CLOSED! japanese/sushi: i recommend YUZU JAPANESE KITCHEN

closed! a/o 2015

YUZU JAPANESE KITCHEN 柚’s 和食廚房

No. 7, Lane 260, GuangFu S. Rd, 

台北市光復南路260巷7號

(02) 2711-5756 

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

website: Yuzu's FB page

hours: 12PM - 2PM; 6PM - 11PM

$$$-$$$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available. pricey menu, but some ala carte options available.

Visit reviewed: 2/16/2012 and 3/1/2012

Diners looking for upscale (aka expensive) Japanese restaurants have no shortage of choices in Taipei and Yuzu has joined the pack with a stylish, modern vibe. Practically hidden behind the dark wood storefront and lone character signage, Yuzu would be easy to miss across from the more bright and obvious TJB Bar or remodeled Ma Shan Tang near the Guangfu SYS Memorial Hall MRT. 

Inside, there's seating at tables along the side and front for groups, counter seating at the long bar where you might spy whole raw fishies on ice and chefs in action in the open kitchen or the back of the restaurant can be turned into a private room for a small party. Yuzu offers mostly set menus, especially at lunch (and in Chinese only) while dinner allows more ala carte options especially to be shared. 

Yuzu's sake menu (NT$130/glass-NT$5200/bottle) was also the first time I noticed plus signs next to each bottle. The higher the number, the drier the sake. I couldn't read any of the menus, so I counted on my friends to order their favorites for a small birthday dinner.

Recommended appetizers include the truffle chawanmushi. If you like truffles, you'll have to order this- each spoonful of the steamed egg custard was infused with the fragrant truffle flavor.

the handmade tofu (NT$250), which was delicate and silky, but quite plain unless you dipped it in the accompanying sesame sauce....

and the vegetables with creamy crab dip, kept warm over a small candle and topped with slivers of fresh crab meat.

Sashimi gorgeously plated to share. 

My friend really loved this tomato consomme and grilled baby corn (NT$200), but it was a bit too light for me.

The grilled yellowtail collar (or hamachi kama) was nice with the skin crispy and the meat flaky and sweet.

Dishes that were shared that I probably wouldn't order again - the deep fried tempura eel 

The Japanese Meatloaf 

And the Grilled steak (NT$680).

Only one person in our dinner group ordered the set menu (NT$1800), and the following were included in the set, though I don't think I got a photo of all seven courses.





I loved my friend's personal hotpot with kurobuta pork and fresh somen noodles so much that I had to order it again for myself when I returned for lunch.

A quick dip and the noodles are done.

Another special dish at Yuzu is the uni and squid stone bowl rice. I personally felt the uni flavor was lost and dried out after being cooked in the stone pot, but my friend loved this.

I took different friends to Yuzu for my second visit. The special bento box is only available at lunch and comes with nine mini portions of appetizers, like ikura and squid, almost like a mini tasting course or nine amuse bouches. Reminded me also of the Korean banchan small dishes, except this wasn't free.

I was bummed that the bento box wasn't offered as an appetizer for the hotpot, but I got to sample some of my friend's. I ordered based off memory, since again I couldn't completely read the menu. Lunch sets are slightly cheaper than dinner NT$800-NT$1200, but include a lot less courses than dinner and still a splurge.

Yuzu is a good choice for those tired of eating at Mitsui or looking for somewhere more cozy. 

taiwanese/event: TAIPEI INTERNATIONAL BEEF NOODLE FESTIVAL 2011

2011 TAIPEI INTERNATIONAL BEEF NOODLE SOUP FESTIVAL 
EXPO DOME, EXPO PARK
No. 1, Yumen Street
台北市玉門街1號

MRT: Yuanshan

website: tbnf.tw (official site has English but hasn't been updated since 2005)

A bowl of beef noodle soup is like the chicken noodle soup of Taiwan- a bowl of comfort, one of the must eats if you visit Taiwan, and one of the top things missed once you leave.

It's almost that time of year again, so I thought I'd pull out my photos from last year's 7th Annual Taipei Beef Noodle Festival and post them up to prep us for this year. If it isn't on your calendar, then save the date now, as it usually happens every fall (and hopefully the details will pop up soon!). A few years ago, I caught the festival in front of Taipei City Hall, but last year they moved it to the Expo Dome near the Yuanshan MRT. The Expo park might look familiar to those of you who caught the Flora Expo there.

Follow the golden signed road.

If I could offer a few friendly pieces of advices to the organizers, it would be (1) If you are going to romanize the Chinese for the event, then please use "niu rou mian" and not "new row mian." I know that it's probably too late ("new row" is now even in Wikipedia for beef noodle soup), but when I saw it last year, I was confused. Heck, if you are going to try to make foreigners try to pronounce it correctly, it would be closer to "neo" than "new." Or at least capitalize the "r" in Row if you are going to separate the words. Anyways, probably not going to happen, but I had to get that off my chest. 

But maybe they can hear me out about my next point. (2) All the pamphlets and information at the event are in Chinese. There's a handy booklet with all the beef noodle shops at the event, and their addresses to visit after the event, but it's ALL in Chinese, and no separate English information whatsoever. If Taipei wants to become a top international foodie city, or have tourists flocking from around the world to come sample bowls of beef noodles, then they are going to have to do the homework and help us out by printing up some English. I (of all people) know that it's a tedious task, but it would make a world of difference. And the demand is there-- I know because the readership for the blog has grown so much and that's because of the lack of information in English out there about Taipei destinations, and not the lack of love for Taiwanese food. If you need an English consultant, let me know!

At the entrance, there's a small entrance fee and the inside is split into two sections- one is various vendors selling foods to eat or take home, like Taiwanese sausages and the other (more crowded) side is where all the beefy, soupy goodness is.

