Sunday, May 20, 2012

At Suguo (舒果), a vegetarian chain in Taiwan

On the last night in Taipei, I made my way to Suguo, a vegetarian chain restaurant. Dinner time was packed but fortunately, I could get a table after about 15 minutes wait.

A waitress came with a menu and left me alone for a few minutes to look through. The restuarant only provides an eight course meal and for most of the courses, you get a few dishes to select from. Although I made up my mind of what to have pretty fast, the waitress learning that it was my first time here, went through the menu and selection for different courses in rather great details. Click here for the menu. 

Food was served promptly despite it being a busy night for the restaurant.

 A very refreshing and creative appetiser
藍莓山藥+彩椒水蓮+蒟蒻蕃茄



It really looked as pretty as the photos in the menu!

 Rosemary bread with a dip
迷迭香火柴麵包
 fruit salad with yogurt dressing
優格水果沙拉

Burdock with cashew nut clear soup, with a natural, sweet taste
牛蒡腰果清湯 
 
By now, I'm actually starting to feel full, although the salad and soup I chose are supposed to be the lighter choices.
main course: mushroom with potato
花香杏鮑菇佐洋芋盅

Even the main course is displayed with such exquisity. Of special mention by the waitress is the little purple pear (on the right), infused with roselle.
These looked too cute to be eaten.

The waitress 'pre-warned' me that as the mushroom was cooked in an Italian floral sauce, it may be too flowery for some. Perhaps this being my favourite type of mushroom, I find the texture and flavour just right. 

Beneath the baked cheese is a mixture of mushroom, tomato and a special type of potato which I can't quite translate (佐洋芋盅). I found this to be very tasty, though I could barely squeeze in more food by now.
 
 Five-grained fried rice 
果香五穀炊飯


Sesame paste, walnuts and pudding
芝麻核桃奶酪


Finally, the last course, Camomile Citron tea
洋甘菊香柚花茶

Each course may looked like a small portion, but in totality, it was too much for me, or perhaps I had my lunch too late that day. The very attentive waitresses, who after every few courses, would ask how is the food, shared that generally Taiwanese find the portion, especially the items I chose, to be too small. I thought, Taiwanese must have great appetite. Nevertheless, from appetiser to drink and dessert, the food was generally good in terms of quality, taste, display and often, creativity, and I would say that this is an almost perfect meal. And inexpensively priced at TWD 398 (less than SGD 20), I don't think I can find something similar in Singapore.
 
Click here for the branches of Suguo.

2014 Update: As mentioned by one of the commenters, Suguo has opened in Singapore, at Raffles City. I've tried almost all the items that are vegan. Will update with another post.

4 comments:

  1. Looks really tempting. Very creative.

    Hope I can find time to go. :p

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are in Singapore already....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Yes I've tried almost all the vegan items.

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