Prime One Steak House; Taipei Garden Hotel; Gourmet Dining; Intimate Dining: Best Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan

A Culinary Masterpiece: Prime One Steak House, Taipei Garden Hotel

The Taipei Garden Hotel in the West part of Taipei is a Five Star (5*) hotel that has one of the finest gourmet restaurants in All of Taiwan, the Prime One Steak House.   

From the sidewalk outside the hotel

Now most people do not associate a Steak House with fine culinary cooking, so I was simply amazed at the quality, taste, presentation and fine service I received for our party of 6.  If I was rating this restaurant, I would rate it a Six Star (6*) quality dining experience because it far exceeded my expectations in all areas of an ultra-fine restaurant.

In the Hotel Lobby

Outside the main entrance to the Restaurant

You might wonder how I could rate this restaurant so high.  Well if you spent time reading my blog in detail, you will remember I have traveled the globe to about 40 countries and have eaten in thousands of restaurants, including many of the finest in the world.

When I arrived, Angela Tseng, Supervisor at Prime One Steak House, greeted us and showed us to the table.  They even took the time to let me take pictures of them at table side!  

 

Angela with Head Chef Alan Chen before dinner starts

This restaurant has an intimate ambiance and perfect for a special dinner for friends, family or even a business dinner with important clients.  Many fine steak houses around the world know how to age, cook and offer a fine delicious steak dinner for their customers.  But in my long life time, never have I experience such wonderful culinary delightful courses with my steak dinner.  BRAVO Chef Alan Chen and the Prime One Steak House staff!

During the course of the evening we received superb attention and 6 Star service quality from the servers, Angela, and even the Assistant Manager, Jonathan Tsang.

Angela Tseng and Jonathan Tsang

They seated us almost directly in front of the open window where the chefs diligently began preparations for their patrons.  This was very interesting to watch Head Chef Alan Chen work in concert and harmony with his two other chefs. 

Working in the kitchen

Head Chef Alan Chen and Associate Chef

The menus (and the wine list also) is mounted to a large wooden backboard and offered ala carte options as well as a full set menu.  I ordered several glasses of an excellent Chilean Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon to go along with my Steak order!

The set menu included a fresh Baked Bread and real Butter, Appetizer, Soup, Main Course, Side Dish and Desert.  We all agreed to enjoy the full set menu.  I ordered the following set menu:

Assorted Tomatoes Salad

Pumpkin Soup

Pan Grilled USDA Cedar River Farms Rib-Eye Steak

Gratin Truffle, Ham and Orzo Pasta

Cognac Apple Carmel & Ice Cream

Take a look at the entire menu that is currently being offered.

Ok, I want to tell you just how special this total set menu meal was, and why I think this is one of the best restaurants in Taipei.  They started by serving us excellent bottled water (no gas) and not just tap water!  They then brought out small tubs of real French ECHIRE butter for each of us, and not just ordinary butter in a pad.  Their bread was fresh baked and hot as they served it to us at the table.  The first was a rosemary and herb bread and the second was a garlic and herb bread.  Both were delicious to eat as the French butter melted on the top.

French Butter, Fresh Bread and my Glass of Red Wine

The Assorted Tomatoes Salad with Burrata Cheese and Serrano Ham sounded wonderful.  Burrata Cheese is a special Italian cheese made from Mozzarella cheese and cream and it was fabulous and was a perfect match with the tomatoes.  Serrano Ham is a cured and air dried Spanish ham similar to the Italian Prosciutto Ham.  The eight tomatoes were all cherry size, and included a green, yellowish, dark purple and the rest were deep red ripe tomatoes.  Each one was very tasty with a wide range of sweetness and acidity.  The combination of each tomato, the cheese and ham was HEAVENLY delicious!

Slow Cooked Salmon with Beet-Root Mouse & Horseradish Creme Fraiche

Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Chorizo and Sardinian Fregola

The restaurant had a full leg of this wonderful ham on display in the Kitchen area.

Leg of Serrano Spanish Ham

For soup I ordered the soup of the day which was Pumpkin.  This is one of my favorite soups to eat.  They brought out a bowl with just appeared to be four small cubes of bread, with a small scoop of Burrata cheese and garnishes on top.  Angela then hand poured the pumpkin soup into my bowl.  Just the soup itself was a delight, but when I scooped up a piece of what I though was bread from the bottom with the melting cheese and soup, I could not believe the sensations on my palette!  The cubes were actually cooked pumpkin that was a superb sweet taste as if it was cooked in molasses or brown sugar! Incredible !!!!!

The Beginnings of my Pumpkin Soup

Now they slowly pour the hot soup in my dish!

The Rib-Eye steak is specially dry aged with Himalayan Rock Salt.  Chef Alan then selects an infused piece of meat and grills it over a wood fire until it is cooked to perfection as the customer requests.  We ordered “Medium Rare”.  The servers present a plate with garnishes of Thyme, Hand Made Garlic paste, dried tomatoes and Hand Made Mustard sauce.  They even presented us with fine French made steak knives for cutting our steak.  The steak was delivered almost sizzling hot in copper metal serving dishes.  I must say that these rib-eye steaks were unbelievably tender and a very high quality of meat.  I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of my steak.

Laguiole Goyon Chazeau French Steak Knife

Garnish Plate ready for my steak!

Ahh! My steak is served cut in pcs. as requested!  The Gratin Orzo is on the right side!

Now I am ready to eat my Rib-Eye Steak cooked to perfection!

The pasta side dish I ordered with my meal came out hot with a generous amount of crispy/melted cheese on top of the orzo.  The flavor of the truffles in this dish was amazing.

My dessert was presented with a generous amount of caramelized apples with Ice Cream and a special cookie on top.  Now this too was very delicious, but I could only wish that next time they present a LARGER serving !!!!

Cognac Apple Crumble & Ice Cream - Delicious !!!

Ic Cream Fruits Sundae with 3 kinds of ice cream

For More information on this absolutely wonderful gourmet restaurant here is how to reach them or visit for dinner and do not forget to make a reservation as seatings are limited.

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Prime One Steak House (located in the Taipei Garden Hotel)

No. 1, Section 2, Zhonghua Road, Shongzheng District,  Taipei City 10065, Taiwan

Phone: +886-2-2314-3660, Ext. 3368/3360

Website: www.taipeigarden.com.tw

Directions/MRT: Take the Songshan-Xindian (Green Line) and exit at the Xiaonanmen Station.  Then walk just a few minutes from Exit 2 to Zhonghua and Aiguo West Roads.