin soup,lobster, and abalone.

The joy of traveling is not all sightseeing and meeting people of different cultures and nationalities. Trying exotic food can be a highlight of any journey, and Chinese food is famous throughout the world for its wide variations in appearance, ingredients, and flavor. Due to a unique historical legacy, Taiwan is an excellent place for eating Chinese food. In 1949, after withdrawing from mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek led a massive settlement of nearly two million soldiers and refugees to Taiwan, bringing to the island cuisine from nearly every part of China. Of the main schools of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese food is one of the most popular. Cantonese is neither spicy nor overly greasy; its dishes are frequently roasted or steamed, using seafood, pork, and poultry as base ingredients. Dumplings, roasted meat cuts, and soups are common fare. Seafood dishes, however, are the true specialties of Cantonese cuisine.

Seafood Delicacies
Among the finest and most exotic Cantonese dishes are shark fin soup and boiled abalone. When preparing these exquisite dishes precision is crucial and exact recipes are carefully guarded secrets. According to Henry Chau, general manager of the Sun Tung Lok Shark Fin Restaurant, excellent broth is the key to making the best shark fin soup. A delicate mixture of chicken, fine pork, and ham must be added to just the right amount of water. Boiling time must be strictly monitored.

The process for making delicious abalone is even more complicated. Surprisingly, the taste of dried abalone is even stronger than that of fresh abalone, and the drying process is an art in itself. Japanese seafood connoisseurs have developed the best methods for drying abalone to actually enhance its original flavor. Dried abalone are boiled in special porcelain pots for as long as 13 hours before the succulent dish is served up, one precious abalone at a time, with a topping of "secret" sauce. The greatest challenge to the chef is controlling boiling time for different abalone.

"Set-dining" in Taipei

"Dim sum,"a variety of small (often steamed)dishes served with tea, is very popular at Forum Chinese Cuisine.

Most people are aware that when eating Chinese food it is customary for all diners to eat off the same platter; dishes are not passed, but are rotated on a low, table-top wheel. Some of Taipei's best Cantonese restaurants, however, have come up with another system, called "set-dining." With set-dining you choose six- to eight-course combinations, including fruit as a dessert. Unlike most Chinese meals, diners have their own plates. Set-dining is particularly well-liked by people who prefer a western one-person, one-plate serving style and by those who do not know how to order the best dishes.

Sun Tung Lok, Forum Chinese Cuisine, and Golden Royal specialize in Cantonese cuisine set-dining. In these restaurants, each set is chosen to show off the chefs’ culinary skill. Waiters and waitresses also undergo training in providing first-class service. All three restaurants have open dining areas and well-decorated private rooms, enabling them to satisfy a variety of dining needs.

The Sun Tung Lok Shark's Fin Restaurant (34 Tunhua S. Rd., Sec. 2, tel: (02) 700-1818) is renowned for its shark fin soup and abalone. The famous "Ah-Yi" abalone dish is named after its inventor, Kung-yi Yung. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, one of the most impressive being the Personality of the Year Award, presented in 1990 by the International Jury in Paris. (Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was also a recipient.) According to general manager Henry Chau, "Local guests and Japanese visitors comprise the majority of our diners, and patrons from America and Europe are not unusual." The Sun Tung Lok is also frequently host to such honored guests as presidents, ambassadors, and high government officials.

Dining off the Sun Tung Lok's "silver platter," however, will cost you a pretty penny. A set dinner with six exquisite courses--shark fin soup, fish fillet, steam lobster, vegetables, black pepper steak, Cantonese stir-fry rice, and dessert--costs NT$3,200 (US$115) per person. But the manager promises your money's worth. "The food, service, and dining atmosphere are satisfaction guaranteed," he says.

While Set meals at Forum Chinese Cuisine (B1, 369 Fuhsing N. Road, tel: (02) 719-2743) do not focus on shark fin soup and abalone to the degree of Sun Tung Lok and Golden Royal, Forum offers excellent shark fin soup and other gourmet Cantonese dishes such as roast pork, chicken, and duck. Forum's dim sum is very popular, one of the house specialties being barbecued pork bun. The exquisitely decorated restaurant is reminiscient of the style one might associate with the Tang dynasty.

The Golden Royal Taiwan now has three restaurants: one at 404 Fuhsing North Road (tel: 504-7699) another at 3F, 46 Tunhua South Road, Section 2 (tel: 708-0558), and a third at 74 Jenai Road, Section 3 (tel: 703-7290). Noticeably more Western than the other two, Royal's dishes are served in special porcelain dishes to protect their taste. Here a vegetarian set presents another option for diners. The price of a six-dish set, including shark fin soup and abalone, ranges from NT$1,680 to NT$3,500 (US$61 to US$130).