Omakase at Yoinn
New Year’s Eve brought a great omakase experience in both the food and the atmosphere. With so much competition in the realm of high end Japanese restaurants in Taipei, what I find rare are those places that add in a bit of character to their restaurant. That’s exactly what we were given at Yoinn Japanese Cuisine.
There are three price points for their omakase $1880NTD, $2380NTD and $2880NTD. We went with the middle $2380 option thinking this would be a good sampling of the foods offered here. What I didn’t expect was the amount of food we got. It was pretty much a feast. And that was even before the chef decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve with us. With what he added to our meal, the price would have been well over what the top price had to offer. I mean, aged otoro, how’s that for an extra!
As for the service and décor, it was versatile and very attentive. Even with our ever changing courses, the servers kept our drinks filled and our area clear of used dishes. This while tending to other tables in this intimately lit restaurant. There are curtains for separators hanging from the ceiling. What’s really cool were the mobility of the curtains. They were made to be moved around according to the size of the party and table configuration. Pretty neat. Then there was the chef who was busy preparing dishes for everyone. However, he took the time to explain to me what fish we were being served. Though we had a language barrier, he was very patient.
After everyone left and only the people at the bar was left, Chef Isao opened up even more. We learned that he was the chef at several Japanese restaurants before opening up this one on his own. Those included a restaurant in Japan and one renowned one in Taipei – one of them acquiring a Michelin star. I forgot the names of them but after having his food, it was obvious we were dealing with an artist. One who doesn’t hold back sharing in his creation and gifts. We sat there through closing sampling his whiskies and scotches while having cured mullet roe “because it goes well with whiskey.” Yeah, this guy is a cool cat in my book. We will be coming back here.
Yoinn Japanese Cuisine (余韻日本料理)
Lane 366, Section 2, Bade Rd, 49號
Songshan District
Taipei City,, Taiwan
+886 2 2740 1088
www.facebook.com/yoinn168/
Verdict: Yes! For quality sushi and a full stomach I recommend coming here.
Look at those threads of fat! And the aging process makes it taste a bit sweeter. It’s not profoundly different. You’ll barely catch the difference as this melts in your mouth. Oh so good and I had almost denied myself a helping because I was so full.
The chef treated us to something monumental, aged otoro. Look at the marbling!
The sesame tofu with grapes and whiskey marinated raisin topped off my belly. Little did I know there was more to come.
Here’s the teacher and generous chef of the night, Chef Isao. The warm and friendly person that made this awesome meal possible, both because of the cuisine and the environment he creates.
As our chef explained it, they serve two types of sushi rice, both prepared in traditional ways. The brown one was just made with an aged vinegar which gives it its color. It’s taste only compliments a certain variety of fish based on its oil. Tasted by itself, it’s such a subtle difference, I understand why it’s prepared by such an expert.
Completing our main courses was the miso soup, a hearty one. And by this time I was really full.
So many good things tonight. Then this comes along and sweeps us off our feets. A simple looking bowl of Hokkaido uni, ikura and negitoro on top of rice and seasoned tempura flakes. The tastes and textures here were phenomenal. Tempura flakes were a great touch to this bowl.
Haven’t had this for a while, the cut of meat around the fins of a flounder. Very unique texture and one it hits the torch, that sear really brings out that flavor. Now add in that unique rice and you have a winner.
Seared giant clam brings us through the courses for shellfish.
De-shelled and topped with a bit of its crab miso, the Japanese mitten crab meat was fantastic.
The chef gave us a treat, sake with the waters of Kyoto. The taste was clean and as he pointed out, the water was softer and gave it a smoother finish.
Twenty five day old quail cooked without draining its blood. I believe this gives it the color you see here. However, the main reason according to the chef was that the process prevents it from drying out and tasting like chicken. Job well done.
Our chef takes us up a level by letting us know that this was a second kind of sea urchin from Hokkaido. He had two varieties in stock and this one was the larger of the two. Along with this brown vinegar rice, it was delicious!
Yes, you’re allowed to give a jaw dropping #omg. You’ve gove fatty tuna belly wrapped around Hokkaido sea urchin on top of rice. What a marriage of a couple of my favorite things.
This was surprisingly good. Unlike the ones I liked in the past, there’s no chunks of seafood in this custard. The only additions were the chopped truffles and the diced crispy peas. That’s all you really need to appreciate this dish.
The first nigiri was the Spanish mackerel. And if you look closely you’ll see that the rice is brown. It’s really white rice colored by the brown vinegar. We’ll get to this later.
The Hokkaido scallop was super fresh and its zesty sauce made this a delight to eat.
Next up was the cooked version of bonito. Here it’s served with a side of mullet fish roe and it’s a great intermission from the courses of sushi.
The first time I’ve had bonito sashimi. This one was topped with a garlic puree and very plump. Tasty.
I haven’t seen shrimp prepared this way and I really loved the effort done here. As part of the cleaning, a bit of the innards are used to season the shrimp along with the wasabi. Excellent taste and no need for a dip into the soy sauce. Man, I don’t know if I can eat sweet shrimp if it’s not prepared this way.