Florence Taiwan Builds a Reputation on Pig’s Feet
This clean, bright restaurant offers some nice dishes that stand out for more exciting flavors than we've had at other Taiwanese restaurants in the city. But the food and service are too hit-or-miss to persuade us to become regulars at Florence Taiwan.
The dish everyone's talking about here is the Wanluan pig feet (small RMB38; large RMB78). The chef has won awards for the dish, and everyone agrees that they're the best pig's feet they've ever eaten. The meat is extremely tender and boneless, and you'd never know that it's foot. They're served with a good, savory sauce and fantastic pickled vegetables.
The chives and pork with soy bean sauce (RMB36) are also great, with a tasty kick of spice and delicious little black beans. The classic Taiwanese three-cup chicken (RMB42) has a strong basil flavor, but is stingy on the meat—we found more garlic cloves than pieces of chicken. The sweet potato chicken (RMB48) is heavy, oily and uninspired—it seemed more Central European than East Asian. The Taiwanese-style oil rice (RMB38) is also bland and unappealingly oily. The bubble tea (RMB28) isn't the best we've had, but it gets points for being neither artificial-tasting nor too sweet.
But Florence Taiwan ultimately lost us when we were told there was a RMB4 charge for a small glass of water. When we tried to argue with the policy—we had, after all, purchased other drinks—service went from sweet to surly, and our waitress angrily informed us that charging for water is standard in Beijing restaurants.
Believe us, it's not.
The interior is bright red and white and rather sterile, so we opted for the decent outdoor section, which is equipped with large, umbrella-covered tables. Just remember to bring insect repellant—and your own water.
Our rating: 3/5 stars
DETAILS
What: Florence Taiwan
Where: Bldg 69, 4 Gongti Beilu, 工体北路4号69楼
Tel: 6500-2216
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