Telephone: (886) 2-8732-3726
Hours: Tues - Sun 12pm to 2:30pm, 6pm to 11:30pm
Price: $$$$
Tell one of your Taiwanese friends you spent $600 NT on a meal. For yourself. The reaction you'll get is what most medical textbooks refer to as a panic attack. At first, they're concerned; where was this place? Were the wait staff mean to you? Did you negotiate the price down? Was this so-called "restaurant" in a shady back alley? When you insist that the place and food were on the up-and-up, your local friends may begin having chest pains or shortness of breath. What's wrong with you? $600 NT?!? That could feed a family!
Now, try telling them you spent over $1,000 NT on a single, simple lunch. Wait. Actually, don't do that. I don't want any blood on my hands. Point being, $1,000 NT is a lot of money. I've had hospital bills, electricity bills, and cell phone bills that totaled less than $800 NT, never mind $1,000. So spending that amount on a lunch better be damn well worth it. And that's where Le Bistro de l'Olivier comes in.
Then, you are handed the menu. Oh God. Stepping into l'Olivier, I was under false pretenses that ordering a la carte would be the cheapest option. The enormity of this error didn't really register until I looked at the main dishes. Terrified, I saw too many numbers I didn't know people could charge you for food. Was that $1,500 NT for cassoulet or fricassée de champignons? Was $480 NT really the cheapest salad on the menu? Please tell me that the fillet mignon and foie gras with truffle sauce is $1,600 and not the fillet of sole meuniere with tarragon sauce! Looking at the cheapest set menu ($789 NT), I decided this was the best bet to avoid liquidating all my assets.
I can assume one of the biggest reasons the price is so exorbitant is because of the mere presence of Maggie Liu. The chef of the bistro, Maggie Liu is something of a Taiwanese Gordon Ramsey ... that is, if Gordon Ramsey only specialized in one type of cuisine, was female, less famous, and a smidgen less talented. That being said, Maggie has been named as one of Traveler Luxe magazine's "50 Top Chefs in Taiwan" and has been on TLC with cooking shows like "Maggie's Magic Menu".
The first dish in my set menu is the French mushroom soup and bread accompaniment. Very light, the soup is quite good. I'm relieved it's not too hearty and won't fill me up. The single, solitary slice of French bread I was given was good as well, especially with the anchovy pesto sauce to flavor.
Next up, the smoked salmon salad. With some radishes, green beans, and mandarin oranges, the salad is, like the soup, fairly light fair. Drizzled with a little olive oil and vinegar, the salad is fairly typical of most restaurant salads. The rose-shaped smoked salmon is fantastic (and quite photogenic) and my only complaint is that it's such a small serving.
And now for the fillet of sole meuniere with fresh vegetables, rice, and tarragon sauce! The vegetables are steamed well and taste wonderful. The rice is flavored with garlic, pepper, and blue rose rice grains if I'm not mistaken (I very well could be). The fillet of sole tastes absolutely fantastic! The fish is light, moist, and has a mild flavor that is slightly enhanced by the meuniere process. Instead of a brown butter sauce, this dish has the tarragon sauce as a welcome substitute. It's just like the sole you would find served in a bistro in France.
Finally, no set meal would be complete without dessert and coffee or tea. All the coffee at l'Olivier is illy brand, so I decided a cup of illy would be a nice way to end this venture. On the set menu the dessert was listed as "Daily Dessert". Some of l'Olivier's desserts include New York cheesecake, chocolate and nuts cake, French apple pie, and predictably Grand Marnier souffles, chocolate souffles, and creme brulee. I wasn't too excited about the dessert, thinking that with my luck I'd probably wind up eating a faux New York cheesecake. Oh how wonderfully, splendidly, delightfully wrong I was!
The creme brulee arrived in a scalloped ramekin complete with freshly whipped cream and mint leaf. Accompanying the creme brulee was the cup of coffee and two pieces of chocolate. Let me just say this, you don't know something is missing in your life until you find it. Today, I found Maggie Liu's creme brulee.
I have had my share of creme brulee over the years. I've sampled some off of friend's plates in Paris, ordered similar ramekins of custard and caramel in London and NYC, and absently-mindedly eaten them as a dinner's afterthought in Vegas. This l'Olivier creme brulee was divine. Absolutely divine.
