Another Taipei date-night restaurant: 220-ping AURA Bar & Grill, where you have to crack open the “coffee bomb” before you can eat it

There’s always room for one more spot on your Taipei restaurant list. If you’re looking for a setting that works for a date yet still lets a small group of friends comfortably share a meal, the newly opened AURA Bar & Grill is one to save. Centered on “spices, sauces, open fire, and sharing,” it draws flavor inspiration from around the world and reinterprets it over charcoal. With a 220-ping, high-ceilinged space and four private dining rooms, it offers a new destination for everything from after-work drinks to weekend gatherings.

• Related reading: Flavors from opposite sides of the globe come together: Fon-Cé celebrates its first anniversary with its new “Sunrise & Sunset” menu

No need to define the cuisine: Bringing flavors from around the world to the table

One of the most interesting things about AURA Bar & Grill is that it’s difficult to simply describe as cuisine from any one country. Built around the concept of a World Bar & Grill House, the restaurant draws inspiration from the spice and sauce traditions of the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Central and South America, with open fire tying the menu together.

For the culinary team, charcoal does more than cook ingredients. Its heat brings out the sweetness of vegetables, the richness of meat fat, and the freshness of seafood. Sauces offer another thread, giving familiar ingredients a different flavor twist with every bite and reflecting AURA’s aim to create a dining experience where “you never know what the next bite will bring.”

What should you order on your first visit? Start by cracking open the black salt crust around the fresh fish

For first-time visitors, the most memorable dish is likely the daily limited “salt-baked fresh catch.” A whole fish is baked in a house-made black salt crust made with bamboo charcoal, then brought to the table for you to crack open yourself. As steam rises and the tender fish is revealed, it becomes a little tableside ritual. Seafood lovers can also try Yilan red shrimp, quickly seared at high heat to keep the center tender, or charcoal-grilled octopus with Spanish romesco smoked sweet pepper sauce. Made for sharing over conversation, the “AURA Griddled Naan” comes with a smoked seafood spread and caramelized miso butter. The flavors take you from the Middle East and Mediterranean to Asia, and rather than following a set order, the dishes make sharing around the table all the more enjoyable.

Four private rooms within 220 ping, then crack open the “Coffee Bomb” together

AURA Bar & Grill aims to be more than a restaurant reserved for special occasions. Its 220-ping, high-ceilinged space includes open seating, a bar, and four private dining rooms for groups of 6 to 30. Whether you want a cocktail alone after work, a dinner date, or a gathering with family, friends, or business associates, there’s a suitable spot. And don’t rush off after the meal. The signature “AURA Black Gold Mont Blanc” layers bamboo charcoal, chestnut, and longan flavors. For a little more surprise, order the two-person “Coffee Bomb”: crack open its charcoal-like crisp chocolate shell to discover mousse infused with coffee, Earl Grey tea, and Kahlúa. That sense of interaction, from the first course to the last bite of dessert, may be exactly why AURA Bar & Grill hopes guests will return.

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