June 07, 2009
Mitsui Redux
Mom was heading back to the US and the uncles wanted to have a birthday meal for her before she left, even though the birthday wasn't not for another couple of weeks. Mitsui has been a favorite destination for our big family meals, but this time I had a good excuse to bring the DSLR and snap some pictures during the meal.
One good thing about Taiwan restaurants is that they don't charge big corkage for BYOB. Sure, big Bordeaux reds make for a dubious match with delicate Japanese-style seafood, but uncle's Grand Cru vintages are excellent no matter what the occasion. And the uni appetizer is rich enough to stand up to it, too. There's enough time between courses to take a sip of the wine and just enjoy the flavors permeating the palate.
The sashimi is spectacular, as usual. Although the ebi shrimp wasn't as alive and twitching like last time. That's probably a good thing, as the ladies were put off by the shrimp's death throes, even though they usually like sashimi.
Sashimi is nice, but the hairy crab is the star of the show. Our doomed dinner companion was shipped live from Hokkaido, plucked from the tank and presented to us for a meet-and-greet before being salt-grilled over charcoal. The coal grilling adds a smoky overtone while retaining the original sweetness of the meat. There was plenty of meat, too, fully packed within the long legs and broad body. Meanwhile, the roe is made into a sauce for somen noodles, garnished with salmon roe.
Instead of the usual steamed whole abalone, we decided to have it in a hot-pot instead. As befitting a fine-service restaurant, they cooked and dish out the seafood soups for everyone at the table, which took some of the fun out of it, but there was nothing wrong with the rich seafood broth, except that we were getting almost too full to finish it.
Besides the usual green-tea ice cream and fresh fruit, Mitsui also does a fantastic fresh-made dorayaki for dessert. Uncle is enough of a big-shot customer that we get both the ice cream and the dorayaki. But this time we also had a birthday cake for mom, so we took the dorayaki home for afternoon tea the next day. Far as gifts go? A bouncing, smiling grandson will do.
三井料理美術館
Mitsui Cuisine
台北市敦化南路一段108號B1
(02) 2741-3394