Taipei Taiwan. November 2008
Omakase
This was a meal I will never forget, although it took me six weeks to find the name of the restaurant. This was my second time to Taiwan and one of the reasons I was so excited to return was because the food, the sushi especially, remained in my memory. Some time on the 4-day drive from Taipei to Tainan I had mentioned my, and my family’s, affinity for Japanese food to Virginia’s uncle while she and her siblings slept in the back seat. When we got back to Taipei, my parents and sister arrived for our wedding banquet he arranged this meal the night before we returned to New York. It was a 16-course omakase-style meal. Here was the progression:
Crabmeat and vegetable maki
Yellowtail sushi
Shredded sweet potato with ikura and shiso
Snapper sashimi
Torched salmon sushi and tuna sashimi
Torched halibut sashimi
Sashimi - Taiwanese native fish
Marinated raw snapper
Tender Octopus
There are no words to describe how good this next course was. Until I had the “truffle explosion” at Alinea, it was the best single bite of food I’ve ever had:
Lettuce wrap with rice, toro, ikura and uni
Melt-in-your-mouth beef
Sturgeon filet atop soft tofu
Toro maki
Shrimp and Scallop in the lightest tempura batter
Light clam soup with basil and garlic
Red bean soup, mochi, and green-skinned orange
No doubt the best Japanese meal I’ve ever eaten.
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