While in Taiwan the majority of the food we ate was street food, or at traditional restaurants where our friends dealt with ordering food for us. On our final night in Taiwan we decided we wanted to sit down somewhere and not worry. We ended up picking Chamonix, a fancy teppanyaki/French inspired restaurant with set menus. Chamonix is a chain in Taiwan and the one we went to was in the basement of a skyscraper which took us awhile to figure out (and we only did thanks to the doorman).
After some staff who spoke English came and asked us for specifics they start of with bread, which was absolutely delicious (that they will happily bring you more of) and a warm appetizer.
Then you pick a soup and salad. I picked French onion soup and the fresh fruit salad.
After your soup and salad comes a palette cleanser of lemon sorbet and the seasonal fried rice.
Then your selected meat. I picked crusted pork with apple. I was expecting one plate, since I had filled up with two pieces of bread and by eating everything placed in front of me. But it didn’t stop coming, I ended up with pork placed before me three different times until I just couldn’t eat any more.
After you’re finished with your main course you get to head off to a different section of the restaurant, away from the shared grills and into priavte booths. This is where we were brought our dessert and drinks. I had ordered a strawberry au lait (iced) and an apple tart with ice cream. Both delicious but I was way too full and I wasn’t done yet.
When they had come at the beginning to ask us specifics of what we wanted with our set meal they had also asked us if that month either of us were celebrating a birthday. And I had been, I hadn’t thought of what that meant or would entail, but what it meant was more food, an optional song and photo. (Both of which at that point I was stuffed and highly embarrassed from the attention so I declined) But they brought out a small cake with cute art decorated on the plate that I absolutely adored and was a great way to end my trip to Taiwan.
The food at Chamonix was great. We got a lot of it, and at the end wished we hadn’t cleaned every plate of the appetizers placed before us. But we thought it was worth it. We dressed up a bit for the evening and while the atmosphere reflected the type of restaurant that requires a nicer outfit the people we shared our table with (at the grill) were not dressed up at all. We also went late enough that a reservation was asked about but not required. Maybe at more peak times it is reservation only but I do not know, it may help if you have a tight schedule, though we were eating for several hours and it isn’t a quick meal. They had nice menus with English options that made picking out what we wanted easy.
There are several throughout Taiwan but the specific Chamonix branch we went to was at B1F., No.44, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist. in Taipei. It’s not accessible from the building but through an exterior set of stairs off to the side of the building. Just look for the bright pink sign.