5-Star Taiwan Hotel Rides U.S. Beef to New Heights
5-Star Taiwan Hotel Rides U.S. Beef to New Heights
(Editor’s note: This is the third in an occasional series of articles featuring restaurants in international markets that focus on and actively promote U.S. beef and/or pork.)
When the public climate for U.S. beef in Taiwan became strained in recent months following negotiations to expand U.S. beef’s access there, one high profile restaurant at the 5-star Sherwood Hotel not only resisted the negative trend, but took its support of U.S. beef to new heights.
Even as some public officials in Taiwan began demanding that restaurants post signs stating that they do not sell certain products (ground beef and offal), the executive chef at the Sherwood Taipei, C.K. Chen, took the opposite approach. Not only does he exclusively feature U.S. beef at the Sherwood’s signature restaurant, Toscana, but he appealed to management to help him make Toscana the premier steak restaurant in Taiwan, if not in all of Southeast Asia.
Chef C.K. Chen with his favorite U.S. beef
A long-time fan of U.S. steak who has drawn inspiration from restaurants like Smith & Wollensky, Gorat’s Steak House and Peter Luger, Chef Chen got the support he needed from Sherwood General Manager Victor Chou. Within the last month, he has introduced Taiwan’s only dry-aging room and a special grilling oven that can produce up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit of searing heat to produce the ideal steak.
Chef Chen proudly unveiled his new dry-aging operation earlier this week when the Sherwood invited a dozen Taipei food writers to tour the dry-aging room and enjoy a prime, dry-aged T-bone steak lunch.
“The secret to the richer flavor of beef on the bone is that extra layer of fat wrapped around the joint and muscle,” said Chef Chen. “The process of dry-aging further enhances and brings out the sweetness, tenderness and aroma of the beef.”
To ensure a consistent supply of prime, dry-aged steak, Toscana is currently limiting sales to 30 steaks per day, and is getting more demand than it can fill.
“The response has been tremendous,” said Ivan Ramos, guest relations manager at The Sherwood. “We were one of only a few restaurants willing to publicly acknowledge that we serve U.S. beef, but beef has always been an important part of our menu, and our customers expect us to serve the best.”
A reporter takes a photograph of a U.S. steak dinner
Toscana will extend the celebration of its new dry-aging facilities by featuring a special fixed-price Warren Buffet Dinner (price: 2,650 in Taiwan dollars – approximately $70) prepared by Steven Branecki, head chef of Gorat’s Steak House in Omaha, the favorite restaurant of billionaire Warren Buffet. The one-week promotion will start March 15.
“Our clientele comes from all over the world – including about one-third from North America. It is our pleasure to have friends visiting from afar,” said Chou. “As the pilot of the Sherwood Hotel, I know we have a first-class property with first-class passengers, so it is my goal to serve them only first-class products.”
“The willingness of the management of the Sherwood Hotel to aggressively support U.S. beef and expand into dry-aging is a testimony to their loyalty to U.S. beef,” said Davis Wu, director of USMEF-Taiwan. “And that loyalty has been rewarded by the popularity of these new dry-aged steaks among the high-end clientele of Toscana.”
While U.S. beef has drawn some unwanted attention during the access discussions between the governments of the United States and Taiwan, total 2009 U.S. beef exports to Taiwan rose 11 percent in value over the previous year, reaching more than $141 million even as the volume of exports remained steady. This compares to a 15 percent decline in total U.S. beef export value and a 9 percent drop in volume in 2009 versus 2008.
Toscana Italian Restaurant
The Sherwood Taipei
111 Min Sheng E. Road, Sec. 3
Taipei, Taiwan
(02) 2718-1188, ext. 3001
Hours: Dinner 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
www.sherwood.com.tw
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.
5-Star Taiwan Hotel Rides U.S. Beef to New Heights
(Editor’s note: This is the third in an occasional series of articles featuring restaurants in international markets that focus on and actively promote U.S. beef and/or pork.)
When the public climate for U.S. beef in Taiwan became strained in recent months following negotiations to expand U.S. beef’s access there, one high profile restaurant at the 5-star Sherwood Hotel not only resisted the negative trend, but took its support of U.S. beef to new heights.
Even as some public officials in Taiwan began demanding that restaurants post signs stating that they do not sell certain products (ground beef and offal), the executive chef at the Sherwood Taipei, C.K. Chen, took the opposite approach. Not only does he exclusively feature U.S. beef at the Sherwood’s signature restaurant, Toscana, but he appealed to management to help him make Toscana the premier steak restaurant in Taiwan, if not in all of Southeast Asia.
Chef C.K. Chen with his favorite U.S. beef
A long-time fan of U.S. steak who has drawn inspiration from restaurants like Smith & Wollensky, Gorat’s Steak House and Peter Luger, Chef Chen got the support he needed from Sherwood General Manager Victor Chou. Within the last month, he has introduced Taiwan’s only dry-aging room and a special grilling oven that can produce up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit of searing heat to produce the ideal steak.
Chef Chen proudly unveiled his new dry-aging operation earlier this week when the Sherwood invited a dozen Taipei food writers to tour the dry-aging room and enjoy a prime, dry-aged T-bone steak lunch.
“The secret to the richer flavor of beef on the bone is that extra layer of fat wrapped around the joint and muscle,” said Chef Chen. “The process of dry-aging further enhances and brings out the sweetness, tenderness and aroma of the beef.”
To ensure a consistent supply of prime, dry-aged steak, Toscana is currently limiting sales to 30 steaks per day, and is getting more demand than it can fill.
“The response has been tremendous,” said Ivan Ramos, guest relations manager at The Sherwood. “We were one of only a few restaurants willing to publicly acknowledge that we serve U.S. beef, but beef has always been an important part of our menu, and our customers expect us to serve the best.”
A reporter takes a photograph of a U.S. steak dinner
Toscana will extend the celebration of its new dry-aging facilities by featuring a special fixed-price Warren Buffet Dinner (price: 2,650 in Taiwan dollars – approximately $70) prepared by Steven Branecki, head chef of Gorat’s Steak House in Omaha, the favorite restaurant of billionaire Warren Buffet. The one-week promotion will start March 15.
“Our clientele comes from all over the world – including about one-third from North America. It is our pleasure to have friends visiting from afar,” said Chou. “As the pilot of the Sherwood Hotel, I know we have a first-class property with first-class passengers, so it is my goal to serve them only first-class products.”
“The willingness of the management of the Sherwood Hotel to aggressively support U.S. beef and expand into dry-aging is a testimony to their loyalty to U.S. beef,” said Davis Wu, director of USMEF-Taiwan. “And that loyalty has been rewarded by the popularity of these new dry-aged steaks among the high-end clientele of Toscana.”
While U.S. beef has drawn some unwanted attention during the access discussions between the governments of the United States and Taiwan, total 2009 U.S. beef exports to Taiwan rose 11 percent in value over the previous year, reaching more than $141 million even as the volume of exports remained steady. This compares to a 15 percent decline in total U.S. beef export value and a 9 percent drop in volume in 2009 versus 2008.
Toscana Italian Restaurant
The Sherwood Taipei
111 Min Sheng E. Road, Sec. 3
Taipei, Taiwan
(02) 2718-1188, ext. 3001
Hours: Dinner 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
www.sherwood.com.tw
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.