Tasting Journey #192 - 大腕燒肉

大腕燒肉
台北市敦化南路一段177巷22號
02.2711.0179

High-end, VIP-service izakaya.

High quality ingredient.
Personalized service where each griller serves only 2 sets of customers.
Well-prepared dishes.
All reflectetd in the price.
Spent NTD$1,600/person for a full meal.

Worthy mention dishes are:
- yam in cheese dish - cheese and yam goes so well together. Very generous amount of mozarella cheese that blends super well with the yam.  You probably need to run 10 lapse to burn all that calories off though, but it's ok to splurge because it's sooooo tasty
- all the meat are well grilled - juicy and crispy at the perfect ratio
- 天梯(?) - apparently the vocal cord of pigs....? crispy like a cartlidge
- garlic butter dipping sauce - goes well with any dish

Tasting Journey #191 - 雞匠餐廳

雞匠餐廳
台北市大安路一段52巷8號
02.8773.8885

Another izakaya place in Taipei. What's unique about this izakaya is that it is actually in a "restaurant-style" setting.  No wooden tables/interior deco that portrays Japanese culture, this place leans more towards fine dining.  The portion is also much larger for sharing instead of the typical bite-size in izakaya's that are meant for beer drinking.
Food quality is decent, but of course also reflected in the price.
A safe choice to take foreigners to.

 

 

Tasting Journey #174 - 古月炎串燒居酒屋

古月炎串燒居酒屋
台北市遼寧街-246號
02.2515.5225

Recommended izakaya place by my colleague.  She said it's owned by her friends, and that it's her favourite grill spot.

The restaurant is small, and "Japanese", like all izakaya places.  Not too many seats, and it seems that reservations are constantly full.  We happened to be there just a bit earlier than dinner time, so we were lucky to be given a spot.

Menu has quite a few selections, all very standard, and nothing too extraordinary.  Having tried quite of a few items, I would say that the noteworthy dishes is the boneless chicken wing stuffed with chili pepper.  This is unique as most other places would stuff kimchi or mentaiko instead.  Despite the menu selection, I was disappointed to see that they didn't offer 山藥 (mountain taro) slices with 明太子. They only had potato slices instead. 

 

My colleague recommended their chili sauce as it is their "special ingredient".  It tasted good, but nothing too special that would serve a lasting taste in my memory.  All other grill items were also average.

In summary, this is a mediocre izakaya at a typical price range.  I must say that my favourite is still 作田 by far, both for ambience and for quality.

 



Tasting Journey #163 - 惡犬食堂

惡犬食堂
台北市忠孝東路四段216巷11弄18號
02.2779.1222

 

Japanese izakaya place that offers tasty grilled food.  Located closer to the outskirt of the busy shopping streets, this place is spacious (for an izakaya place), and offers comfortable and tasty dining experience.

 

Their limited offer dishes includes the chicken roll, as well as their tuna fish rice bowl.
The chicken roll is a chicken base batter, like a meat ball, that is grilled.  The interesting thing with this dish is that the texture contains cartiledge.  So as you bite, you can taste the crunchiness.
The tune fish bowl is filled with rice, and it comes with a raw egg that you blend into.
All the other grill items are extremely tasty as well, though I must say that I still prefer 作田.

 

Price is slightly above average, as you would expect in most izakaya places.  We did not order any alcohol, and the total came out to be $1,400 for two people.