Ikki | 藝奇 新日本料理

Location: 台中市西屯區福雅路95號(近福科路口) and another 8 branches also in Taipei City.
Telephone: 04 2461 6022
Hours: 11:30 - 14:30 & 17:30 - 22:00

Ikki is a Japanese restaurant chain owned by the renowned Wowprime Company (王品集團). Easily found in various locations, the restaurant offers set menus for 680NT + 10% service fee. 

The meal begins with a Dobin mushi which is a Japanese steamed seafood broth. Then you get to pick 1 of the 3 appetizer choices in which I strongly recommend the fish skin appetizer if you're into the chewy-gummy feeling. if not you can always go for a classic salad. 

It was then followed by a choice of sashimi, scallop with smoked salmon or roasted garlic shrimp. The one-bite scallop with smoked salmon was truly to die for! Fresh, sweet and tender covered by the smokiness of the salmon, really good!

Followed by a small dish iwth another 3 choices: a cherry shrimp with steamed egg, which I believe it wasn't really good. the consistency was just all mushy and gooey. The second one was a cod in grapefruit and lastly, a little cup of mushrooms.

For the main dish, I ordered their classic stone cooked beef, but the one that has been already cut and cooked. My friend instead ordered the one that you get to cook it by yourself (岩燒石板牛肉). The meat was good, but lacked a little seasoning and above all a wow-factor. Nonetheless, I found the pickled pumpkin really special since you only usually see pickled daikon or carrots. 

Last, but not least, you have 3 different rice choices: a 'hand roll' in a Romain lettuce, rice with salmon or rice with duck.

Lastly the desserts ranging from the black fungus drink, azuki bean tiramisu and azuki bean&sesame crème brûlée. 

Drinks included coffee, a selection of tea, juices (the one below is aloe juice, made from fresh) and others.

Overall it is a restaurant that delivers its food according to price, but what it lacks is that kick in its dishes to make you want to go back and revisit the restaurant again.

Ikki's website for more information: http://www.ikki.com.tw/

Dosan Kanroku | 土三寒六烏龍麵街

Location: 台北市大安區安東街52號之三 (三店)

                 台北市復興南路1段126巷6號1樓 (二店)

                 台北市忠孝東路3段251巷7弄15號1樓 (本店)

 (ALL locations are near MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Exit1)
Telephone: 02-2771-6661 (三店)

                    02-2771-2689 (二店)

                    02-2775-4611 (本店)

Hours: All week 11:10-21:00 (三店)

             Mon - Fri 16:50-21:00  Sat & Sun 11:10-14:00/16:50-21:00 (二店)

             Mon - Fri 11:10-14:10/16:50-21:00  Sat & Sun 11:10-21:00 (本店)

Dosan Kanroku is a little eating locate that makes fresh handmade Japanese Udon. I visited the third branch which is also the one closest to the MRT exit (the place is very easy to spot especially at night since it has lanterns hanging outside!)

We had two side dishes: fried tofu, which is a well-known in the store. Soft fresh tofu on the inside with a little crunch on the outside, can it get any better? The best part is that the batter outside is not thick and chewy, but rather thin and crispy clean. The second one was chicken, also very good. Tender meat coated with a crunchy texture and sizzle some fresh lemon juice on it, perfect!

For the Main, we ordered a small sized udon with crispy chicken (I must say if you do order this, do not order the chicken side dish) and another cold udon with tempura. 

Veredict: on a hot day, definitely go for the cold udon with the tempura. Its refreshing with a chewy bite and you get to taste the noodle as they are, but on a cold day, the dark brown broth udon with a little spiciness is not such a bad idea either! Prices are a little under 400NT. 

Shika

Location: 台北市安和路一段137號 (near a 235 bus stop)
Telephone: 02-2700-0299 or 02-2700-1332
Hours: 11:30-14:30 / 17:30-22:00

Last weekend, thanks to a Groupon deal, I took a visit to a newly opened Japanese sushi place near XinYi Road called Shika. Searching through the web, I found out that 'shika' (しか) in Japanese means 'only,' 'just,' or 'merely' and it goes with a negative sentence. Anyways, for those who are interested I'll leave below the website I used and you can freely explore it if you like.

Entering the place it had a very soothing Japanese ambiance to it. We sat down just in front of the sushi bar and the itamae (aka sushi chef) explained to us about the lunch set menu variety that included: Gyūdon (牛丼), Baked fish (烤魚), Chirashizushi (散壽司), Nigirizushi (握壽司) and Sashimi (生魚片).

The set menu started with a salad. Some of the Roman lettuce leaves had some browning on the sides, but the scallop did it. It was juicy and fresh, a really nice piece with a nice sear. 

Then we had a little Yam & Tomato shooter. It was ... extraneous. And I mean that because it had some bubble that made it feel gooey, but the crisp of the yam balanced the cloying smooth-feeling of the bubbles and tomatoes. Following that was a little dish of fish which I believe it was really hard to eat. There were so many spines, I had to stop talking to make sure I didn't choke on one. Flavor wise, nothing special, it had a very ordinary fish with light soy sauce flavor.

For the main course, I has the Sashimi. It was good, fresh and just like how you would picture a really nice place of sashimi. 

Another main entrance is the Nigirizushi which looks like this: 

Overall I say it was good, and it wasn't the Miso soup or the fruits in the end that did it for me, but it was that sea urchin with roe in my main entrance that I will remember. It was a really nice sea flavored combo. Nonetheless the service was a little off. At some point I was eating my main entrance with 2 empty plates around me. And it was such a shame that the itamae did not make the sushi in front of where we were sitting. At a price offered by Groupon for 1499nt for 2 people (around 750nt per person) I believe it was decent, but slightly on the higher end.  

Japanese Language Website: http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/japanese-expressions-dake-shika.html