Yakitori Taira 焼き鳥 平良 @ Japan Food Town Wisma Atria

Yakitori Taira is now occupying the shop space of what was previously Taki and Bar Nippon. Was at client's place in Orchard for a meeting and had a chance to drop by Wisma Atria for dinner. Well, having a soon-to-expire $10 voucher to redeem was also part of the reason of being at Japan Food Town.

Yakitori Taira originated from a sushi shop called Sushi Taira in Shirokanedai, Roppongi. Sounds upmarket! Nevertheless, there's an opening promo of between 20% to 30% off on their set menu. Original price ranges from $30 to $70 for the sets. The difference seemed to be the number of yakitori sticks included. Went with the $20 (UP $30) set with 4 yakitori sticks, with the yakitori decided by the Chef. Hmm. Am starting to wonder if they'd going to give all vegetable sticks!

grill station

For the set menu, one gets to choose the mini-don. There were 4 options but I just went with the salmon don. The waitress says that the don in the set meal doesn't come with ikura. That's ok, I thought. Took a quick look at the price and the normal salmon don with ikura costs $18 per bowl. Understandably, they can't possibly put an $18 bowl in a $30 course meal.

For drinks, I got myself $10 sake for two small glasses. One could choose from 3 available choices. Had one from Gifu prefecture and it tasted mild. The next glass was better, the Nenohimatsu Junmai Ginjyo (Morita) Aichi. Tasty!

Kourin Yuuki Junmai (Chiyogiku, Gifu)

The starter was a small cup of chicken soup. Much like the soup from Tsukada Nojo. Lip-smackingly good. But careful not to burn your lips because it was super hot.

chicken soup

Did not really look at the menu before ordering, so thought the next course would be the salmon don. Was wrong. It turned out to be a tofu dish. This was served warm. Thought it would be clean and mild but I was wrong. The broth was savoury and tangy. Not sure what was in it, but overall, it was a nice hot dish.

tofu dish

There was a certain umami to this dish. Lovely! Soup, salad, tofu and a glass of sake was enough to make me start feeling a tad full. Perhaps, it was due to the long'ish interval between the dishes. Not too sure if the dishes were supposed to come out bit by bit or served all at once.

smooth and savoury

Next up was a small salad. Loved the citrus soy dressing but the rockets were bitter. Thought Japanese salad usually would use other greens such as lettuces, or spinach... Nevertheless, it was good to have salad in our meals.

salad

As I was at the counter, was already anticipating which yakitori stick was for me. The first stick appeared as I was about to complete the salad.

The sunagimo, in other words the chicken gizzard. Lightly salted. The texture was good. Finished in 20 seconds.

sunagimo 砂肝

Feed me more. What's next? What's your guess? I was sincerely hoping that they would not give that piece of white meat...but they did. Chicken breast or also known as sasami. Ugh. So lean, and with a tiny dab of wasabi on those white'ish flesh. It was not dry, but this just wasn't my thing.

sasami ささみ chicken breast

This was quickly followed by chicken thigh yakitori (secret yay!). All three sticks were without tare and only lightly salted. Now, what would be the finale stick?

momo もも chicken thigh

Turned to be something similar to chicken heart but a lower part? Aiya, my Japanese not so good so the Japanese staff who served the yakitori made a gesture of his heart and slightly downwards. Orh, but couldn't quite catch what was the name of this stick except it sounded like hatsusomethingsomething.

chicken heart

Goodness, that was the best stick for the night. The chicken hatsusomethingsomething yakitori drenched in tare (sauce) was the best ever! Bouncy bouncy texture that's also 'crunchy' in a delicate way. Yums.


The biggest letdown, got to be the salmon mini-don. The rice was at fault. It was grainy and non-sticky, unlike Japanese rice.

salmon mini-don

Fortunately, the set meal came with ice-cream. Flavours available are the usual yuzu, goma and matcha. Guess my choice.

match ice-cream

If you're interested in Yakitori Taira menu in Japan, here is the link.

[Taiwan] 李仔哥 (Lee Zai Ge) 爌肉飯 @ Xinyi Road, Puli Township, Nantou

After our good stay at Sun Moon Lake, it was time to head back towards Taipei. We went to visit Puli Wine Brewery and we got hungry thereafter. It was almost 1pm before we stopped by this shop that Sam, our local guide suggested. Braised pork rice for lunch? Yes please.

shopfront

It feels like a hometown eatery where parking space is limited and by the roadside. Lucky us, we managed to find a spot within walking distance to the shop. They have seats upstairs so one need to place order at the counter downstairs for food and drinks, make payment and then get a table upstairs. There are washrooms available upstairs and differentiated for males and females.

Mostly uncles and aunties were seen in the shop. Local tourists, they seemed. Sam mentioned that they have a special off-menu item called tui ku rou 腿裤肉 (leg pants meat?), or maybe they meant the upper limb meat. Not quite sure but Sam warned us that this is one piece of fatty meat!

