February 03, 2011
Mitsui Japanese Cuisine, Honkan
All the fancy restaurants now stay open during Chinese New Years vacation days hoping to capture business from the families all-together during the long holiday but nobody willing to cook. Mitsui Dunhua would be nominally more convenient for us, but that one was booked solid, so uncled got a reservation at the original site. The decor isn't quite up to the standards of their newer restaurants, but we had a large, comfortable private room with enough room for everybody, with a splash of sunshine to liven up the space, compared to the basement dungeon of the Dunhua location.
The abalone salad is a standard starter for the high-priced set meals and we've had it a few times before, but the abalone was particularly tender today, perhaps being in season?
The sashimi was thick and impeccably fresh, as always. Haven't had uni at Mitsui before but it was up to the same quality standards of the other sashimi. Salt-grilled Hokkaido furry crab was full of savoury and sweet meat, splashed with a squeeze of lime, another must-have. Thin slices of tender wagyu beef in a tangy, spicy sauce made for a good counterpoint for all the seafood.
The beautiful tai-fish was simply salt-grilled with crisp skin and juicy white flesh. This and some good white rice fed the kid quite nicely. Wife and I was worried about him making a fuss at the family table and were going to leave him home with the nanny. But Mom felt bad leaving him behind and promised she'd help to look after him. And he turned out to be really good! Looks like we've got ourselves a little foodie here. When he was full and bored, a trip up front to check out the live fishtanks kept him entertained until the end of the meal.
三井日本料理
台北市中山區農安街30號
02-2594-3394
http://www.mitsuitaipei.com.tw