Sushi - Addiction Aquatic Development (上引水產)

Address: 18, Alley 2, Ln 410, Minzu E Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族東路410巷2弄18號)

Telephone: (02) 2508-1268

HRs: 10am to 5pm (sushi), 11am to 5pm (grill) (during soft opening)

Waking up relatively early on a sunday? Either some basketball game had to be watched or delicious food was to be eaten.. it was the latter.  The space is a sprawling behemoth of a building located in the heart of the popular fish market located on Taipei's Minzu E. Road.  It's a brand spanking new restaurant/ market/ aquarium... etc brought to you by the Mitsui Food and Beverage Enterprise Group (三井餐飲事業集團), who clearly not by accident, own some of the top high end Japanese restaurants inhabiting Taipei.  

Soon to inhabit a dining table near you.

Apparently word has spread fast, because when we arrived at 10:30am on this past sunday, the place was already infested with hungry patrons.  The very first thing you notice as you get ready to eat is that its standing room only... like... literally.. there are no chairs... you stand while you eat.  Perhaps this is to conserve space or to encourage faster turnover, but whatever the case, I didn't get the impression that anyone minded or that anyone was in a rush to leave.  

The huddled masses 

part of the menu... duh.

Seeing as how they are located smack dab in the middle of a famous fish market, I would say that it would've been quite an embarrassment if they didn't have an extensive selection of fish to choose from.  They managed to avoid that embarrassment, and improved upon it by adding a wide array of grilled selections.  In the end however, we are in a FISH MARKET and not a farm, so I stuck to my guns and partook mostly in the sushi with my family.  I found the quality of the fish to be good, but not quite great.  The atmosphere is some combination of chic japanese marketplace with one of those high end pubs where people are just standing and munching on finger foods.  I found that they were heavy handed in their use of wasabi with the nigiri and that the nigiri itself wasn't particularly delicate, but that's understandable given the high volume of customers and the speed in which the kitchen was pumping out the food.

 Nigiri Platter

 Assortment: Seared Salmon, Engawa, Tuna

From the Grill: Steak.. Good, but nothing to write home about.  

One particular gripe is that.. you'd best be served to order everything you want immediately.  Because if you fail to do that.. you might get swamped by an avalanche of receipts and incorrect orders (especially if its busy).  They have adopted the system of charging you on separate bills every time you place an addition order.  And if you are anything like me, it is really difficult to judge how much sushi will be enough (usually its never enough... as you might have guessed), so it gets somewhat tedious to constantly be in communication with the wait staff.  Having sufficient elbow room can be problematic depending on the dimensions of your order and the dimensions of your waist size.  

 Really enjoyed the hotate, but be careful, there is an explosion of wasabi lurking underneath.

Another combination platter... Heavy on tuna of all sorts as you can see.  I'd give the toro a solid B.

The best part of the Addiction Aquatic Development is really two fold.  First, I believe it has a novelty factor attached to it the first few times you go.  There will be a desire to try everything (they also have a bento box section to the restaurant with pre-made food for you to choose from) and to take in all that is attacking your senses.  Secondly, and more importantly, is the fact that they offer their fish at very affordable prices and with generous portions to boot.  

Showcasing it's versatility with sushi (Uni and sea eel), salad, cooked food and packaged meat from it's market.

In a town crowded with awesome sushi, it is difficult to carve out a name for yourself if you're new.  But Addiction Aquatic Development already has an established pedigree based on its Mitsui name, and with a very very compelling price to taste ratio, this is definitely a place that will thrive for a while.  Still, my natural inclination is to classify it as a place to have lunch and to go and grab a quick bite.

Overall Addiction Aquatic Development receives:

Until next time - Some more treats for your eyeballs.

Hot Pot - Luo Shen Fu 洛神賦

洛神賦

No. 16, Lane 27, Section 4, Ren Ai Road  台北市仁愛路四段27巷16號

02-27313779

Walking along the streets of Taiwan.. you'll begin to notice a few things.  It's like a constant game of chicken with pedestrians since people refuse to get out of your way (i've adopted the run them over strategy).  People dressed as if they were living in Siberia in balmy weather seems to be another pretty common theme, but what i notice most is the preponderance of small businesses littering the streets.  Hair salons, banks and restaurants are everywhere.  Maybe this is the case in many places, but i mean seriously... they are getting almost as abundant as the widely documented love for convenience stores that we Taiwanese have.  

When it comes to restaurants and Taiwanese cuisine.. my mind immediately thinks of a few things.. and that is ding tai fung, the food at the night markets... and of course hot pots (or how i usually say it to myself : HOT POT!).  It really does seem like such a simple thing.  Just heat up some broth and start chucking things in at your leisure.  But like anything in life, the key to a true hot pot experience really rests in the details.  And it is in this that i shall begin to laud Luo Shen Fu.

