Wild Mushroom Hotpot at Baigu Restaurant, Taipei

剛回台灣家人就帶著我們兩隻饞貓到佰菇園品嚐這種嚮往已久的野菇養生火鍋. 弟弟一提議, 向來喜愛各種菇類的我就連忙點頭如搗蒜大力贊同, 留下狐疑的 Jeff "huh...全部都是菇要怎麼吃阿?"

因為老爸不吃兩隻腳走路的東西(雞鴨鵝類)我們點了菇蕈湯底的鯛魚套餐 (另有烏骨雞湯底的), 附有小菜, 前菜, 焗野菇, 霜降牛肉, 野菇肉丸, 手工小饅頭及野菇餃等, 還有一盤鯛魚肉, 非常的豐盛呢!

穿著雲南少數民族服飾的服務人員端上了一人一杯八寶茶並送上小菜讓我們享用, 小菜是香菇鬆和香菇乾, 脆脆香香的口感讓才歸國的我們馬上想跑到櫃檯買一罐帶回家, 後來想想, 再來吃就好了嘛~ 又不趕著回美國 :-p

前菜是杏鮑菇 Sashimi, 以滾水川燙過的肥美杏鮑菇, 切片後冰鎮起來, 沾著芥茉醬油食用, 好美味呢! 頓時因為時差而精神不佳的我們馬上眼睛亮了起來.

服務人員邊解說著各種野菇的妙用邊把它們放入高湯中待沸騰來準備湯底, "xx菇對皮膚很好, xx菇對眼睛不錯, xx菇可以幫助控制血壓..." 一堆名堂, 不過總之這些菇都對身體很好就是了! 原來許多的菇種都是來自中國西南邊疆或是台灣埔里的菇場呢! 等湯底煮沸了之後, 她先讓我們試嚐了這個還未受到我們"污染" 的原味野菇高湯, 超鮮美的滋味, 濃郁的在口中化之不去, 卻感覺初期的輕淡爽口呢!

接下來服務人員端上了起司焗野菇, 並端上一個小碗, 盛了滿滿用野菇以及肉等攪拌而成的糊, 教我們如何做野菇肉丸. 看來簡單, 但我一動手作, 就發現她熟練甩出得一顆顆丸子到了我手中怎麼看起來都奇形怪狀的哩?

每次吃火鍋都是手忙腳亂的, 而在聊天嘻鬧中也是最有吃火鍋的熱鬧團圓氣氛了. 台北的夜晚喧囂如日, 餐後滿足的挺著脹飽的肚子與家人一同漫步回家, 天氣還算滿涼爽的, 一路拉著爸爸的大手, 開心與家人說說笑笑, Jeff 和我不禁相視而笑, "ahhhh~~~ 回家真好!"
My family welcomed us by having a family dinner at the very popular health-conscious restautrant, Baigu (means a hundred kind of mushrooms in Chinese). They offer wild mushroom hotpot in various set menu.

The Chinese style hotpot is similar to Japanese Shabu Shabu, however, the soupbase is viewed as one of the most important components in this kind of meal.

Wildmusroom hotpot set menu started with some delicious dried mushroom snacks and eight-treasures tea. (I feel the snacks could easily replace potato chips or crackers such like stuff).

Later, the waitress presented the wildmushroom sashimi. Fresh and thick Chinese mushrooms are dipped into boiling water for less than a minute and then sliced to 6-8 serving. The sliced cap meat is light in taste and suggest to eat with green mustard and soy sauce (just like Sashimi). I have never tried something like this before and is definitely another eye-opener.

The waitress introduced the nutritional value of each kind of wild mushrooms while putting them into boiling water in the glass hotpot to prepare the soupbase. "this is good for skin, that is good or eyes, and that is good for high blood pressure..."(anyway, they are all great for health in summary :-p ). Accordingly, many of the wildmushrooms served here are only available from rural places in southwest China, and their nutritional value have been known by the tribes for centuries or from Puli in Taiwan. She asked to try the soupbase before we start dipping things in it. The wildmushroom soupbase taste really flavorful and light. The rich aroma filled in the mouth wonderfully and last the entire meal.

Then waitress showed us how to make the mushroom meatball ourselves with the bamboo spoon. It looks very easy, but we can barely call it meat"ball"s...once I tried :-p Besides, we also dipped thinly sliced fatty beef and fish (Snapper) into the hotpot just like regular shabu-shabu.