No tuna, please

I'm back at Gyodoike (魚道生) for an impromptu dinner.  It really has become one of my favorite places for Japanese in town, and I think the chef has started to recognize me.

As usual we let the chef make the call on what to send us, although I did ask for beef to be left off the menu, as well as tuna.  I've asked for tuna to be taken out almost every time that I've been here, but I still have to specify that it's ALL cuts of tuna.  They don't seem to get it here…

Whelk (つぶ貝) - very crunchy.  Nice way to kick off.

Flounder (平目)

The old standard

I was invited to dinner by some friends at the last minute, and joined them at the original location of Mitsui (三井).  This was the original restaurant to take Japanese dining upmarket in Taipei, offering something more refined than what we were used to before.  Over the years, though, the quality hasn't kept up with the rest of the market, and there are now many other choices in town.

I decided against ordering one of the usual set dinners, since I wanted to control my intake.  So I picked a few items from the menu to try to achieve a "balanced" meal…

Another Taiwanese Japanese sushi joint

The Japanese theme continues… and my guests and I were introduced to Jin Fu (錦富日式料理) by their friend.  I'd actually been to this alley restaurant once many years ago, and was curious to go back and try it again.

From the moment we walked in, it was obvious that this was much more local Taiwanese in style.  It also looked more like a neighborhood restaurant.  We were seated at the counter, and asked the chef for omakase.

Taiwanese abalone (九孔) - not a bad way to start.

Rustle of the bamboo leaves

Got a couple of out-of-towners staying with me for a few days, and they're all focused on eating their way through Taipei.  A list was drawn up last week and they're checking them off one by one.  I decided to join them for lunch at Sasa Sushi (笹鮨), a place I'd read about but had never tried.

The L-shaped Japanese cypress (檜) counter looked immaculate, and seats less than 15.  I knew we were in for some very personal service.  Not wanting to do omakase (御任せ) for lunch today, we opted for the priciest of the 3 business lunch sets at half the price.

Pickles are always important to me at a sushi restaurant.  They should be home made, and what we were served made me happy.  The radish came with finely chopped perilla (紫蘇) leaves, with just the right balance between being savory and sweet.  The cucumbers were carefully chosen to ensure they didn't have too many seeds, and marinated with a combination of soy sauce, mirin (味醂), sake and bonito (鰹). The flavors coming from the bonito made it pretty interesting, and I wondered which soy sauce they used because I detected the distinct fragrance of fermented beans.  I liked the ginger, too… and it's not often that I find myself in that situation.

Yummy lamb for birthday

We were celebrating a birthday tonight, and lamb was the order of the day.  I was tasked with finding a new place to have lamb other than my favorite lamb at 8½ Otto e Mezzo or L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon.  I thought about the little tiny lamb chops I had at Cépage last year, and posted on Chef Sebastien's Facebook wall asking if he had any lamb on the menu.  Silly me.  The same lamb is still on the menu, only better since April's the best season for spring lamb.

So I met up with Tigger and family at the restaurant, and eagerly waited for our food to arrive.  Ever mindful of the need to keep my svelte figure, I took the Menu Épicurien instead of the larger Menu Gastronomique.

Smoky kaiseki

I met up with a friend from Hong Kong tonight.  He was here on business, and we caught up over dinner and some wine.  I wanted to continue exploring Japanese restaurants in town, so I suggested that we try out Toutouan (燈燈庵).  The main restaurant in Japan was never on my radar, but I learned about the opening of the Taipei branch from a fellow food blog, and it's always good to find a decent kaiseki (会席料理) restaurant.

We decided to take the Toutouan set (燈燈庵 会席).  We're still being served the March menu, but the final course was substituted for the item that will be in the April menu.

8 pieces for lunch

The Specialist is town again and wanted some more Japanese, so I looked around for a new place to try.  I had long heard someone rave about Honda (本多日本料理), so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It also helps that the place is within walking distance from my office...

I decided to try out some sushi on the first visit, so I took the Take Sushi Set Lunch (握壽司午餐“竹”).

Paddle service

I was invited to join the Chairman and friends for dinner on short notice, and in fact haven't seen most of the group since our dinner together last September.  Venue was 久食 Robata Yaki, which is apparently pretty new.  I hadn't found a place for robatayaki (炉端焼) in Taipei yet, so this was a good opportunity to scout out such a place.

We had a big group of almost 20 people, and took up the entire counter section around the grill.  As one would expect, all of the freshest ingredients were displayed right in front of us.  I guess someone had taken care of the ordering for us, or perhaps the chef had decided to just send us whatever he felt like… omakase (お任せ).

Birthday lunch with No. 88

It's coming up to Mom's birthday, and this year we decided to celebrate it with a few small groups of close  friends and relatives.  For the first meal, I decided to take them to something a little different - for them, that is.  Lunch at Gyodoike (魚道生) seemed like a pretty good idea…

Raw Hokkaido oyster - I offered this to Mom for a taste, thinking that she would split it with me.  No such luck…  She enjoyed the fresh oyster so much that she ate it all by herself.  Oh well…

Fusion izakaya

It was a beautiful day in Taipei today, and luckily I had invited a few old friends over to my brand spanking new place for a little afternoon tea.   The Rice Ball eating crew (飯團) has been hanging out for the better part of the last decade, and we've shared many good meals (and desserts after meals) together.  Naturally we whiled away the afternoon sipping on some tea and nibbling on a few snacks... just biding our till dinner.

We were being introduced to Hwa Tze Xun (花 彘醺), which labels itself as "fusion cuisine, sake bar".  Turned out to be an interesting place for casual dining.

