Thailand meets Taiwan at COAST // Taipei, Taiwan
COAST is a modern restaurant, headed by two Thai chefs, Chef Ian Kittichai and Chef Pod Jessada, combining Southeast Asian flavor with Taiwanese ingredients. As the name of the restaurant implies, they focus on seafood, and showcase seasonal ingredients. They are currently on the World’s 50 Best Discovery, and don’t yet have a star.
Coast is part of MMHG (MUME Hospitality Group), a group led by Michelin-starred chef Richie Lin that is quickly becoming a favorite in Taiwan. We enjoyed our experience at Michelin-starred Mume last April, and M (wisely) surprised me with a dinner at Coast for Valentine’s.
Ambience
This restaurant is on the basement level of an upscale shopping mall, connected to the Regent Taipei. While you can definitely feel that it’s underground due to the absence of windows (much like Naro in NYC), the interior feels warm and upscale, albeit a bit generic. The teal blues and burnt oranges are a nice reminder of the ocean, coastal theme, and the hip background music sits at the perfect volume, a really nice touch.
However, there are two large seafood tanks that make it feel like a Chinese restaurant — and not in a good way — and the semi-open kitchen is obstructed by a panel. That said, this is a great date spot, with enough lighting to see your food.
The Menu
The evening’s menu was a special Valentine’s Day menu, and printed on semi-opaque paper, beautifully done. The regular one is also beautiful, but in a small menu booklet.
Drink Pairings & Food
Drink pairing: Dom Chaudron Champagne (alcoholic) & Odd Bird (non-alcoholic)
I love when one table can accommodate different menus, and we, of course, had to try both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairings. Unfortunately, the non-alcoholic pairing was all non-alcoholic wine (not cocktails or juices), and I have historically found non-alcoholic wine a little lacking. It has much of the tannins and funkiness of wine with little of the depth.
In this case, I preferred the Odd Bird to the champagne. But really, both were just ok. These paired with the first two dishes.
Lobster Roe / Red Curry (龍蝦卵/紅咖哩)
Look at how beautiful and well-plated this dish is. M half chose this restaurant for the plating, and the plating here does not miss. This was a delicious amuse bouche, but lacked something — I wanted more depth, M wanted more red curry. It was light and airy, though, and overall a good opening. (15/20)
Red Prawn / Pink Guava / Nom Jim (胭脂蝦/紅心芭樂/南靳)
These two shrimps swimming up my plate are some of the best bites I have ever taken. Fresh, bold, delicious, the raw shrimp here sings. There were a lot of bold flavors in this dish that weren’t overpowering. I was really surprised by the incredible balance of this dish. Taiwanese raw shrimp is top tier, but they’ve really elevated it. Both the plate and the plating inspire me.
The dish pairs well with the drinks, as well. (19/20).
Drink Pairing: Domaine Paquet Chardonnay (alcoholic) & Carl Jung Chardonnay (non-alcoholic)
Before the first dish the alcoholic chard was okay. The non-alcoholic one smelled like pineapple. After the scallops, both were sweeter and fruitier, which I preferred. (13/20)
Scallop / Toasted Rice / Larb (干貝/ 糯米粉/拉帕)
During dinner, I literally wrote: “I am shook. This dish. The artistry. The flavors. The presentation. How they captured Thailand in a dish. The spice. I will remember this dish for a long time.”
The scallop here is cut up like larb, with greens sprinkled on top. The spice lingers but isn’t overpowering, and the textures were on point. The gelatin soup at the end — I could just drink it, and it’s like art, sitting at the bottom of the plate. Truly one of the best dishes of my life. (19.5/20)
I was also surprised by how much our pairing changed during and after the dish. There are loads of spices here, so that could be why, but it was a fun surprise.
Lobster / Mussel / Gangsom (脆蝦/淡泵/国效)
After all the amazing dishes I wasn’t sure how they would continue to wildly exceed expectations. This dish was a little hit and miss, though. M loved the smoked mussel. I though the lobster was a touch overcooked. The sauce was delicious, but the squash was a flavorless mush. Overall, it had a lot of potential but missed. (13/20)
Drink Pairing: Anatraso Bianco (alcoholic) & Ewwa Cape Red Blend (non-alcoholic)
For an orange wine, we thought the Anatraso was pretty good. Orange wines are definitely not our favorite category of beverage, but this was a nice version of that.
