Mitsui Taipei

When: Sunday, April 21, 2013. 6pm.

Where: No.30, Nong-an Street, Taipei City

Who: My parents + YT

Why: Mom's birthday

http://www.mitsuitaipei.com.tw/

Not surprising that this is one of the top rated restaurants in Taipei on TripAdvisor. There are several locations and branches throughout Taipei, but we chose to reserve at the "Original Mitsui". Hey, it's called Original for a reason. I've dined at the Dun-hua branch, but the Nong-an location just has that extra-something.

Did a little homework and internet searching before going. I wanted to be fully prepared. We usually order the set menu and this time was no different. Why do research if it's a set menu, you ask? If you look on their website you will see that "the supervisor will meticulously prepare multiple-choice dishes". Multiple-choice! Here's where the prep work comes in handy.

We all ordered the seasonal set (NT 2200/set; approx. $75). In the past we have tried ordering different price sets for each person, but we found that this just creates unnecessary confusion for the "supervisor" and for ourselves! Because it's hard to look at other people's dishes without thinking, "hmm..maybe I should have gotten that!"

That is not to say everyone has to have the same dishes if you order the same set. It's all tailored to YOUR preferences.

(I'm not a food photographer, this was just taken with my iPhone)
Sashimi - A must. We didn't bother specifying what we wanted or what we didn't want, but one can definitely custom order each and every piece of sashimi that is to appear on your plate (or so I'm told, I've never specified). The supervisor will kindly ask when ordering if everyone is comfortable with raw food. Not sure what will be the substitute for the assorted sashimi.

Ebi, tuna, yellow tail, scallop...And MYSTERY fish! Apologies because I just can't remember what they were! BUT! Everything tasted great! Especially the scallop! Oh, that sweet sweet scallop...
(The ebi heads were sent back for frying, picture to appear later!)

 

Uni, served on a bed of shredded Chinese yam. I'm not a big fan of uni (yes, call me crazy), but this was delightful.

 

 

Instead of the Uni, my father ordered oyster. Our server explained that this was imported from France. Didn't get to taste this since there was only ONE.

 

 

Abalone salad, served with a citrus (pomelo?) soy dressing. The substitutes that we were presented with for abalone were prawns or king crab. We all went for the abalone. My favorite item in the salad has got to be the corn! It's so sweet it's almost a fruit!

 

 

Here comes the deep fried ebi heads! Crunchy and full of flavor. Not a piece went to waste.

 

Monkfish liver, pan-fried. Served with oyster mushroom and...what is that white thing?? We couldn't figure it out. It wasn't potato, it wasn't yam, it wasn't taro. But it's some sort of starchy root vegetable. The dressing? Kind of like a reduced vinegrette, but in the consistency of teriyaki sauce. Personally the sauce was all wrong for me. It wasn't bad, but just a bit too thick. I would have liked a lighter jus to go with the already powerful liver. The liver itself was melt-in-the-mouth goodness.

 Ta-da!! Instead of the King Crab that the supervisor kept pitching to us, we ordered the hairy crab! This, of course, is NOT the Yangcheng lake hairy crab (which probably needs a blog post all on its own). We ordered this mainly because we've had the king crab several times in the past (and honestly speaking, not very impressive, as the quality can vary), and simply because hairy crab tastes good! This was served with a ginger vinegrette, which is just perfect for crabs! I'm usually very lazy when it comes to eating crabs, but the meat of this hairy crab practically just fell off the shells with the tiniest effort! And to show that Mitsui is meticulous down to the very last detail, each and every piece of crab has had its shell cut open in a way that one can get to the flesh without force. Marvelous!

 

USDA beef. 'nuff said. (Picture taken when it was still medium rare, just thought it looked better. But one can decide the doneness)

 

Hirame belly (halibut/sole) nigiri. Rich, almost fatty. How can you not love it?

What? There's more? What's this? It's deep fried durian!! Yes, DURIAN. Wrapped in shredded taro (look how thin they shredded them!!) and fried. The seaweed strip on my piece had some sort of accident, but it's supposed to go all the way around the piece of durian. No matter, the seaweed is purely decorative. And look how big the pieces are!! Bigger than two pieces of nigiri put together! My mom asked for this specifically. I don't know how to describe how good this tastes. One just has to experience this for oneself. Better than any tempura I've ever had. There is a genius out there who thought of deep frying durian with taro. Really. A genius.

 Assorted seafood hot pot. Clear kelp broth. We were so full by the time this was ready. My parents ended up packing the whole thing up! But we all had a bowl of soup with some vegetables. A perfect ending to a delicious meal.

 Come on. A meal is not really complete without dessert! Seasonal fruit with either green tea ice cream or red bean soup.

 

I think I've learned my lesson. I shouldn't blog before lunch. I'm so hungry now.

 

Disclosure

I can't taste MSG. Or rather, I should say, I am not sure what MSG tastes like. People are always saying, "oh this restaurant uses so much MSG it's giving me a headache!" Should I rejoice in the fact that I don't have the Chinese Restaurant syndrome? Or should I be worried that I'm consuming so much of it without my knowing, all the while thinking how great the dishes taste? I would like to think that I have sense enough to tell really good food apart from food that's been made to taste good solely by the addition of MSG. But who am I kidding? It's all chemical reactions eventually leading to neurotransmissions, signaling my likes or dislikes. Conclusion? I'm not about to run out to buy a box of MSG to sample, just so I can pick out its taste in dishes in restaurants. Just going to enjoy what I think tastes good, additives or not.