Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei lately welcomed Antonio Tardi as Head Chef at its Marco Polo Restaurant, whose culinary ambience is anticipated to bring diners to an Italian Shangri-La.

Cook what's in season, using the best available food material in Taiwan; meanwhile import basic ingredients from Italy. This is Tardi's culinary philosophy. He also changes the menu every season, to serve guests the finest cuisine.

Summer dishes

Taipei is known for its damp during scorching summer days. Try Tardi's cold water lobster salad with summer peach sauce and foie gras sashimi as starter for the refreshment, and wake up your taste buds for the main course.

The foie gras in the dish is from duck liver marinated with sea salt, sugar, Italian sweet wines such as Marsala and Passito, brandy, and slices of lemon, and left for 20 hours. The gaminess has long gone and replaced by fresh and tender tastes.

The lobster and peaches are selected from a local market in Taipei. Every Wednesday at 5 a.m. Tardi visits the Central Market to organize things he needs in the kitchen for the week.

Veggie lovers may be more interested in having "eggplant caviar" for appetizer. Eggplant is broiled with sea salt, skinned and seasoned with capers, onion, olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper. The texture of eggplant pulp highly resembles caviar, hence the name.

When served, mixed organic greens, crispy zucchini and tender baby carrots are placed on top of the eggplant caviar.

If these dishes don't sound quite Italian to you, try Tardi's homemade ravioli filled with Burrata cheese and fresh oregano, and you may change your opinion on ravioli for good.

Typical ravioli skin is made of a kilogram of flour and six to ten egg yolks, but Tardi insists on making the skin with one kilogram flour and sixty egg yolks. Therefore the intensified version tastes multiple times richer.

Burrata cheese is a mix of mozzarella, ricotta and cream cheese, which pops in the mouth as soon as the diner makes the first bite. The dish is served with jumbo asparagus spears and Alba summer truffle.

Highlights among choices of meat dishes include braised beef cheek, slow cooked suckling pig, and beef tenderloin. Beef cheeks are rich morsels of dense, finely grained meat. First light-fried, and then stewed at low temperature for a day with western celery, onion, garlic, and Chianti, the beef cheek is melt-in-the-mouth tender when served.

A wonderful dining experience is never ended without dessert. Try cardamom crème brûlée served in a Martini glass before you call it a meal. The Cappuccino-looking sweet makes up of several layers including coffee gelatin, Manjari chocolate ganache, and milk foam on the top.

From Europe to the Caribbean to Asia

Born in Naples, southern Italy, Tardi started cooking at 16 years old. He received two degrees in hotel management from Luigi de Medici Institute in 1996, followed by training at Etoile Institute in Veneto, northern Italy for pastry courses.

He developed culinary skills under some of the most reputed chefs, including Michelin three-star Chef Gualtiero Marchesi at the Grand Hotel Quisissana in Capri, and Chef Davide Oldani of the Michelin one-star Ristorante Giannino in Milan.

In 2005, he joined Sandals Resorts International in the Caribbean, where he learned to "harmonize Mediterranean and Caribbean influences," "like all things hot and spicy," he writes in his blog where he shares the 'recipe of the month' with visitors.

Five years later Tardi headed to Asia and joined Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei to continue his exploration of the fulfilling world of gastronomy.