食養山房 (A Cool Restaurant in Taipei and a Fine Place to Do Embroidery) posted on April 07 2015 in Dining, Japanese Embroidery, Taipei 5 Comments

When I was visiting Taipei a few month ago, my mom took me and two guests from the embroidery city of Suzhou to a restaurant tucked in a mountainous part of the Taipei suburb (http://www.shi-yang.com/), and then a tea room associated with the restaurant located a stone's throw away.  I thought the food was gorgeous (and pretty delicious) and, what's more, I felt that both location would make an ideal location for Japanese Embroidery!

As you will see below, I took a ton of photos but due to my faulty memory some of the description of the food might not be entirely accurate. 

One of the first rooms upon entering the restaurant

A flower arrangement

A view of the Second story

Our Table Upon Our Arrival

A starter course of passion fruit vinegar garnished with a daisy

Peanut (?) tofu and chilled corn soup (?)

Plate of Sushi and Sashimi

Red Berries Decoration

Rice Balls with bamboo shoots or mushrooms (?)

The piece de resistance of the meal, a chicken soup that "opens up" a closed lotus flower that the server floats on the soup

The lotus "opens"

Dessert was a taro custardy thing garnished with a stem of little pumpkins

My mom and our two guests (right is my Chinese embroidery teacher Pearl)

Another shot of mommy!

Yet Another Shot!

The little red lanterns in the garden as we exit

Shi-Yang Tea Room

Shi-Yang tea room (I thought this would be a fabulous place to do Japanese embroidery)

Not sure if it's just me, but this looks like it could be a real life model for a Japanese Embroidery design