There are two restaurants that my friend recommended at the
National Palace Museum - Sanxitang and
Silks Palace. When I went up to Sanxitang, the daily special was posted by the door. It included 5 or so courses, of which 2 or 3 were rice / noodle dishes. There was another page that listed only teas. Thinking that's all that's offered and the daily special had too much starch, I left for Silks Palace. (As an afterthought, I probably should have at least asked if they had anything else.)
Silks Palace has two different floors for the regular visitors - a food court with local fast food, and a restaurant offering finer cuisine. I went to the restaurant since I would have plenty of opportunity to sample the local food. The restaurant specializes in Cantonese cooking including dim sum, with some other regional specialties. Unfortunately, dim sum and Chinese family style dishes are not best suited for dining alone. Trying to maximize my experience, I got Iron Buddha tea (NT$50 / person), and ordered Chicken Wing Stuffed with Glutinous Rice (NT$150 / person), Dongpo Pork served with Noodle (NT$160 / piece), and Roasted Beijing Duck (NT $100 / 2 pieces).
The presentation at Silks is definitely top notch. The stuffed chicken wing is a Cantonese classic. Using only the mid-section and the tip, bones were first removed from the mid-section. A steamed sticky rice mixture, stir-fried with ham and shell fish, was then stuffed into the wing. The skin was drizzled with vinegar and maple syrup, then dried. Lastly, the wing was deep-fried to a golden crispy brown. The tip was wrapped with foil, serving as a handle. It looks beautiful, like an art piece! Sounds delicious too, eh? However, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't bad or anything, it just missed the wow factor. I LOVE the skin. It was crispy and sweet. The stuffing on the other hand tastes like mildly-seasoned almost-mushy stick rice. There was hardly any chicken. While I could taste the flavor of Chinese ham and dried scallop, there weren't any visible pieces.
Dongpo Pork is another famous Chinese dish. Silks' rendition was good, but not exceptional either.
The Roasted Beijing Duck was an even bigger disappointment. It's a decent "roasted duck", but not "Peking duck". Maybe they have Taiwanized the dish. What should I say? The pancake was way too thick and doughy as the result. The sauce was too sweet. The skin was not crispy. The green onion was one long section instead of finely shredded. It also had a big piece of pickled ginger and red bell pepper. That's not Peking duck!
Well, I suppose it's all about expectations. Even though I wasn't impressed with the taste, I must admit that everything was very pleasing to the eyes. They say you eat with your eyes first. In that regard, Silks is excellent! The guy sitting at the table next to me got the creamy custard buns. Even these common dim sum finds looked better. They were only the size of golf balls. The skin was smooth and almost shiny. Yes, every item came out of the Silks kitchen was so delicate, it looked like a picture. If you ever go with other people, get the Classic Desserts in Chinese Curio Box. They look so beautiful, you won't want to eat them.
Silks Palace (故宮晶華)
Address: 221 Chishan Road Section 2, Shilin, Taipei
地址：台北市士林區至善路二段221號
Telephone: 02-2882-9393
電話：02-2882-9393
Hours:
Food Court: M-F 11:30am - 6pm Sat 11am-8pm Sun 11am - 6pm
Restaurant: Weekday 11:30am - 2:30pm 5:30pm - 9pm Weekend 11am - 3pm 5:30pm - 9pm
營業時間：
地下二樓 府城晶華：周一到周五 11:30~18:00 周六 11:00~20:00 周日 11:00~18:00
一樓 單點餐廳：平日午宴 11:30am-2:30pm 假日午宴 11:00am-3:00pm 晚宴 5:30pm-9:00pm
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