 Just the beginning. Half regular broth and half spicy.

The setting: On an rainy and chilly monday afternoon, my nephew, my sister (whom some like to affectionately refer to as the food gps) decided to cure the rain with some all you can eat hot pot.  Many of the hot pot places in Taiwan are AYCE, because well, let's face it, Asians love themselves a buffet and a deal.  The decor is modern, and the prices I find incredibly reasonable considering its location, quality and extras (the details we were talking about and that we shall get to.)

Open Late! All you can eat! Affordable Prices! (I've been told this is probably a bit on the upper end, but my mind still compares everything to dollars.. and it seems like a friggin steal.) 

Like any respectable hot pot place, they have a good selection of condiments for you to create the type of sauce that will suit your particular taste buds.  The menu is chock full of any of the proteins and seafood and other goodies that you can to expect, and I find the quality to be above par.  However, I would have to say that the quality of the meat isn't the best, and the seafood or small dishes trump the offering of meats.

Sauce Station. 

Sisters delicate hand concocting a variety of choices. 

Tasty... balls.  There is no other way to say it.

So yes, all the mainstays are above par to me, but what i love most about this place is the fact that they offer an ice cream station by Movenpick and all you can drink can soda.  As I wrote that sentence, I realized that it will definitely not blow anyone away.  But the simple fact is that by offering these little things for their customers, this particular hot pot restaurant has made an impression on my mind and now stands above the rest by offering something that anyone else could do.. but that they just don't.  

Ice Cream! Fantastic.

The establishment stays pretty packed for all of these reasons and more, and its probably best to call ahead if you are planning to dine during peak hours.  As I eat my way through more hot pot places in Taiwan, I will have more to compare with, but for the time being.. this is my favorite.  

Overall Luo Shen Fu receives:

Til next time- Some more treats for your eyeballs.

Steak with.... steak 

Sisters amazing congee with the leftover broth, rice, seafood, egg.. and of course... love.

Macho Tacos - A Rant: A Voice in the WIlderness

Machos Tacos.. this isn't about you as much as its about the dire dire state of Mexican food in our fine nation.  I don't know why its so difficult to create a fantastic burrito.  There's a joke that says Mexican food is just the same ingredients repackaged differently..... funny because it's so true.  Cheese, rice, beans, salsa, guacamole, tortillas, meat and sour cream...that's it, that's basically all is needed to make your favorite Mexican dishes.  Am I to believe that our cheese and meats are somehow inferior? That the delicate art of burrito rolling and tortilla flattening are somehow lost to us? I refuse to believe that, yet until further evidence is presented to me, that is the sad world that we are living in.  A world in which I cannot get a fantastic burrito in Taiwan.

Now, I fully realize the law of supply and demand, and that in this case, there just might not be that much demand for Mexican food here.  But i can not be the lone voice crying in the wilderness, and if Machos Tacos is somewhere near the top of the Mexican food pyramid, then we need to take a wrecking ball to it and start from the bottom up.
To be perfectly honest, the food wasn't terrible and i enjoyed it perfectly fine:

pardon the use of the ketchup.

It's just that i've had so much better, and i don't see where the difficulty arises from.  Apparently there is a algorithm that only Mexicans are privy to in their distribution of ingredients.  As you can see from the picture of the carnitas burrito, the meat is a little bit dry and the coloring just isn't particularly appetizing.  

It is my contention that it is easier to produce a quality taco/quesadilla/ etc. than it is to create the work of food art that is a magnificent burrito.  The meat should be slightly charred, one half of it shouldn't fall through the bottom during consumption, the aforementioned ingredients ratio needs to be spot on... i mean really.. how hard can it be? (honestly, i don't know.. someone please inform me).  

So to sum up, Machos Tacos is fine and I'm almost definitely go back sooner rather than later, but the national crisis of middling to decent Mexican food goes on... the search will continue. Until next time.

Yiou Sushi - 游壽司

游壽司
Address: 台北市麗水街18-2號
Telephone: 02-2322-5531

Second Location 游壽司二店
Address：台北市大安區麗水街7巷7號
Number：(02)23919298
Hours：11:30~14:30．17:30~21:00 (週一公休)

For me, a love letter to sushi would be such a simple thing to write.  I would tout all its virtues and go on at length about the way it makes me feel.  How it makes me believe in all the good things about the world and how the rest of my life can be enriched by its mere presence. Sadly, the letter would end with words stained with my tears.  
'Ultimately, we come from different worlds, and i can't spend every day with you because i would like to keep some of my possessions, and being with you is crippling my bank account.'    Not the most romantic end I know, but facts are occasionally hard to bear.  

