Classy Indian Food with a View at Saffron 46

November 27, 2019 Taipei Expat

Saffron 46 an upscale restaurant in the Breeze Nanshan building that specializes in gourmet Indian and Indian fusion food. Located right next to Taipei 101, it offers breathtaking views of the city’s most famous landmark and would be worth a visit for this alone. Luckily, though, Saffron 46 makes up for its hefty price tag with fantastic food and a creative cocktail menu designed with the help of a world-class mixologist. It’s a splurge, but — in our opinion — completely worth it for the right occasion.

Bookings are highly recommended at Saffron 46, although you could probably try your luck by walking in, especially if it’s a little later in the evening or during the week. You can make a reservation online (within the month of your intended reservation date) or call them — they speak English. There is a minimum service charge of $1200 (lunchtime) or $1500 (dinner time) per person if you want to sit by the window, which has a magnificent view of Taipei 101. If you don’t, the minimum charge per person is $1000 per person. A 10% service charge is applied to all orders. If there are more than ten people in your party, additional rules will apply to you. Note that they have a smart casual dress code, in which open-toed or lace-up shoes are prohibited, as are vests for men.

To get to Saffron 46, you will have to take a special elevator in the Breeze Centre. Save yourself a lot of hassle and immediately ask a member of staff to direct you, unless you already know where it is or really love walking around aimlessly. The elevator is in a separate building from the rest of the Breeze centre, making it rather tricky to find. Take the escalator to the 46th floor and follow the signs to the restaurant. Do note that your party can not be seated until everyone has arrived, and they will only hold your reservation for 15 minutes. You can sit and order a drink at their gorgeous bar while you wait, taking in the ambience and the view, which is even more stunning in real life than it is in photos.

The food smelled incredible from the moment we walked in, and we couldn’t wait to start eating. Our first order was the jhinga pakora ($450); baked prawns in tangy batter with seasonal chutney. The batter was crispy, the prawns were juicy, and we enjoyed sampling the two chutneys, which complimented the pakoras nicely.

Next, we got some vegetable samosas ($340), made with seasoned potatoes and green peas in crispy turnovers with tamarind mint chutney. These were also great — an elevated version of the samosas that we’ve all had before.

Ready for something a little more substantial, we ordered the baigan bharta ($580), a curry made with charred eggplant, ground spices, garlic, and onion. We had originally ordered this because a member of our party was vegetarian and we needed a vegetable curry, but it ended up being popular with everyone. This was a phenomenal dish — perhaps even our favourite of all the dishes we tried at Saffron 46. It was bold yet perfectly balanced, where the flavour of the eggplant really shone. We’d highly recommend it, and would definitely order it again.

To accompany the baigan bharta, we got a few orders of garlic naan ($130), which was a soft, garlicky, buttery delight. They were so good that we immediately decided to order more.

We also went for the gosht korma ($720), a mild curry made with lamb, brown onion, yogurt, and spices. This was pleasantly creamy with delicate flavours that we loved. The lamb was tender, and we really liked that it didn’t end up being as rich as it looked. We had it with saffron rice ($190), which was nice to soak it all up with.

Our next order was the salmon zamin doz ($780), made with salmon, caramelized onions, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, and cloves. This was another mild, creamy curry packed with flavour. The salmon was cooked to perfection, and the cucumbers and greens on top added a nice freshness.

For dessert, we settled on the saffron kulfi ($320), a kind of frozen dairy dessert often described as “traditional Indian ice cream.” Denser than traditional ice cream, it was absolutely heavenly: buttery and rich, with just the right amount of saffron flavour. We would absolutely get this again — we’ve never had anything quite like it.

Saffron 46 has an impressive cocktail list, which was designed with the help of Aki Wang, a three-time world champion mixologist with over 20 years of experience. They have two signature series, the Experimental Herbs series and the Indulge Spies series, both of which sound phenomenal.

After much deliberation and recommendations from our servers, we chose the Spice No.4 ($450), a malty, slightly sour whiskey-based drink with cinnamon and plum. There are six different cocktails in Saffron 46’s spice series, and they all come beautifully presented in a steaming box, which you bet we Instagrammed the heck out of. This may have been our favourite cocktail of the night: we loved its kick and the strong cinnamon flavour. We couldn’t really taste the plum, but we’re sure it was working its magic in there somewhere. We’d get this again in a heartbeat.

We also tried the Spice No.3 ($450), a sweet and savoury rum-based drink with black pepper and hints of citrus. This was more sweet than savoury, and though we enjoyed it, it didn’t compare to the No.4 in terms of flavour as the sweetness became rather cloying after a few sips. We’d probably give it a miss next time, although we’re sure it would appeal more to others than it did to us.

We also ordered an apple martini ($450) and a mojito ($450), both of which were superb. The apple martini was light, sweet, and well-balanced, while the mojito was extremely well made and refreshing. We would personally prefer to order more of their speciality drinks if we returned, but we appreciated how nice these classic cocktails were too.

Overall, we had an amazing experience at Saffron 46. The food, cocktails, ambience and the view were outstanding, and it was a great choice for the bachelorette party dinner that we attended. Now, with that being said, this would not be somewhere that we recommend for just a casual weeknight dinner. It’s definitely upscale, and the price and atmosphere reflect that. If you’re willing to pay for the experience, it’s a great choice for a special occasion or a date that you really want to impress. If you’re more interested in the food than the experience, we recommend heading to their Tianmu branch, which is more generous with their portions.

Check out their full food and cocktail menu down below: