Sarina J.
Yelp
Even before its receipt of one Michelin star, I've wanted to try Longtail. Overall, while the quality of the food was great, it was quite salty and the ambience/service were a bit lacking.
Besides the a la carte menu, there are two tasting menus titled the Longtail experience, one for 1880NTD (8 dishes) and the other for 2880NTD (9 dishes). The dishes between the two were different (with the more expensive having higher quality ingredients), but we went for the 1880 tasting menu. We also received an amuse bouche that was not on the menu which was cantaloupe juice with salami (weird combo but oddly worked?). They have an English menu but they introduce each course in Chinese.
For a multicourse menu, the timing was way faster than my previous experiences, and while that can be a good thing, I think the waiters got flustered with being unable to switch out dirty plates for new ones in time, and not knowing who should introduce each course. During each course, a different person would tell us the ingredients, which was different and I actually enjoyed, because I appreciated the different insights. Highlights of the night were the foie gras dumplings (they did not skimp!), Australian beef tenderloin (perfect medium rare), and the Kaya toast that we ordered a la carte.
Now, the downsides. We had a late dinner reservation on a Friday night, which meant that a lot of people were coming in just for drinks at the bar. It did get quite noisy with drunk people yelling and standing on chairs, which was quite distracting from the pretty calm ambience of the dinner tables which were mostly couples, friends, and foodies. My friend had come here prior to Longtail receiving the Michelin star and said that even with the added hostess, the service felt more rushed and flustered. However, this is a pretty casual Michelin restaurant, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. While I don't like stifling quiet, I don't like rowdiness either. Also, I found lipstick on my water glass and my plate was dirty, which were switched out immediately. While the food was delicious, I expected more. Food 4/5, service 3/5