Started the meal with some chirashi.  Light, fish was very fresh.  As you can see, it wasn't a particularly large portion, but it definitely hit the spot and it being very pretty to look at definitely helped the cause.

With that said though, Japanese food like all cuisine, comes in a variety of price ranges.  But the difference with Sushi and a lot of other food is that the quality that you pay for is almost immediately discernible.  Your taste buds should be able to tell the difference between a grade A wagyu kobe beef burger and a big mac.. but there are still ton of people who will enjoy that big mac and scarf it down happily (raises hand).  But a brownish piece of week old fish? No thanks.. I realize this isn't an exact comparison, but I think you realize the point i'm making.  That there is almost no point in eating sushi if it doesn't meet some passable test of quality.

Buttery Uni.  Very fresh and hit the spot.

Yiou Sushi passes all such tests with room to spare.  There are two locations and we went to the smaller more intimate restaurant with seating for about 8-10 (bar only).  I have yet gone to the other one, and an update will follow as soon as i do.  Why i made such a big fuss about the price of sushi earlier is because Yiou Sushi manages to provide fantastic quality of fish for much cheaper than many of its counterparts in Taipei.  A piece of Uni will run you about 180NT at Yiou, while most other places of similar quality you can expect to pay double that.  Who doesn't love quality on the cheap? Isn't that basically what everyone is striving to do at all times... to find that perfect deal? 

Some sublime Aji and seared Salmon. Sublime!

The area has many interesting shops and other tasty treats for you to peruse at your own leisure.  Yiou Sushi is full of win and if i'm not careful... i'll start another rant about my one sided love for sushi.  


Overall Yiou Sushi 游壽司 receives:

For pure awesomeness of price and quality.






Till next time- some more treats for your eyeballs.

-EDIT-

Pictures from the second location.  Essentially same quality, but slightly bigger store.  Not many more words are necessary... i'm sure pictures will suffice for the time being.

Probably seats two and a half times as many people as the other location.

 Visual representation of the two joints.

Dim Sum at San Want Hotel - Chao Ping Ji

神旺大飯店  San Want Hotel

潮品集        Chao Ping Ji 2F,3F

Lunch  Hours: Weekdays   11:30AM - 2:30PM; Weekends  11:00AM - 2:30PM

Dinner Hours:                   5:30PM - 9:00PM

Phone:     02-2772-2687, 02-2772-2688, 02-2772-2689

Address: 台北市忠孝東路四段172號2F;  2F, N0.172, Sec. 4, Zhong Xiao East Road, Taipei, Taiwan

Through 28 years of rigorous training.. i have been bred to immediately dive into any food that is thrust in front of my face.  There will then of course be mouth shaped pieces of food missing from pictures on occasion... bear with me.  Once the picture taking was done.. got down to the business of chowing down on my first dim sum meal since the move back to the homeland.

Either the Dim Sum in Asia sucks (almost a mathematical impossibility) or I just haven't been exposed to quality as of yet.  Turned out I had just been deprived after all, since Chao Ping Ji is far and away the best place i've had yet (again.. that's with the caveat of my relative lack of exposure) in Taiwan or Hong Kong.  The food can be described as Chaw-Chao in style, which if wikipedia hasn't lied to me, is suppose to be less heavy handed in its use of flavoring, which i can concur based on my experience this afternoon.  

Marinated Goose Slices, a Chaw-Chao specialty 

It is a massive space, spanning two floors in the Sun Want Hotel.  The decor is nothing to write home about, but its clean and spacious and that suits our purposes just fine.  Like many of the restaurants that serve dim sum, they have gone away from the cart pushing aged Asian ladies.  Logically, this makes perfect sense to me.  There is no waiting for the off chance that the desired cart will roll by, the food is fresher, and the restaurant cuts down on overhead costs.  That is the logical thinking, but there is a side of me that yearns for the nostalgia of the rolling carts and the subsequent excitement of each dish being revealed to you as if you were choosing between mystery boxes on a game show.  

Fried Turnip Cake in XO sauce.  Fave of the day.

But a complaint like that really is just me being nit picky and harking back to the memories of younger days.  Chao Ping Ji is located in the one of the hubs of Taipei and offers Valet parking (cannot be underestimated in such a metropolitan area).  Those are just perks however to the real issue at hand, which is all about the high caliber of Dim Sum and other offerings from this establishment.

'Other Goodies' - Fujian Fried Rice & Cabbage Seafood Au Gratin