萬月樓

An unexpected short short trip back to Taiwan took me to Taichung where I was able to briefly enjoy some amazing food. One of the places I always visit is a Japanese restaurant that makes the simplest to the most complex meals with equal ease and skill. We only had time to go there for lunch so I ordered their version of sukiyaki bento.  As you can see this is not the usual box but quite an elaborate setting.

It comes with miso soup, rice, chawan mushi (steamed egg), daikon pickles, three more side dishes and of course the main which is the beef sukiyaki.  Yes a giant meal.  But I guess a healthy living if you subscribe to the "eat a healthy breakfast, a fulfilling lunch and a simple dinner".  This is indeed a fulfilling lunch.

The salad with cucumber, seaweed, red onion, sweet corn and pumpkin was very light.

Another side dish was the firm tofu that has been lightly fried then mixed with green onions and julienned carrots.  Even though this is stir fried they were careful to minimize the oil.  One of the reasons I love this place is that they prepare the food very very lightly so nothing feels heavy or too oily.

The curry is made with lightly breaded chicken, potatoes, onion and carrot.  It is Japanese style curry which is sweeter than the Indian counterpart.  This was only mildly spicy but still made a great accompaniment to the rice.

The main course was of course the sukiyaki beef.  It comes with the beef uncooked with the pot heated and continued cooking with a small charcoal filled base.  Push the beef in and withing a minute or two...


...cooked sukiyaki beef.  Thinly cut marbled meat that is a great blend of substantial protein and melting fat so you satisfy both the stomach and the taste buds.  The sukiyaki is a soy sauce based soup so it is salty but great with the slightly seasamed rice and konnyaku noodles cooked in the soup.