sushi/japanese: i recommend YUN SUSHI 允壽司

YUN SUSHI 允壽司
No. 9, Lane 160, Yanji St
台北市延吉街160巷9號
(02)2751-9828

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

website:Yun Sushi's FB page

hours: Mon-Sat Lunch: 12PM- 2:30PM; Dinner 6PM- 10PM. Closed Sundays

$$$-$$$$

Kid friendliness: sushi bar seats only

Visit reviewed: 6/19/2014

Just opened a few months ago, Yun Sushi feels like one of those secret sushi spots that have been proliferating around Taipei. Hiding in plain sight in a busy alley in Dong Qu, with a steel door and understated sign with no windows to spy inside, Yun Sushi sits about 10 to 12 people at its sushi bar.

Set menus for lunch and dinner run NT$1380, NT$1800 and NT$2500, while dinner sets start at NT$2500, NT$3000, and NT$3500, so it's definitely a splurge. It's expensive for Taipei, where you can get great sushi omakase or chirashi for under NT$500 (a few of my favorite secret places), but comparable to prices in the US.  Yun Sushi could easily join the list of a handful of names that get mentioned on the English blogosphere for favorite sushi bar in Taipei- Sasa, Kitcho, Niu, Addiction Aquatic Development, Yuzu, Sumie, Mitsui (I have my own ranking for these spots, but I'll save that for another post). There's so many great sushi spots in Taipei, many I've yet to try, that the adventure of trying them all could be its own blog.

Yun Sushi's sets include both sushi, sashimi and cooked dishes like grilled fish or waygu beef, but friends who I told about Yun Sushi and visited later asked for less cooked items and more sushi, so depending on what you like you can request it, or you could leave it up to the chef. I did leave Yun Sushi with a strong impression of a lot of unique flavors and technique in preparation in the meal, like the bite of foie gras marinated in sake and sawara smoked with cherry blossom wood.  

I'd definitely go back to try out the omakase with just sushi. And of course uni! Haha. Thanks S for the special treat. 

loved the vinegar seaweed with ikura

clam

hirame, salmon (the chef said that this particular salmon "doesn't know the time" so swims upstream at the wrong season, and maguro tuna

hotaru ika (soy marinated baby squid)

organic tomato broth

chilled foie gras marinated with sake. luscious, fatty and creamy

crab, figs and tofu with sesame sauce

botan ebi (prawn)- so good!

sawara (spanish mackerel)- smoked with cherry blossom wood 

saba with a thin slice of glossy cucumber- still not a fan of the fishier saba

waygu beef two ways- the one with puffed rice with delicious and perfect with garlic chips. precious small bites so you wish there were more and have to chew slowly!

end of the meal- miso soup

mini chirashi with uni and otoro and ika

delicious white sesame ice cream