Originally uploaded by mewmew0518

In the former residence of “Young Marshal” Zhang Xueliang (張學良), cross-talk master Wu Zhaonan (吳兆南) ushered in “authentic” Mongolian barbecue to Taiwan and turned it into Shann Garden. Mongolian barbecue is a restaurant style of stir frying meats and vegetables over a large, round, solid iron griddle and strangely, neither Mongolian nor barbecue.

Originally uploaded by mewmew0518

I am not sure which is the real attention grabber here: the food, or the fact that this used to be the place Zhang Xueliang spent over 50 years under house arrest as an instigator of the Xi’an incident.

The food, to be honest, is not spectacular. It is entertaining to watch the chef stir-fry (with super-long chopsticks) the meat, vegetable and condiments of your choice and have it ready under a minute; but the truth is we had no culinary genius amongst us and we failed terribly at seasoning. Our dishes mostly turned out bland.

There is a saving grace. Overlooking Guan Yin Mountain and Guan Du plains, Shann Garden might strike you as one of the tea houses you can find at Maokong (貓空), but the simplicity of early Japanese architecture gives off an ambience most pseudo-antique tea houses cannot easily recreate.

Shann Garden
34, YouYa Road
(02) 2896-5700 / 2896-5709
Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30 pm, 5:30-9:30 pm
Weekends/public holidays 11:30 am-3 pm, 5:30-10 pm