Be prepared to wait in line and to take some time to find seating. If you've ever been to an Asian food court on a busy weekend day, you know what I mean. Even though the seating was more than in previous years, it still wasn't enough. Bring some friends and tag team. Have one save seats and switch off browsing for beef noodles.

Over 30 vendors bring their best to create a one stop shop for beef noodles lovers and sell small bowls for NT$50 each to sample and slurp. Besides being a food carnival for the past seven years, there's also a competition for the official title of Taipei's Best Beef Noodle Soup. There's different categories to compete for- best traditional spicy braised, best clear broth, and most creative. Last year's winner for best hong sou or red brothed niu rou mian ended up being first time participant Chef Hou Chun-sheng whose bowl can be tasted at Room 18 beat out 200 competitors. I didn't get to try it last year, but maybe I'll look for it this year.

I was a bit impatient, so I opted for booths with the shortest lines. I figured that I could always try the champions on another date and I didn't want to wait in long long lines for lunch. Others might have a different approach, only wanting to wait for the best.

I didn't do a great job remembering which noodles were from which booth since everything was in Chinese, but I'll try to take notes this year.

Lots of food being prepped on the fly, like tripe and tendon to eat as a side dish or in the noodle soup.

I waited in line for some beef rolls, but I probably would skip it next year. There was barely any beef in the roll, filled with mostly lettuce, and I've had better at the food courts.

Working as fast as possible for the hungry people in line.

Where's the beef? Hehe.

A good bowl of beef noodle soup should have equally delicious sum of its parts- the broth, the noodles, the beef and the flavors all play a role. If you've never had knife shaved noodles, where the chef sends slivers of dough flying into the boiling pot, you must give it a try. This was probably my favorite bowl of the bunch I tried that day.

My last bowl was also chosen because there was no wait, but definitely not a traditional bowl. It had udon noodles and kimchi and thin slices of beef. Probably most like something I could make at home, but maybe this year I'll have to wait in line for some of the previous winners.

japanese/tsukemen: MITA SEIMENJO

MITA SEIMENJO 三田つけ麺阪急台北店

at Hankyu Mall 

No. 8, Zhongxiao E. Rd, Sec. 5, B2

台北市信義區忠孝東路5段8號, B2

(02) 2729-9699

MRT: Taipei City Hall 

hours: 11AM -  9:30PM

$$ (NT$240-400/person) cash only

Kid friendliness: no high chairs available, no room for strollers, may be a long wait in line.

Visit reviewed: 10/22/2012

Taipei diners love to wait in line. Or maybe they love food so much that they are willing to wait in line for it, no matter how long. The first time I passed by Mita Seimenjo (aka the tsukemen place) was after lunch at Smith and Hsu upstairs and there wasn't really a line since it was already late afternoon. But I was curious since I had become addicted to tsukemen in LA at Tsujita and I made mental note to return. 

The first time I tried to eat at the Taipei  branch of the Japanese tsukemen chain, I made a last minute lunch date with a friend and started waiting in the line. She hadn't arrived by the time I got to the front of the line and I was promptly informed that I couldn't be seated until everyone in my party arrived. It was annoying seeing people pass me by, at least 4 groups or so, while I was waiting at the front. Once my friend arrived, they still didn't seat us at the open seats since the kitchen was so slammed. Since I was in a bit of a time crunch that day, we ended up eating next door at the roomier Azabu Sabo.

So the next week, of course, I had to return. I went with a different friend a little before noon and the line took about 10-15 minutes to get us inside. Mita Seimenjo's interior is a bit cramped, with small tables and booths surrounding a large table in the center that serves well for solo diners. Printed on the back of the shirts on the waitresses rushing around is "Tokyo Mita, Japanese soul food, serving tsukemen since 2008." 

While waiting in line, we discovered that the price was the same for a small, medium or large bowl of tsukemen (NT$230). Only the extra large bowl cost extra (NT$270). Or you could get a regular ramen if that's what you were craving.

And what the heck is tsukemen? Literally, it's dipping noodles.  A dish where you dip the noodle into the broth, instead of the noodle and broth being served together like ramen.

Tsukemen's broth is typically thicker and heavier from being boiled down longer, so that the sauce sticks to the noodles, and has both a fish and pork flavor. If you want to drink the broth, you can pour hot water into it to dilute it and drink it that way. At Mita Seimenjo you can order the noodles either hot or cold. We decided on cold since the waitress said that's how people typically order it in Japan.

The fried chicken (NT$120) arrives first and it ends up being my favorite dish of the day. Crispy, burning hot at first bite, juicy karaage.

The spicy tsukemen (NT$240) arrives not too long afterwards, and to my disappointment the pork and egg are also cold. The egg is also a regular hard boiled egg, not gooey like the soft boiled egg I've favored elsewhere.  

I guess you could warm it up in the broth, but the broth is hot, but not steaming hot. I also ended up ordering the spicy version which was a tad too spicy for me and overpowered the flavors of the rest of the bowl. 

The noodles are also thicker than regular ramen, like a fat spaghetti. It's very chewy, but the medium bowl was quite filling.

The gyoza (NT$70) were alright, stick to getting crispier guo tie elsewhere.

All in all, I was slightly disappointed. It definitely didn't live up to the flavors from Tsujita and it definitely wasn't worth waiting in a long line for (twice!). Maybe I would have been more dazzled by it if I hadn't tried Tsujita first?

If you still want to give it a try, I'd suggest avoiding peak times (go before 11:30AM or after 1:30PM, and don't go with too large of a group, and of course make sure everyone is there when you get to the front of the line). My noodle/broth/eggy egg craving was left so unfulfilled that I ended up trying Ippudo the day afterwards. Do you get the tsukemen craze or do you prefer the standard bowl of ramen?