Silks Palace 故宮晶華
Hours / 營業時間
Weekdays 平日11:30 AM – 9:30 PM；Weekends週末11:00 AM – 9:30 PM
02-2882-9393
No.221 Section 2 Chi-Shan Road Shih-Lin District 台北市士林區至善路二段221號
Credit Cards Accepted / 10% Service Charge 可刷卡 / 一成服務費
http://www.silkspalace.com.tw
Silks Palace：Chinese gourmet for everyday people hidden inside modern palace
Whenever friends from abroad come to visit Taiwan, National Palace Museum is always on the top of their must-see list. The trip to the museum is an extraordinary experience. However, we have a problem when it’s time for lunch because there is no restaurant available within walking distance from National Palace Museum. Then on June 25th Silks Palace came along to answer our prayer, providing foreign visitors and locals alike a convenient and pleasant place for dining and becoming the newest member in Cantonese cuisine on the island.
Judging from the exterior Silks Palace resembles a palace made of glass. When you walk in you’ll feel like you’ve traveled with the time machine and arrived inside of an ancient Chinese tavern. The total capacity of the first floor is about 200 seats. For business and private gatherings eight individual rooms are reserved for advanced booking. And the third floor is a multi-purpose banquet room. Once you sit down you’ll be amazed by every detail of its classic interior design. The moment I lay my eyes on the ivory-colored menu I had the urge to ask for one as souvenir because it is so elegant and classic. Silks Palace offers authentic dim sum as well as exquisite Cantonese cuisine. Here are four recommendations that will not only win the hearts of foreign tourists and also satisfy the taste buds of Taiwanese locals.
Simmered spare ribs with X.O. sauce﹙320元﹚ is deep-fried first in order to keep the tenderness of the meat and then pan-fried. The sauce is X.O. sauce mixed with some citrus fruity flavor. Stewed sliced grouper fish in casserole ﹙450元﹚is served in a clay pot with grouper fish and egg tofu and flavored by shredded green onions and slight fresh red chili pepper. Fried rice seems like a simple dish but it still requires culinary skills if you want to make it delicious. However, at Silks Palace fried rice is not your ordinary fried rice that is available everywhere. Using egg white instead of whole eggs, Silks Palace fried rice﹙320元﹚is very light and dry shredded scallops adds extra freshness to it.
A meal is not complete without dessert. At Silks Palace Chinese curio box ﹙480元﹚ is the most popular sweets which resembles the emperor’s curio collection. Seven different varieties of traditional Chinese sweets are kept in compartments of an antique-like display box. The items can vary depending on availability and you never know what you might get this time around. During afternoon tea hours (minimum order is one drink per person) many people enjoy sharing Chinese curio box with friends and family. When there’s a crowd it’s often to see two or three Chinese curio boxes at one table.
I visited Silks Palace on a Friday afternoon and finished the tour and food tasting in the evening. A pleasant surprise occurred when I was about to head back to downtown Taipei. The man who established the biggest computer company in Taiwan walked in - Acer group founder Stan Shih and his family has come for dinner at Silks Palace. I guess great minds think alike. It’s worth noting that the night view from Silks Palace is exceptionally beautiful. For those who often worry about parking keep in mind that after National Palace Museum closes at 5 pm daily the parking lot is reserved for guests at Silks Palace.
故宮晶華：現代王宮內藏著平民化的美食
每次外國友人來訪，必然要去故宮博物院朝聖，不過午餐時間一到問題就來了：「去那裡吃？」 我想上帝一定有聽到民眾的祈求，因為故宮晶華在六月25日正式開幕，不但提供國內外觀光客舒適便利的用餐場所，也為台灣粵菜餐館增加一名生力軍。
故宮晶華的外觀看似玻璃王宮，走進大門卻讓人以為置身在古代客棧，一樓有兩百個座位，二樓有八個包廂提供商務和私人聚會，三樓規劃成多功能的宴會廳。一旦坐下，古色古香的室內設計讓人捨不得離開。翻開典雅的白色菜單，絲質觸感的紙張讓我忍不住想帶回家留做紀念！除了提供道地的港式點心，菜單裡的粵菜更是不容錯過，以下推薦四道菜色，不但國外觀光客會喜歡，也讓台灣的鄉親吃得好也吃得飽。
香檳焗肉排﹙320元﹚事先炸過再煎，是為了維持肉質的鮮嫩，搭配澄汁讓口感增添水果的香氣。紅燒斑腩煲﹙450元﹚是用石斑魚和蛋豆腐切成方塊，加上大量的綠色蔥花和少許的辣椒，炒飯人人會炒，但是炒得好吃就要憑本事。故宮香炒飯﹙320元﹚是由蛋白和干貝絲一起炒，粒粒分明，看似油卻不膩，蛋白取代蛋黃使得這炒飯清爽，干貝絲的調味讓它與眾不同。
飯後的甜點以象徵古代皇帝寶物收藏的多寶閣﹙480元﹚最受好評，七樣傳統的中式甜點放在造型古典的收藏架上，而內容會不定期更換，處處充滿新奇。在下午茶時段﹙最低消費是每人至少點一杯飲料﹚，不少的客人喜歡和朋友共享多寶閣，一旦人多就會形成每桌有兩三份的多寶閣的壯觀畫面，非常有趣！
參觀故宮晶華當天是個星期五下午，採訪結束已經接近傍晚，我正準備離開時，巧遇宏碁創辦人施振榮與家人前來用餐，真是英雄所見略同。因為晚餐時段到故宮晶華不但欣賞到有別白天的風景，故宮博物院在五點打烊之後停車場就幾乎淨空，提供用餐客人免費的停車空間。