Was seriously thirsty by the time we got to this shop. Partly due to the alcohol tasting at Puli earlier. Keke. The drinks was nice but the tiny tiny fen yuen (flour balls) makes it really hard to get to the liquid. Ugh.

wintermelon lime with fen yuen

Very quickly, lunch is served. We ordered fried pork ribs rice, braised pork belly rice, one dried preserved vege braised rice and two specials of fatty meat rice. Side dishes of braised items and stir-fried lettuce. The lettuce was the only greens amongst the browns.

lunch for 5 pax

Had a quick question for our guide as to why the braise sauce in Nantou, southern of Taiwan, is so light. For Hokkien or Cantonese style of braising, usually we will use the dark soy sauce and the colour would be much darker. He pondered, and answered. He also does not know why! So, if anyone could help enlighten, please send an email to purplerain@gmail.com. Thanks!

腿裤肉 (fatty meat) braised rice

Surprisingly, while there were plenty of fats for the meat, it wasn't cloyingly oily. It was just soft collageny goodness. The meat was also rather lean in the sense the fats were all on the skin part. Yummy with the bamboo shoots. Worth ordering.

李仔哥爌肉飯

Address: No. 326, Xinyi Road, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 545
Website: https://www.facebook.com/%E6%9D%8E%E4%BB%94%E5%93%A5%E7%88%8C%E8%82%89%E9%A3%AF-146746108713498/
Contact: +886 4 9298 3496
Business Hours:
Daily: 6am to 3pm

[Taiwan] Lu Sih An 麓司岸餐坊 手創料理 @ Sun Moon Lake

Visited in May and the weather was generally hot in Taiwan. First time visit to Sun Moon Lake and was eager to try some of the local eats here. Lu Sih An was recommended by our local driver so we decided to give it a try. This restaurant serves Ita Thao food.

restaurant facade

interior

From the framed medals on the wall, the place/Chef seemed to be an award winning one! The TV in the restaurant had food programmes featuring its restaurant on loop.

menu

There's set meal as per normal in a Chinese restaurant, or one could do ala-carte. We picked a couple of items based on guide and shop's recommendation as well as our own preference. Or rather, our own inquisitiveness to try the new foods!

The prices are for mid-range dining and the interior feels like my hometown restaurant. It is airconditioned and seating were comfortable. We were there before 630pm and there were about two other tables occupied.

The lady staff/boss was pretty humorous. There is a dish that our guide requested for them to prepare earlier. It is the shop specialty of deep fried sharpbelly fish. Thanks to Wiki, now we know that sharpbelly fish is a type of wild carp.

Specialty - Crispy Fried Sharpbelly Fish 酥炸奇力鱼 @NT180

It is salted and deep fried along with seaweed. Quite addictive, but one needs to watch out for some sharp protruding bones. Tasty and goes well with beer. But we did not do beer that evening because too full from pre-dinner snacks.

To warm our tummy, we had soup. Oh my. The soup pot was huge! We had bowls after bowls of the warm soup. Down-to-earth flavours but too bad the clams were not as sweet as I had expected.

Miso Soup with Clams and Mixed Mushrooms @NT480

Did I tell you how much I love the vegetables in Taiwan? Well, I do! Especially those variants that we can't find in Singapore/Malaysia. Adding a touch of exoticness into our food intake. We ordered Guo-Mao which is a type of wild fern. Not sure why the vegetable is named like a cat but it has a tongue numbing effect when eaten raw. Maybe it was because of this that we got the saying of "the cat got your tongue?" Hmm, points to ponder. The stir-fried vegetable was soo good!

過猫 Guo-Mao Vegetable Fern @NT120

Because we were at Sun Moon Lake, we gotta order a lake fish to try! Steamed version. About SGD21 for one steamed fish. It is abit like tilapia though not muddy.

Steamed Sun Moon Lake Fish @NT450

Oops, forgot to mention we did order an appetiser. Since it was bamboo shoot season, we ordered a baked bamboo shoots with cheese. Its Chinese name is Baked Beauty Legs? So funny.

焗烤美人腿 Baked Water Bamboo with Cheese @NT250

We also ordered wild boar meat on hotplate but that's the one dish that was least likable (for me). It was sprinkled with some herbs that not only masked out the taste of the meat, it tasted something like those bitter powder medicine that you had to pour onto your tongue.

Dinner for 6-pax

Our driver, Sam was so nice to order dessert for us. Goreng Pisang. Joking, but indeed it was a banana fritter type of dessert. Looks lovely and tasted crispy and sweet. Banana taste was minimal. Kids would love this!

signature dish of fried banana 麓司岸の焦焦者 ·@NT250

麓司岸餐坊 手創料理

Address: 號, No. 108文化街, Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 555
Website: http://www.lusihan.com.tw/
Contact: +886 4 9285 0451
Business Hours:
Daily: 11AM - 230PM, 530-830PM
Close on Sundays

[Taiwan] Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 Sights and Eats Part 1

First maiden visit to Sun Moon Lake and it was a great decision to get the hotel with lakeview.  The area of our stay was at Ita Thao (伊達邵). Stayed for one night at Hu Yue Lakeview B&B and the per night cost was about $172 per room. The size of the room was huge and pretty comfortable.

