MUME

for my belated birthday celebration, we came to MUME, a casual European fine dining restaurant. this restaurant is humble yet under-rated as most of the fame goes to the contemporary and stylish RAW. I read online and MUME was often deemed to be better than RAW at most occasions. however, I cannot be certain until I try RAW for myself. MUME was actually recommended by my boyfriends boss who’s friends with the HK chef here. the chefs of this place have an impressive portfolio as they worked in famous restaurants like Eleven Madison Park (US), Quay (Aus) and even Noma (Denmark), which was four times world’s best restaurant!

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we arrived on a rainy day hence we took a cab from Zhongxiao Fuxing Station. it was a short ride and barely went over 100TWD. the street Mume was located on was hip and filled with many cool cafes, bars and restaurants. although it felt a little like it is in the middle of no where, the street is somewhere you’d want to visit.

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MUME is definitely the highlight of my trip as hearing about the chef’s portfolio already got me all excited! this restaurant requires booking in advance and charges for no-shows.

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the interior is very casual yet stylish. and according to my Scandinavian boyfriend (yes, he is born and raised in Scandinavia), the whole restaurant has a strong Scandinavian vibe to it.

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there are also seatings by the wall I guess for guests whom are there for the amazing cocktails.

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they serve branded water too but I never see the point of it other than it being really fancy.

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here’s the extensive drinks menu. the cocktails all look amazing and I wished I could try at least 5 of them but I am really weak with alcohol.

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this is their simple menu. their menu is divided into four parts: Snacks, Smaller, Bigger and Sweeter. I read that they used to have set course menus but now it is just a la carte. each category has 3-6 menu’s to choose from so if you go with a group, you can probably try almost everything on the menu. to be fair, the prices here isn’t too unreasonable considering the chef’s extensive experiences.

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we were seated next to their pickled jars which was great because we had more room to put things. the waitress kindly explained about the menu and also recommended the portion we should order. she recommended us to get 2 of each from each category but I think that it isn’t a good idea because we were full before the bigger plates came. so I’d say order as you eat as the dishes arrive fairly quickly.

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here’s my Scandinavian derp whom I love very much <3.

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this is the first dish we ordered where I was actually immediately captivated by its name: Liver Brulee (350TWD). and this dish was the epic mouthgasm dish. and it’s only a “snack”

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the Liver Brulee is actually made out of chicken liver, topped with a coat of sweet sugar glaze and seasonal herbs. including those edible flower petals. can I say that this is my FAVOURITE DISH of the entire meal. okay, it kind of tied with another dish but I LOVED this dish. who knew that chicken liver could actually taste better than foie gras? the liver was very flavourful and it went very well with the sweet glaze and herbs. in Korean, I would say that this is a total 신세계 kind of dish. it was literally an eye opener to how good food can actually be.

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we ordered some Country Sourdough to go with our Liver Brulee. it comes with beer butter, smoked beef fat butter and a dash of salt. the butter both tasted really special but I wouldn’t say that I am a fan of it. but the sourdough was really good as it is crispy on the outside and mochi-like on the inside. yum.

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the next dish we ordered is a smaller dish called PRAWN (480TWD) with shaved yam bean, prawn head sauce and ricotta snow. this is my other favourite. the prawns were served fresh and raw. and the flavourful prawn head sauce married the ricotta snow like they were meant to be from the start. the slices of shaved yam bean were carefully arranged like a flower before the ricotta snow came in.

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can you see the thick pieces of prawn hiding underneath?

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because the presentation of this dish deserves a video!

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or two!

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I mean, just look at all that sauce!

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next up, we have the WAGYU Tartare (480TWD) which was served with confit eggyolk, clam mayo and preserved daikon. it has a slightly crunchy texture to it which makes it different from normal beef tartare. you can tell that the beef is really fresh and is of good quality but this dish definitely wasn’t for me and my boyfriend. we ordered it because we got to know that this is the ONLY non-seasonal dish in their menu but we definitely enjoyed the other two dishes much more.

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but this dish nevertheless is very beautiful, just that the flavours did not wow me as I do not find it too different from other beef tartare.

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I have to say that the chefs really do work very efficiently as we barely had to wait! now lets feast!

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itadakimasu!

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compulsory dinner selfie except my camera failed on me.

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hence we used our phone instead.

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I ordered the cocktail named “FrostLemon Pie” at 330TWD as recommended by the friendly waitress and I loved it. it was really delicious and in some way really resemble a lemon pie! especially the foam on top! the drink is made of Gordan’s Gin (my favourite spirit is Gin!), Suze and Lemon.

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from the bigger menu, we ordered the Wagyu Beef Cheek (1280TWD) with smoked youghurt, black garlic and brassicas. the beef cheek was exceptionally tender and delicious. however, I am not sure of the combination with the other ingredients which made it really sour.

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the beef cheek wasn’t very big but after we had this, we just couldn’t eat anymore. but because we also ordered another dish.. we forced ourselves to eat more.

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the next dish is the BBQ Pork Ribs (980TWD) which looks very tropical and delicious. it is cooked with plum and miso glaze, capers and mustard greens. this dish had a strong flavour to it and it was also quite salty, hence I had to drink loads of water while eating this dish. it was yummy nevertheless! I have a special thing for ribs hence I really enjoyed this dish!

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thank goodness that women have another stomach for desserts as I was very full at that point. the dishes may all look small, they are incredulously filling. maybe because we had that sourdough.

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our last dish of the day is from the Sweeter section: Almond and Citrus which is made of bitter almond ice-cream, calamansi and Taiwan’s very own PONKAN. priced at 330TWD, this dish was indeed very special and delicious but it did not sweep me off my feet. maybe because I was too full. but the ponkan was surprisingly not sweet at all. it is overall a very subtle dessert and does a good job to end the meal with a cooling touch.

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that’s all for now! the total bill came to a little over 5,000TWD and we were very satisfied with our meal although we definitely feel like we could order one less dish from the bigger section. the smaller and snacks were absolutely phenomenal so I strongly recommend it. another tip will be to order as you eat so that you can have a grip on how much you can eat.

MUME ($$$$$)
No. 28, Siwei Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
+886 2 2700 0901
6PM – 11PM (daily)
booking required

Jamie’s Rating:
taste ☆☆☆☆☆
atmosphere ☆☆☆☆☆
originality ☆☆☆☆☆
service ☆☆☆☆☆
hygiene ☆☆☆☆☆
value ☆☆☆☆

full rating that is! almost. because I wasn’t exactly satisfied with the bigger plates. but great meal and I would strongly recommend MUME to anyone visiting Taipei!

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Vincent Jui-Yi Tsai
Vincent Jui-Yi Tsai
6 years ago

Wow!!

It’s very nice to see that you have a good impression on Taiwan!
I’m now working in Nangang, a district in Taipei.

Looking forward to meeting you in Taiwan or Korea or some other place some day!

May peace and joy be with you everyday!!

Vincent Jui-Yi Tsai
Vincent Jui-Yi Tsai
6 years ago

It’s very nice to see that you have a good impression on Taiwan.
I was born in Taichung. I’m now working in Nangang, a district in Taipei.

Looking forward to meeting you in Taiwan or in Korea some day!