When I think of lobsters, I think of big-ticket items at fancy restaurants, and whether preparation is Western or Asian, I think about the price. Even ignoring the expense, lobster can be a hit-or-miss affair. Having eaten my fair share of inadequately prepared, or at least insufficiently fresh lobster, I am always wary of the “king of shellfish.”
That said, the reputation of the 055 Lobster and Seafood Restaurant at the northern end of the No. 11 Provincial Highway (台11線), the road that runs along the coast from Hualien down to Taitung, was too much too resist. I’d been promised good food, reasonable prices, a huge selection of fresh and often unusual produce, and a location looking right out over the Pacific.
As a scenic restaurant, however, 055 didn’t cut it. You could certainly see the Pacific, but the intervening distance between window and sea was a mixture of broken concrete, wild grass and gravel. Fortunately, it is very easy to forget about the ocean outside the window, as your attention is quickly grabbed by the colorful profusion of marine life stacked up in glass display cases, or swimming about in plastic baskets immersed in concrete troughs filled with water.
Photo: Ian Bartholomew, Taipei Times
There is no menu. The staff clearly believe that everything you need to know is right there in front of you. “Which type of fish/crab/shrimp do you want?” and “How do you want it cooked?” are the questions put by the staff, often with some impatience. While prices are quite reasonable, and some of the most expensive items have price tags (usually specifying price by weight), the exact amount that will be charged for an item is not always very clear. While enquiring about the price of fresh bass, I was simply told that the bigger ones were more expensive, something I might have guessed.
I selected a good-sized bass that would serve four, and this weighed in at just over NT$800. I ordered it steamed, and when it came to the table, it proved to have been an inspired choice. Lightly flavored with ginger, sesame oil and soy, garnished with spring onion and otherwise very much as nature intended, the flesh was fine and the kitchen had timed the cooking to perfection. This was a remarkable achievement at such a busy and seemly chaotic restaurant.
The bass, for all its excellence, was not the main reason I had visited 055. Small lobsters were the draw, and these turned out to be very reasonably priced at NT$350 each (prices vary according to size, season and availability). To get the full benefit of their flavor, it is widely recommended that they be steamed. The result was not disappointing. Chopped down the middle, the two I ordered provided four large chunks of meat and plenty of nibbling on the claws. 055 is not the sort of place where anyone minds about using hands, so you can take your time extracting every juicy morsel. The small steamed lobster did not have the grandeur of fancy preparation (it was just the lobster and a small bowl of dipping sauce), but the lack of fanfare only made the dish all the more enjoyable.
Apart from fish and lobster, there is a whole host of other seafoods available. Stir-fry standards such as Moerella iridescens with basil and ginger (海瓜子, a kind of clam), did not disappoint, and was remarkable for the bright flavors that enhanced, rather than smothered, the flavor of the mollusks.
It was only a local variation on an old standard that didn’t live up to expectations. The red-head white bait (紅頭吻仔魚) is a variety of white bait that is a specialty of Hualien, and we ordered this to be cooked up with sponge gourd. The tiny fish had a good texture, but they were lacking in the flavor department. They are said to be nutritious and low in calories, and my experience of the dish only confirmed my prejudices against any food that needs to make health claims to enhance its appeal.
Although 055 describes itself as a lobster restaurant, it also serves a number of meat dishes, including boiled local chicken, and also has a wide range of vegetables that accompany the seafood, which can also be ordered separately. As many of the fish and larger shellfish are only available whole, a table of four or more is recommended to provide a wider range of options.
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