view from room

living room

bed

bathroom

The room came with complimentary boat ride (2 tickets) as well as breakfast for the next morning. As our time at Sun Moon Lake was rather limited, we decided on the last boat ride (no-disembarkation round trip) from Ita Tao pier to Shuishe and back.

boat tickets

We went down to Ita Thao pier (伊達邵碼頭) soon after check-in, in order to catch the boat. But since the ticket did not indicate the boat company nor number, we were unsure of which boat was ours. Am guessing that it is any boat as long as the captain is around. Just ask around. The captain asked if we would like to get any of those famed grandma's tea eggs and he could order it ahead of time so that we could get some of those without having to leave the boat. Didn't take up his offer as we were too stuffed and wanted to save stomach space for dinner.

boats awaiting

captain's view

reaching the end of half the trip (this was the place for grandma's tea leaves egg)

The boat puttered along the lake gently and the captain would introduce some nuggets of information in Mandarin. He would also point out some of the spots along the way but most of the time, I couldn't catch where he was indicating to.

The boat stops for about 5 minutes while the rest of the passengers who would like to roam the other side, were free to disembark. For us who would like to return to Ita Thao pier, need to take the same boat back as this was the last ride for the day.

captain having his smoke break

sun is setting, time to head back

lighthouse with 3 lights

The round trip boat ride was done within 45 minutes. We were in time for some snacks before dinner!

to measure the lake water level

panoramic view of Ita Thao Pier

have you heard about the legend of the white deer?

We scouted around the area near our B&B to see what we could find. Most eateries were not open and the area has few visitors during our time of visit.

alley near our hotel

snack time!

We spotted a shop selling xiao long bao (小笼包) and decided to give it a try. Friends ordered a lu rou fan (卤肉贩) and chilled bamboo shoots too. It was the season for bamboo shoots during the May period.

boiled and chilled bamboo shoots

It was novel, eating the boiled chilled bamboo shoots. The shopkeeper showed us how to peel off the outer layers and just eat the inner shoots with mayonaise. Who would've thought simple chilled bamboo shoots matched so well with mayo? Yums!

braised pork rice 卤肉贩

pork dumplings 小笼包

sour spicy soup with dumplings 酸辣汤

The xiao long bao was nice and served piping hot. The sour spicy soup wasn't really spicy but it has the right tanginess. The shopkeeper advised us to add a tiny bit of the chili oil on the table to lift up the flavours. We did and it was like super hot! Just one tiny bit will have your tongue burning but it was a good burn. Goes off after a short while.

Was really amazed by how we could do dinner after this snack. There were 5 of us and we ordered enough for at least 3 pax full meal. That meant, our stomach was supposed to be half-full.

Dinner venue was at Lu Si An 鹿司岸餐坊 which one had to make reservation first. We didn't pre-reserve but we did drop by to inform the restaurant staff. She suggested we come early for dinner as the other slots are all reserved.

[Media Preview] Super Japan Fest @ Millenia Walk

Super Japan Fest happening on 7 July to 8 July at Millenia Walk. Come join in the fun with the family, as entrance is free!

Highlights include the kids' favourite Pikachu Parade where one gets to see not one, not two but six cute Pikachu live and, what is more fun than Pikachu Parade? Pikachu Meet & Greet, of course! So hug'able these yellow bouncing pika-pikachuuus! Ever watch magic show live before? Japanese Comedic Magician Akira Kimura will keep you entertained, as too with Tambourine Master Gonzo. You'll also get to see fluid Ninja Parkour performance by Superfly Monkey Dragons on both days.

events line-up

Look out for the booths around Level 1 and Level 2 where there are interesting activities to try. For example, the Human Claw Machine. The what? Yes, say that again. You know the claw machine game that's trending in Taiwan? This is the supersized me version. A human gets into the suspended harness and his/her friend will control the joystick to send the person to the spot where prizes are before the person is dropped towards the prize to catch it.

Human Claw Machine

At Level 2, there are Carnival and Arcade games to try. We tried the Carnival games and it was fun! Won a seal soft-toy (I wanted the unicorn though!) and Pokka bottled green-tea too.

let's win a unicorn

Here's a video of the soooo cute dancing Pikachus:

meet & greet

Pikachu

Parkour performance by Superfly Monkey Dragons:

from here to there

mid-air action

phew, safe!

And, there's $10 Food Deals at participating restaurants. The restaurants are YAYOI, Rakuzen, Teppei Syokudo, Tachihara Coffee Pullman Bakery, The Dark Gallery, Kurama Robatayaki & Yoi Sake Bar, Gyu Jin Shabu Shabu & Sukiyaki, Tomi Sushi, Saboten and Tengawa Hokkaido White Curry.

Here are those that we tried for the $10 Food Deals:

The Dark Gallery

Strawberry Matcha Shortcake + Hot Coffee @$10 nett

Saboten

Chicken Tonkatsu Set @$10++

Kurama Robatayaki & Yoi Sake Bar

Salmon Teriyaki Don, served with daily vegetables @$10++

Thank you Yi Tong and Millenia Walk for the invite. It was fun!