A special fishy Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm having dinner with the Specialist.  She's in Taipei for a few days, and I promised to show her a couple of places that I've found worthy.  Not wanting to be forced to take any special Christmas set menus, I decided to go Japanese and revisit Gyodoike (魚道生).  My first visit there just a month ago was pretty spectacular, and I was relishing the opportunity to return.

We sat at the sushi counter, although at the wrong end... meaning we were the farthest away from the head chef.  Damn... I started to get a little worried.  Years ago I had a similar episode at a sushi joint in Hong Kong, and the food was so bad I never went back.

As usual I let the chef decide what to serve us, but we did tell the waitress specific items that each of us didn't want to have.  She seemed to have trouble getting it right on paper, and as we found out later, the right info didn't make it to the chefs as we were served items we had said we didn't want.

Fish is a way of life

It's been a while since I met up with Big Mac, and when I found out a couple of days ago that I'd have a free evening tonight, I decided to ping him and see if he's available for dinner.  I was sure glad he said yes!  Unfortunately, he left it up to me to choose the venue, whereas I would normally have appreciated for others to suggest new and interesting places for me.

I thought this would be a good chance for me to check out Gyodoike (魚道生), a Japanese restaurant that came highly recommended by the Ox.  I never found the right opportunity to try this place, but I was pretty sure Big Mac would appreciate it.

We asked for omakase, and wanted to get a couple of hot dishes.  What followed was a feast that left both of us stuffed but smiling all the way...

As a start we were offered some sea grapes (海ぶどう) along with pickled ginger and radish pickled with perilla leaves (紫蘇) and yuzu (柚子).  The radish was particularly yummy.

Decadent Japanese lunch

I'm doing the first of my 3 reviews today inside the Sheraton, and visiting Unkai (雲海) for the very first time.  Not sure why I never came around in all the years I've been in Hong Kong, but come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever eaten in the Sheraton - other than the odd visit to Morton's.

I made a reservation to sit at the teppanyaki counter as I expected to order from that part of the menu.  I expected to come out smelling a little, but in the end I don't think it was too bad.

We had a very, very generous budget from the Sheraton, and I decided not to be too polite and ordered a few of the premium items, along with a bottle of good (but not too expensive) sake.

Two big guns

The gang was gathering once again for the old man's birthday, and I was happy to be able to join them since I was back in town on business.  I'd never been to Sushi Sase (鮨佐瀬) even though it's been open for quite a while now and it was all the rage.  Somehow I never motivated myself to try to get a reservation, as I'd been repeatedly warned that I should get myself directly in front of Sase-san.  Tonight I had the opportunity to accompany a regular customer, and enjoy some of the best sushi I've had in a while.

No Masa, no good

A fellow hedgie was in town on holiday, and I had the opportunity to lunch with the Chairman again.  I was asked to pick a place due to my reputation for being "picky", so I decided to pick somewhere that's close to both of our offices.  My one and only previous visit to Masa was over a year and a half ago, and I really enjoyed that meal.  I figured it's a pretty safe bet.

I'd asked for a table instead of being seated at the counter, thinking that it'd be easier for us to talk.  Turned out not to be such a good decision today.

Romantic lunch

I had a lunch date with the Chairman today, as I haven't caught up with him in quite a while. He introduced me to one of his regular hangouts, which just happens to be steps away from his office, and a short walking distance from mine.

Taishoroman (大正浪漫) is named after the period in Japan during Emperor Yoshihito's reign, where the Japanese really started to import Western culture and adopting foreign customs.  This is a Japanese restaurant tucked away in an alley, and there is no menu.  Diners are asked two questions - how much they'd like to spend; and what, if anything, they don't wish to eat.  The rest is up to the kitchen.

Taiwanese kaiseki for lunch

Lunch today was with some of the parental units' old friends, from our their days in Bangkok a couple of decades ago.  The chosen venue was Shintori (新都里), a Taiwanese chain of Japanese restaurants with branches in Shanghai.  My last visit to the restaurant was 4 jobs ago, and I wondered if I'd still find the cuisine interesting.

I wanted some variety but didn't want to eat a ton of food, so I settled on the kaiseki lunch set (懷石套餐).  I should have remembered, of course, that these types of sets in Taiwan are often extremely good value for money... and you'd still get a lot of food.

Just nibbling

A group of generous foodie friends insisted on taking me out for my birthday, despite protestations of having over-indulged and my desire for a break in my eating schedule.  In the end I relented, but requested for a venue where I could just "nibble".  After a 11th-hour mix-up, we ended up at Yi Pai Ya (一杯屋) for some meat on a stick and some ox tongue that the place is famous for.

The marinated eggplant with bonito flakes was a welcome change from the routine in the past week.

Lisboa tour: New Furusato

Day 2 of my Lisboa tour began with my stomach complaining to me that it was empty.  After all that food yesterday, I actually felt the hunger pangs sometime before 10am.  I grabbed a continental breakfast from the Round-The-Clock Coffee Shop to have some fresh fruit and fruit juice, and allowed myself one fluffy croissant.  I needed to save precious stomach space for lunch!

The PR team treated us to lunch at New Furusato (新故里) inside Hotel Lisboa, and happily for us, they were able to join us, too.  I was only aware of a couple of restaurants within the two Lisboa hotels - and this definitely wasn't one of them - so it was surprising to learn that this place has been around for quite a while.

Up and down Japanese evening

After the Acker tasting, I met up with the Resident Froggie for a Japanese evening - starting with dinner at Irori (酒処いろり).  I'm happy to see that business has returned to my favorite haunt, so I could continue to enjoy their food for years to come.

Sesame sauce tomato salad (胡麻トマト) - it's been a long time since I had this.  Still love the refreshing tomatoes with that great sesame/ponzu sauce.