A TASTY Eight-Course Meal

On my last day in Taiwan, we didn’t have time to plan a fancy dinner or lunch. So my sister made lunch reservations for the entire family (with the exception of 4 other family members) at TASTY Steak. This restaurant is a chain, which I typically do not like writing about. Chains try way too hard to cater to everyone, which usually leads to very boring food. However, there are times when I make exceptions because sometimes, even chains, can serve “interesting” food that we don’t typically find back home.

(left) Plain romaine salad (right) some spring rolls

(left) seafood soup, as good as it look…which is not very (right) cream of dunno what

TASTY Steak, in this particular case, is not so much about being “tasty”; rather, it is more about the way it’s menu is presented and how the food is served (They actually try to make food look presentable). We went on a Saturday, so I am not quite sure if they had a special menu or if it’s typically served that way. We were given a set menu from the beginning, and for most courses, we were given a limited options. In total, there were eight courses. Eight-freaking courses for lunch…but hey, Taiwanese love their food, which explains why I put on about 5 lbs during my trip. That’s actually not too bad considering I spent two solid weeks chowing my way down from Taipei to Kaohsiung.

(left) Beef Ribs…better than it looks (right) chicken thighs, tender and juicy.

(left) Scary fish (right) shots of lemon sorbet

I personally went with some ribs, it was a bit on the drier side, but I think its because they used dry seasoning (which explains the texture). I believe they were beef ribs, which tends to be that a bit on the tougher side anyway. Overall, not terrible, the flavor was there so won’t complain too much…definitely less scary than the fish thing my sister and my mom had. Something about serving it with the head that just makes things look less appealing. Service was great, my ribs were de-boned for me, same for my wife’s chicken dish. Heck, they even did that for the fish thing! But kept the head around for some weird reason. In between courses, we were given a shot of lemon sorbet to clear our palette and proceed to the next course. That was a nice touch I thought, since it keeps you from dragging that taste in your mouth from one course to the next.

(left) chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream (right) strawberry & mango mousse and kiwi jello

(left) assorted tropical fruit, the b/w fruit is dragon fruit (right) my finale, coffee drink.

From my estimation, each person costs around $15 USD, which includes all the tax/tip (Its probably more now with our wonderful weak US Dollar). It was an experience for sure, I was stuffed but I managed to get through all eight courses. One thing I noticed about eating in Taiwan is that they always serve you the drink at the end. Never truly understood why…maybe someone might care to enlighten me. Not that it’s a bad idea, I always thought it’s kind of gross to be chugging down milkshake while chewing my burger. Ewwwwwww.

Location:
They can be found pretty much all over Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Food that’s nothing to get excited about.
Set menu with few variations
Great service and family-friendly atmosphere
Clean, modern and trendy ambiance
Cheaper than you’d expect for an eight-course meal