It is rare that food, presentation, service and venue (not to mention the company) all line up to create the perfect dining experience. That’s what happened in this lunch at Leputing around Christmas 2018 that I had the joy to share with two friends (I was invited, I did not know about the restaurant).
The visit
The restaurant is located in a Japanese-style house that separates itself from the surroundings made of high-rise residential buildings.
This is not ordinary building. It is the result of a 18-month long restoration project to bring back to life an abandoned building from the colonial past (Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945). This is what is explained on Leputing’s website:
Leputing used to be the Nishikicho [Japanese name of the area] Japanese-style dormitory used by officials of the Forestry Bureau, but it was later abandoned for a long time. Through collaboration with Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Lead Jade Life & Culture team was entrusted in 2013 to care for this old building of historical and cultural significance.
(Another source indicates that the building was actually a granary, maybe it was both a dormitory and a deposit.)
They did a spectacular job in restoring and preserving the building adding a zen and a rock garden. Various works of art also embellish the environment (see the picture on top of this page).
The food was not less appealing than the history of the venue. The first dish was a salad including shrimps, pickled radish, and cucumber. I was informed that all the ingredients were attentively sourced from Taiwan.
The second entree was tofu and a kind of smoked white fish. It is nice how they made the tofu and the fish look very similar… It was surmounted by soy bean crumbs and lily bulbs. The dish was nothing short of delicious and again the presentation was just beautiful.
Then we had a soup with mushrooms and foie gras. The soup was chicken stock and it was poured in the bowl at the table. Another delicious dish.
Then I can show you three mains as everyone in the party took a different one. The first was short ribs with hon-shimeji mushrooms (also known as the Japanese honey mushroom for it lobster-like taste) and sunchokes. As you can see, every component of every dish is carefully hand-picked.
The second main was a fish filet with seaweed butter sauce.
Finally, the third main was chicken roulade (“rolled”) with pea puree and mushrooms.
All the mains were phenomenal but the chicken was probably the winner. I learnt that it was free-range chicken from a farm close-by and the roulade components were perfectly amalgamated and did not distract from the chicken juicy flavor.
But we were not finished yet. We also had a rice dish (in kaiseki meals it is never missing and this set menu was reminescent of a kaiseki).
This was not just any rice. It was Chihshang rice from Chihshang Township in Taiwan. According to the distributor:
Back in the age of Japanese colonization, Chihshang rice was the tribute to offer to the Japanese Emperor, so it was called the “Tribute rice”. The world-famous “Chihshang meal box” exactly originated here. The ingredient which the meal box has advertised is exactly the Chihshang rice.
Chihshang Township is located in the purest and most natural area where rice is produced in the Hualien-Taitung Longitudinal Valley. It is also between the Central Range and Costal Range and on the valley plain of Hsinwulu River drainage basin with averagely the height of 300 meters above sea level. The soil in the paddy fields in Chihshang Township is rich with abundant organic minerals along with the rivers. There is even the only inland wetland in Taiwan, the Dapo Pool, to control the water level.
A very fitting dish for the venue. The rice was made more succulent by adding chicken fat.
The dessert had three components. First, a delicate brown sugar cookie with a scoop of apple and sea salt flavored ice cream (not the usual vanilla, thanks). Second, some Taiwanese black tea.
Third, some German fruit bread (stollen). Very fitting given the time of the year (almost Christmas day).
Overall this lunch was an impeccable dining experience, emphasizing local and Japanese ingredients for creative and unique dishes where all the components made a contribution to the final substance of the dish.
The check
I do not really have a check because I was treated to this lunch. However lunch sets range from 1.200 to 1.700 NTD (39 to 55 USD). Only set menus were available. Dinner set menus are more expensive, but mostly below the 100 USD mark. Considering the quality of the food and the overall experience, I would be happy to pay this kind of money for a similar lunch (or dinner).
Leputing is a great restaurant that I highly recommend and I will try to go back in 2019.
Where in Taipei:
No. 67, Section 2, Hangzhou South Road, Da’an District
Address in Chinese: 臺北市大安區杭州南路二段67號
Website: https://www.leputing.com.tw/content/zh/Index.aspx.