Mume Taipei

Finally have time to finish this last part the of the first dinner of HK x TW 4 hands series, @mume_taiwan x Neighborhood. The meal reached climax when we were presented with a roasted baby goose which is the new signature at Mume. @richie_lin dry aged these local baby geese for a week and then prepared with both Chinese and Western techniques so that the skin is like Chinese Peking duck while the meat is like Western duck in medium rare state (as compared to Chinese roast duck / goose of which is always fully cooked). Only baby geese (but already the size of an adult duck) is possible as anything bigger will be too tough to be eaten medium rare!

Normally the goose is cut, sliced, and served in individual plates with preserved vegetables and kumquat sauce. @davidtlai transformed it into Neighborhood style sharing plate, with an assortment of Taiwense produces such as figs, chestnuts, pineapple, fern, and 晚香玉旬Polianthes tuberose , they were SO DELICIOUS. It was such a clever dish to showcase Taiwanese poultry and produce in such combinations incorporating both chefs’ own styles.

Like at Neighborhood we often end with big format paella to share, David made us a special rice inspired by Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly Rice). Instead of pork, milk shark which is a delicacy in TW cuisine is used. The texture was so soft wuth thick gelatinous skin. Served with soft boiled marinated egg and homemade pickled vegetables, TW style. Such a wholesome ending with a wicked twist!

We ended the meal with some “sweet”, first was actually quite David’s style again : local persimmon with local lardo and local caviar! Mume’s granita with coffee oil (video 8, pic 10) was so refreshing and balance esp with all the Taiwanese fruits such as the special golden fruit (see pic 9) with jelly like sweet flesh, passionfruit, persimmon etc. We ended the meal with chocolate made by cacao grown in local cacao farm.

It was such as fantastic start to the series of 7 meals with 3 of them held in TW 4 weeks ago. I am so in close with both chefs’ cooking, it was a seamless collaboration. Tonight will be the start of the 4th-7th meals, held in HK! Stay tuned! Less

When Mume just started 10 years ago, they used to have a la carte menu with a barley porridge dish with mushroom and egg. It has been long gone but brought back by David & Richie together in a very “Neighborhood” fashion - chicken offals as topping like his famous salt baked chicken rice! It made so much sense as chicken & offals in Taiwan are so fresh and quality is extremely high. From chicken heart, testicle, crown, gizzard and tails (2! 😍) all cooked in chicken jus, we had a bit of everything on barley risotto cooked in chicken stock, topped with Shaoxing wine foam. It was so good and comforting at the same time.

On Mume menu one of my favorite dishes was the cuttle fish “pasta”. You may think you have squid / cuttlefish noodles so many times but you have not had this. Thin and wide slices of cuttlefish was dressed with a spicy cuttlefish ragu resembling Nduja made with the heads and legs cuttlefish, they were so tender and fluffy almost like squid meatballs for Chinese soup noodles, yet the flavor was very European. The cuttlefish pasta looked like pappardelle but was so light in texture. Together with paprika sauce and parsley oil, it was impossible to stop till tue last drop (and very importantly, approved by esteemed Italian gourmet @marcobonsai 😜)

#hkxtwcollaboration2023firstseries

#littlemeg_taipei #littlemeg_mume #littlemeg_neighborhood #littlemeg_mumexneighborhood #mume_taiwan #taipei #food #cuttlefish #pasta #ragu #chicken #offals #risotto Less

Hong Kong and Taiwan are two of the first places that closed the borders and opened last due to pandemic. Chefs in HK and TW have always had very close knit and it was the time to reunite as friends for a 3-day 3 four-hand dinner series in Taiwan. The restaurants are :

Chairman, Neighborhood & Vea from HK, & Mume, Le Beaujour & JL Studio from TW.

1st collaboration meal was held at MUME in Taipei where chef Richie and David Lai cooked together for the first time. But their history started a decade ago when Richie was able to start NUR in HK, David was the first person I asked to try the trial dishes made in a tiny apt. It is quite surreal they are cooking together in Richie’s kitchen now!

David’s spontaneity and creativity and sourcing of exceptional ingredients was a great match with MUME’s sustainability practice. The two chefs went to Keelung market at midnight for fish and dishes was not known until cooking went live 😆. The meal started with amuse of chicken liver parfait stuffed on candied kumquat skin (pic 5) followed by David’s amazing umami fish soup leveled up with tender local baby octopus (pic 6), and generously portioned (very David 😆) blush prawns (local species of carabinero) with fried 🦐 heads on locally produced burrata adorned with dried shrimp roe and prawn head sauce (pic 7)

Mume’s signature Bonito dish (pic 8) is only available when good bonito appears in the market. The colorful base made with yellow aromatic oil, red chili oil and green herb oil gave an incredible luscious texture and layers of flavors. Being called a “perfect dish” by David which was the ultimate compliment to Richie’s growth.

Smoked fish at Neighborhood had a new version within Taiwan local Milkfish 虱目魚 (pic 9), with a special coffee emulsion he improvised from his media session at @fikafikacafe .He got inspired by the coffee there to make a sauce to balance the fattiness of the milk fish (you can see the picture, flesh to fat ratio is 1:1, pic 10). How genius! Less