The red wine tasted like an organic wine — it was fine.
Duck / Kumquat / Tamarind (鸭/金桔/羅路子)
I’ve never seen a slice of duck breast this big. The duck was aged 7 days, and while my first bite felt entirely too tough, it was definitely redeemed in the center. The flavors were amazing, and the duck was not too fatty — a problem we frequently have with duck. The flavor of the duck itself was so good, truly the best version of what duck should taste like. The sauce of kumquat, gooseberry, and tamarind was also amazing, and the sour gooseberries provided a nice punch through all the fat. (16/20. M thought 17/20)
Drink Pairing: Domaine Combier Crozes Hermitage (alcoholic) & Sautus Savvy Red (non-alcoholic)
I thought both of these fell a little flat. The alcoholic red was a bit dry for my taste, but paired decently well with the food.
Wagyu Beef Cheek / Pumpkin / Larb Kua (和牛臉頻/南瓜/拉夸)
These flavorsssss. I didn’t know I needed them and now I never want to live without them. The M9 wagyu beef cheek was delicious but way too fatty. I kept cutting out the fat and still felt like it was a lot. My mouth was completely coated by the end. The radish puree tasted like radish cake, which I loved, but the pumpkin was pretty tasteless.
The rice they paired here was also spicy, which caught me off guard. And it reminded me of a Chinese banquet, where they provide rice at the end to make sure you’re full. No bread, though, so maybe this is their substitute. (15/20)
Thai Tea
What an incredible dessert. Not only was it delicious, but we got to mix and pour the dessert ourselves, creating a magic moment from a fun, memorable dessert. The ice cream cup and Thai tea drink themselves were very sweet, but there was salt on the plate that mixed beautifully with the drink once cut open. It was a little one dimensional, but fun, playful, and unpretentious. (18/20)
Coconut Ice Cream with Caviar
We were asked if we wanted coffee or tea, which we declined because it was 9:45pm and we wouldn’t be able to sleep if we drank it, so they surprised us with this dessert instead. It was sooo good. The salt from the caviar balanced out the fat and sweetness from the coconut, and while it was just caviar sitting on coconut ice cream in a bed of coconut milk with coconut jellies, the seemingly simple dish was executed really well. (18/20)
Petite Fours
Kaffir Lime Madeleine
Surprisingly tasty. I don’t love madeleines, but this smaller version made for an exterior crunch/interior sponginess ratio that I preferred. (14/20)
Taro cake
They used duck egg in making this sweet taro cake, and it smelled and tasted a bit like roast duck. It was a great end to the meal. (15/20. M thought 17/20).
Service
Every single plate (that called for it) came out warm, which is a really, really nice touch. The pacing was excellent, and everyone seated during our seating time was served at about the same time. A very well run service.
The servers themselves were fun, and had very good English, giving great explanations and asking about our lives and time in Taiwan. They also replaced only the dirty cutlery every meal, which is much more eco-conscious. (17/20)
Bathroom
The bathroom was outside the restaurant, about 100m away, down the corridor in the mall. It was a nice mall’s restroom, but going was definitely a little trek.
Final Thoughts
This Thai tasting menu blew me away. We spent the end of December in Bangkok, and this tasting really elevated all the flavors of a country more known for its street food than fine dining. Excellently done.
I do think the Valentine’s Day menu sounded better than the regular menu, so I’m not sure if we’d recommend it so highly if we had gotten the regular tasting, but as it stands, I thought this restaurant was outstanding — definitely better than its sister, Mume — and would recommend you go.
We paid NTD$11,891, or $377.21 ($188.61pp), for a Valentine’s Day tasting menu that included a wine pairing, which I think is a pretty good deal, seeing as restaurants like to bump the prices of their menus on holidays. To conclude, I’d say food was 16/20, ambience was 16/20, service was 17/20, and value for money was 17/20.
