French in Taipei: Abu Authentic

Cuisine: French

Location: Si Wei Rd. No. 28, Taipei, Taiwan

Price: $$$$

Food: ****

Service: ***

Overall: ****

Eating French food always feels like a dining experience fit for a king – filled with extravagant ingredients and flavors, bursting with sauces heavy with cream. How the French have kept this up for more than a century¹ and perfected such a rich, decadent dining experience² is beyond my understanding.

Though my knowledge of the culinary world extends as far as Top Chef and Food Network, it appears to me that most chefs trained in culinary arts will have been versed in traditional French cooking, from making the five mother sauces³ to using French influence in their cooking.

It would seem to me then that a chef that can master French food must not only have the basics of French cooking down pat but also have the ability to give his food an unique spin to keep it modern and unique.

With Abu, this is certainly the case. William Bu, the chef/ owner of Abu Authentic, used to work at Tutto Bello, a small Italian restaurant nestled in one of the millions of alleys of Taipei. Tutto Bello has always been my favorite Italian restaurant in Taipei (and I would compare Tutto Bello to the best that America to offer), so when I read that Abu had moved from Italian to French and opened his own restaurant, I was determined to try it out.

The result? I was blown away by his food, as I once was at Tutto Bello. 

Pan-fried Foie Gras, Longan Sauce

This dish set the tone for the entire night. Ordering off a seven-course tasting menu, I was anxious to dive into my meal – and I was greeted with unbelievably tender foie gras, pan-fried to give it a crispy texture on the outside without compromising the tenderness of the foie. The foie wasn’t even the best part of the dish – the longan sauce that accompanied it was an amazing example of using local ingredients and using that to alter traditional French cuisine. The sauce was sweet, but managed to play second fiddle to the foie while accompanying it and elevating the flavor profile of the dish to an entirely new level. Topped with a few arugula leaves to throw in a peppery contrast to the whole plate, I couldn’t ask for anything better as a first course. Add to that a level of detail to plating and presentation that one rarely experiences in Taipei, and I could tell I was in for a night of great food to come.

Frog Leg, Curry Rice Pasta

I was a little confused as to what curry rice pasta meant – as far as I could tell, the dish was frog legs on top of a bed of curry rice. But that was a minor quibble – the frog legs fell off the bone once my fork came in contact with them, and although I couldn’t quite figure out what the foam was, I liked that it added a light, airy touch to the rice and frog legs.

Wild Mushroom, Truffle Egg

More foam! This time, I thought the foam was a little superfluous – with the truffle egg dominating the dish, I would have been fine simply focusing on that part of the dish. But I suppose part of the beauty of foam is that it adds complexity to the presentation of the dish and pretties it up. The truffle egg was amazing – interestingly enough, Tutto Bello also serves a version of this, but as a salad instead. The bottom line is adding truffle oil or truffle butter to your eggs is a tried and true recipe for success and Abu proved that point.

Cognac Lobster Bisque

The lobster bisque was very creamy and I suspect that the cognac only added to that heavy taste – although to be honest, I can’t remember tasting cognac so much as I could a bisque that enveloped my senses. Paired with the lobster that was not only perfectly cooked but added body to the creamy bisque, I thought the bisque was very delicious.

Crisp Moi Fish, Saffron Clam Broth

The skin of the moi fish was crispy, crunching and crackling as I bit into it. Yet that didn’t stop the meat from being so tender that I felt bad spearing the thing with a fork and tearing into the dish with a reckless abandon. The broth had the flavor of fresh clams as the primary note – and then a taste of saffron to finish. As a complete bite, all I can say is that it made me want to dive right back in and keep eating.

Organic Rose Sorbet

Light, refreshing palate cleanser, I am actually a huge fan of rose-flavored things⁴ and so I loved this. Served to set me up for the entrée very well.

Marinated Truffle Rib-eye Steak

 To be honest, this was my least favorite dish of the day. I’m not sure why the steak was cut into three pieces and then haphazardly stacked on top of one another like Lego building blocks, but without much pinkness in the meat, it became a very brown plate, which isn’t really the most appetizing thing in the world. The meat itself was cooked well but I thought it was a little under-seasoned, especially with the truffle marinade a little hard to pick out of the dish.

The good thing is, I tried a few of the other entrees – and they made me think that the steak was the exception instead of the norm. One of the entrees was a pan-fried hump head with scallop crabmeat sauce (not shown), and the fish was so well cooked and tasty that I wished I had ordered it myself. I also had a chance to try their duck confit, and it managed to be juicy without being greasy and the blend of tender meat, crispy skin, and delicious fat blended well together.

Potato Confit, Duck Confit With Its Own Jus

Chef's dessert, part 1

Chef's dessert, part 2

I wish I could provide more in-depth reviews of the desserts but the truth is I was so stuffed at this point that I could barely walk. I do remember that the first one was a truffled log with hazelnuts and thought that it was a bit of overkill after such a heavy meal – but this is the French we are talking about, so I suppose I could have just as easily anticipated that.

Final thoughts: Superbly well done food with a great eye for presentation and a fantastic dining experience all around. As French food goes, I would prefer this to Joel Robuchon’s restaurant in Taipei, which still has some kinks to figure out in terms of service and is priced twice as expensive as this meal was. From the quality of ingredients to the thought and care put into the dishes, I would love to come back and dine here again next time I am back in Taipei. If you’ve got a special occasion and would like to impress someone, I would wholeheartedly recommend taking them here for a wonderful meal.

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<sup>1. Beginning with Auguste Escoffier, in 1906. ↩
2. Meanwhile, Americans get fat eating shit like Burger King at 3 am on Tuesday mornings after an exhausting night out at the Keg of Evanston guzzling 32 oz. big cups of Bud Light. If I was planning on weighing 450 lbs any time soon, I’d make sure that I gained my pounds eating good food instead of just stuffing my body full of garbage… I think. ↩</sup>

^{3. Bechamel, Veloute, Tomate, Espagnole, and Hollandaise.↩}

^{4. This observation is based entirely on the fact that 7-11 in Taiwan sells rose-flavored tea and it is awesome. I could drink that for days on end.↩}