tentoze
Twangophile
After a morning full of very important meetings with our client on some hardware retrofit, lunch time came. 3 cars full of my company’s reps and our contractor’s headed out into to parts unknown (to me, anyway) for lunch. After about 15 minutes of driving, we pulled into what appeared to me to be a modern 2 storey residence. Turned out to be not a residence, but a restaurant on the 2nd floor, overlooking a pretty lake, used for fish farming.
Up the stairs into an inviting pine paneled dining area, 11 of us sat down in what turned out to be the South Africa Fish House. Now, get this- 3 Frenchmen, 1 German, 1 Hong Kong native, 5 Taiwanese, and me, the lone American, in a multi-cultural restaurant owned by repatriated Taiwanese returned from South Africa.
We were served a “lemonade” like none I ever had- made with a variety of Asian bitter lemons, honey, and Chinese traditional herbs- good stuff.
My hosts took care of ordering- all was served family style on a large lazy susan platter in the middle of our table. A staggering amount of food was served, some totally foreign to me, some not so foreign, all was wonderful- probably 10 courses- I forget some of them.
Starting off, there were small bowls full of various condiments- pickled relishes of various origins, mostly, and all fine.
Next came a simple green salad, but the dressing was oriental, unlike any other I have tasted.
Closely followed was a platter of dark red meat which the owner would not identify until we had all sampled- it was small, thinly sliced pieces of meat- very tender like butter, with herbal essences and a slight taste of anise- CAMEL. Fecking good.
The dishes were brought to the table mostly in ceramic pots, and they flowed like rain:
Cheese Fish- a bubbling cauldron of fresh yellowfin tuna and potatoes in a sauce much like au gratin potatoes, but with seasonings I could not identify.
Some sort of fish fried in tempura batter, seasonings also not identified.
Vegetable stew with pork- absolutely killer comfort food.
Shrimp in marsala sauce- damn.
A paella like dish with saffron rice and bacon and abalone
Taiwanese chicken herbal soup- Taiwanese chickens apparently have black skins- black like the other side of your nightmares- it scared me. The locals called it Taiwan Viagra. Regardless, it was delicious.
Chicken fingers- tempura battered chicken breast- yum.
I hurt when I left, but smiled all afternoon.
Up the stairs into an inviting pine paneled dining area, 11 of us sat down in what turned out to be the South Africa Fish House. Now, get this- 3 Frenchmen, 1 German, 1 Hong Kong native, 5 Taiwanese, and me, the lone American, in a multi-cultural restaurant owned by repatriated Taiwanese returned from South Africa.
We were served a “lemonade” like none I ever had- made with a variety of Asian bitter lemons, honey, and Chinese traditional herbs- good stuff.
My hosts took care of ordering- all was served family style on a large lazy susan platter in the middle of our table. A staggering amount of food was served, some totally foreign to me, some not so foreign, all was wonderful- probably 10 courses- I forget some of them.
Starting off, there were small bowls full of various condiments- pickled relishes of various origins, mostly, and all fine.
Next came a simple green salad, but the dressing was oriental, unlike any other I have tasted.
Closely followed was a platter of dark red meat which the owner would not identify until we had all sampled- it was small, thinly sliced pieces of meat- very tender like butter, with herbal essences and a slight taste of anise- CAMEL. Fecking good.
The dishes were brought to the table mostly in ceramic pots, and they flowed like rain:
Cheese Fish- a bubbling cauldron of fresh yellowfin tuna and potatoes in a sauce much like au gratin potatoes, but with seasonings I could not identify.
Some sort of fish fried in tempura batter, seasonings also not identified.
Vegetable stew with pork- absolutely killer comfort food.
Shrimp in marsala sauce- damn.
A paella like dish with saffron rice and bacon and abalone
Taiwanese chicken herbal soup- Taiwanese chickens apparently have black skins- black like the other side of your nightmares- it scared me. The locals called it Taiwan Viagra. Regardless, it was delicious.
Chicken fingers- tempura battered chicken breast- yum.
I hurt when I left, but smiled all afternoon.
