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RESTAURANT FEATURE |
COMPASS
MAGAZINE, June 1999
Philippe
Cafe et Restaurant
9, GuanQian Road
Moved to: 2, Lane 20, WuQuan W. 6th St, West Dist.
(04) 2376-8089
Hours: 11:30 am-2:30 pm, 5:30-9:30 pm |
-- By Douglas Habecker
From both the inside and outside, Philippe Cafe and Restaurant oozes
high-end luxury and class, resembling an exclusive club or dining
establishment. Sit down with a menu, however, and you will be pleasantly
surprised to find that prices are anything but high-end.
Since its opening in late 1997, this extremely attractive restaurant,
located directly opposite Caves book store near Taichung Harbor
Road, has drawn a steady crowd of Chinese and foreign diners, who
can enjoy the fine ambiance without paying too much.
Inside, the restaurant has a very European feel to it, with warm
lighting, beautifully-finished wood furniture and paneling, expensive-looking
table cloths, marble and parquet floors. Although it is subtle enough
to be almost-unnoticeable, the restaurant's western-style cuisine
is actually vegetarian. Meat-lovers like myself should not be discouraged
from dining there, though, as the food doesn't taste like stereotyped
vegetarian fare. Owner Philippe Tsao prefers to refer to his cuisine
as "healthy and all-natural."
Thanks to the creative approach of his kitchen, most diners (including
yours truly) enjoying the savory, well-balanced and nicely-presented
dishes never realize that there's no meat around.
The menu provides a couple good lunch options--the NT$298 lunch
small menu and the NT$398 lunch set. The former provides a choice
of soups, a main course and a herbal tea of coffee, while the latter
provides the addition of an attractively-presented, very good salad/fruit/dessert
bar. For dinner, there is the NT$498 "A" set, with salad
bar and choices of one appetizer, one soup, one main course and
coffee or tea. The "B" and "C" set dinners are
similar with a few additions. Selections in each category can also
be ordered separately--NT$160 pumpkin cream, mushroom cream or assorted
vegetable soups; appetizers like roasted spinach and cheese pinwheels
on pepper sauce (NT$180) and roasted truffle and potato pie (NT$220).
Main courses include the Italian-style chef recommended noodles
(NT$180), assorted vegetables with wild rice and curry (NT$180),
roasted assorted vegetables with carrot sauce and roasted bean curd
with mushroom sauce.
Afternoon tea times take place between 2 and 5 p.m. For NT$250,
a coffee, herbal tea or juice can be chosen from a wide selection,
with addition with a high tea-style multi-tiered tray containing
cake, fruit and bread or cookies. If all goes well, Tsao hopes to
open other differently-themed but similarly-good establishments
in Taichung, Taipei and elsewhere. In the meantime, Philippe Cafe
will no doubt continue to offer some of the best value and finest
ambiance in town.
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