The rich custard is worthy of praise in and of itself, and the layer of caramelized sugar is perfect. This dessert is thick, rich, decadent, and worth every single penny I paid for it. Because l'Olivier's has Wi-fi, I can definitely see myself bringing work to the bistro and shamelessly ordering creme brulee as my main. Don't judge. Extremely anti-climatic, the illy coffee was simply illy coffee with hot, steamed milk and brown rock sugar. The two pieces of chocolate were unfortunately quite stale but I have a feeling the manager bequeathed these to me out of kindness. Also, there was an Evian water charge of $200. I forgot that, in Europe, many restaurants con you into buying ludicrously expensive liters of water by simply not giving you any water at all. Alas, l'Olivier has caught on to this scheme.
So, all in all, my meal came to $1,089 NT ($36.93 USD) with service charge and Evian water charge. So, would I eat at l'Olivier again? No (unless it's to eat a souffle or creme brulee). I've tried to tell myself that, for €28, this meal was a steal, but my wallet just isn't buying it. This modest lunch is basically the cost of a gourmet dinner at the Bellagio Resort back home. And in all my years, not once have I stepped foot into a Bellagio gourmet restaurant for fear of sticker shock when paying the bill.
If you're far wealthier than I and a $37 USD price tag doesn't intimidate you, check out the delicious l'Olivier food photos.
In the same neck of the woods as Carnegie's, The Diner's second location, and Weiss, l'Olivier serves French cuisine marketed to a wealthier clientele. The bistro is decorated with French paintings, photographs, and copious knickknacks. I wasn't really sold on the interior. It felt as though the interior designer was trying to cram France (and the artfully decorated souffles) down your throat. Still, the maître d is friendly and informative, the wait staff attentive, the service impeccable. As far as service goes, this is a 5 star experience.
I can assume one of the biggest reasons the price is so exorbitant is because of the mere presence of Maggie Liu. The chef of the bistro, Maggie Liu is something of a Taiwanese Gordon Ramsey ... that is, if Gordon Ramsey only specialized in one type of cuisine, was female, less famous, and a smidgen less talented. That being said, Maggie has been named as one of Traveler Luxe magazine's "50 Top Chefs in Taiwan" and has been on TLC with cooking shows like "Maggie's Magic Menu".
Finally, no set meal would be complete without dessert and coffee or tea. All the coffee at l'Olivier is illy brand, so I decided a cup of illy would be a nice way to end this venture. On the set menu the dessert was listed as "Daily Dessert". Some of l'Olivier's desserts include New York cheesecake, chocolate and nuts cake, French apple pie, and predictably Grand Marnier souffles, chocolate souffles, and creme brulee. I wasn't too excited about the dessert, thinking that with my luck I'd probably wind up eating a faux New York cheesecake. Oh how wonderfully, splendidly, delightfully wrong I was!
The creme brulee arrived in a scalloped ramekin complete with freshly whipped cream and mint leaf. Accompanying the creme brulee was the cup of coffee and two pieces of chocolate. Let me just say this, you don't know something is missing in your life until you find it. Today, I found Maggie Liu's creme brulee. I have had my share of creme brulee over the years. I've sampled some off of friend's plates in Paris, ordered similar ramekins of custard and caramel in London and NYC, and absently-mindedly eaten them as a dinner's afterthought in Vegas. This l'Olivier creme brulee was divine. Absolutely divine.
The rich custard is worthy of praise in and of itself, and the layer of caramelized sugar is perfect. This dessert is thick, rich, decadent, and worth every single penny I paid for it. Because l'Olivier's has Wi-fi, I can definitely see myself bringing work to the bistro and shamelessly ordering creme brulee as my main. Don't judge. Extremely anti-climatic, the illy coffee was simply illy coffee with hot, steamed milk and brown rock sugar. The two pieces of chocolate were unfortunately quite stale but I have a feeling the manager bequeathed these to me out of kindness. Also, there was an Evian water charge of $200. I forgot that, in Europe, many restaurants con you into buying ludicrously expensive liters of water by simply not giving you any water at all. Alas, l'Olivier has caught on to this scheme.So, all in all, my meal came to $1,089 NT ($36.93 USD) with service charge and Evian water charge. So, would I eat at l'Olivier again? No (unless it's to eat a souffle or creme brulee). I've tried to tell myself that, for €28, this meal was a steal, but my wallet just isn't buying it. This modest lunch is basically the cost of a gourmet dinner at the Bellagio Resort back home. And in all my years, not once have I stepped foot into a Bellagio gourmet restaurant for fear of sticker shock when paying the bill.
If you're far wealthier than I and a $37 USD price tag doesn't intimidate you, check out the delicious l'Olivier food photos.
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