The Picnic Experience at Yellow Lemon Dessert Bar
Yellow Lemon is a modern Western restaurant near Dazhi MRT Station in Neihu. It’s not cheap, but they have a creative menu and good food. They are known in particular for their “picnic,” a selection of sweet and savoury treats that are served to you as if you were on a picnic in the park.
We had heard about the picnic experience from a number of sources, but it wasn’t really on our list of things to do until we stumbled upon the restaurant quite by accident and decided to make the most of it. It is very nice inside, with a sleek, stylish interior, and a huge open kitchen. The staff were very attentive and helpful from the moment we walked in.
As soon as we saw the picnic on the menu, we knew we had to do it. It wasn’t cheap — $600 per person, with a minimum of 2 people to participate — but neither was anything else on the menu. We ordered, and within minutes a member of staff came over with a large piece of fake grass to cover the table. He then neatly arranged some plastic vegetables and a picnic cloth on top of it. Piece by piece, the staff brought over our picnic, introducing each item to us and answering any questions we had. Once everything was assembled, he told us to get our cameras ready and did a neat trick that made our whole table steam. Our Instagram stories were suitably impressive.
Deciding that we would attempt to eat the savoury items first, we began with the ham, cheese, and truffle sandwich. Although it seemed quite simple, this dish ended up being one of our favourites — all of the ingredients were of high quality, and you could taste the truffle with each bite, though it didn’t overpower the rest of the flavours. We were very impressed, and couldn’t wait for more.
Next up were crab macaroons, a sweet and savoury combination with a black pepper macaroon shell, crab, lemon mayo and ikura (salmon eggs). This was divine. Not only were we impressed by the creativity of it, but the combination of sweet and salty, creamy and crunchy was truly sensational. Do note, if you aren’t a fan of fishy flavours, you are going to hate this.
With some trepidation, we decided to open the tin of “caviar.” We hoped it wasn’t really caviar inside since we’d only been given a single pretzel each to eat it with.
It turned out to be little chocolate balls in a pannacotta. It was creamy and very tasty, but one pretzel each was nowhere near enough to finish it. Feeling somewhat disgruntled, we scooped the rest up with our teaspoons.
Next was Kavalan whisky-flavoured gummies. These were delicious, and though they were only gummies, the distinctive taste of Kavalan really elevated them. They were quite fun and unique.
Next was a Madeleine cake stuffed with raspberry jam. This was nothing special, and while we enjoyed it, it couldn’t compare to either of the two dishes that had come before it.
After that came an individual tiramisu, which was good but rather uninspired when comparing it to some of the other options. We definitely enjoyed it but wished it had been created with the same flair as the crab macarons.
Next, we chose the coffee cookie, which was served over a jar that billowed out steam. It did taste strongly of coffee and was pretty good. But, while adorable, we failed to see what was special about it.
Next was a creative twist on apple pie, with dried apple slices sandwiching flaky pastry crumbs, stewed apple, and –bizarrely — chocolate popping candy. It was fantastic. The flavours blended exceedingly well, and the combination of different textures was very interesting. We loved the addition of the popping candy, which brought something unique to the dish.
Our final dessert was an Earl Grey tea choux creme with edible gold flakes — indulgence at its best. As we bit into the creamy goodness we realized there were tapioca pearls at the bottom with a rich, caramel sauce. Incredible. We wish we could buy this separately!
Overall, we had mixed feelings about the picnic experience. Most of the food was creative, unique, and downright delicious, but there were also a few (looking at you, coffee cookie and jam-filled Madeleine) that didn’t impress us at all. There also wasn’t much food — we ended up feeling full from all the sugar and cream, but we got hungry quite quickly afterwards. This was fine for us since we were judging it more on the experience aspect rather than by the quantity of food, but we didn’t completely forget about it, either. All things considered, we felt that this was a fun but ultimately slightly-too-expensive-for-what-it-is activity. We don’t regret going, but we wouldn’t do it again.
Check out their menu, which we pulled from their website:
What’s the vibe?
Upscale dessert bar with a creative menu. It is not cheap. We expected the Instagram crowd, but there were lots of different types of people there.
Worth it?
We’re not sure — we really enjoyed the experience, but are still mildly appalled by how expensive it was. It’s a fun activity, and the food was fantastic for the most part, but we didn’t quite feel like we got our money’s worth. Still, we urge you to try it if you’re interested. Maybe you’ll feel differently!
Would you go back?
Nope. We’re glad we did it once, but we wouldn’t want to repeatedly shell out $600 each for very little food, however delicious it is.
Visited: April 2019
| Yellow Lemon |
| Hours: Mon-Fri 9am – 6pm Sat & Sun 9am – 8pm |
| Phone: 02 2533 3567 |
| English Address: No. 561, Mingshui Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City |
| Chinese Address: 台北市中山區明水路561號 |
