On our latest trip to Taiwan at the end of August, 2016, we had the great opportunity to try a new Japanese restaurant that many people are now talking about in Taipei. We had dinner on September 3, 2016.
In the USA, I always look for Japanese restaurants that offer fresh toro shsuhi, because it is my favoirte sushi. In Sunnyvale, CA I ordered and ate 16 pieces of toro sushi one night and ever since then my Japanese name has become "Toro san". I found a superb restaurant in Taipei that offers amazingly delicious toro sushi and fresh Japanese food,,,,,,Tomi's Japanese Cuisine!
 | |
| Look at this delicious toro sushi with a light tataki top! |
Tomi’s Japanese Cuisine
is located in Taipei, Taiwan and has
been open about 4-5 months time. For Tomi's address and contact info, see bottom of this blog posting.
Master Chef and Owner, Tomi Wang has been working and
studying Japanese Culinary skills for over 20 plus years. He has studied and practiced in Taiwan and
Japan and has worked at some very famous restaurants in large 5 Star hotels such
as the Regent Hotel in Taipei.
The restaurant is a modest size and seats about 30 plus people at tables and including the sushi bar.
 |
| Customers are just starting to arrive |
 |
| Magazines for customers use! |
We were greeted by Tomi and his two servers, Juliet Chu and Erica, who did a superb job providing excellent service for the 5 of us at the Sushi bar, as well as the other customers in the restaurant. We arrived just as the restaurant opened so we were first to be served by Chef Tomi!
 |
| Erica on left and Juliet on right |
His goal at his new restaurant is to design and prepare fine
cuisine with only the freshest seafood, vegetables and condiments. He told me that he buys his fish fresh and
will only offer it as sushi or sashimi if it is less than one day old. After that he will only serve the seafood
cooked, baked, or fried to ensure the best taste and satisfaction for his
customers.
Much of his seafood served is
caught locally in the China Sea and Pacific Ocean in and around Taiwan, as well
as fresh water fish too as seen in his sushi bar cooler.
 |
| Sushi Bar Cooler |
I went there on September 3, 2016 with friends and family,
and enjoyed some of the best Japanese food and fish that I have had in many
years. The five of us were seated at the sushi bar in front of Chef Tomi.
 |
| Place Setting and Menu |
 |
| Fixed Price menu items |
 |
| The fresh fish and specials are on the board and changes often! |
 |
| Drink menu |
Of course, I did enjoy it with some excellent
cold Japanese Sake!
 |
| Cool way to serve cold sake to keep it chilled during dinner! |
We sat at the sushi
bar and watched Mr. Tomi Wang prepare most of our fresh seafood dishes and
salads. The cooked food was prepared in
the main kitchen. Much of his fresh fish is brought out of the kitchen coolers in trays for his preparation.
 |
| Look at this wonderful fresh fish! |
 |
| Preparing our variety of Sashimi! |
He made this very special sushi for us called his "Box Sushi". He packs this wooden box with firm plant leaves and then adds the layers of rice and a variety of fresh fish. He covers with more leaves and then uses the top of the box to firmly pack the sushi together. Then out comes a block of of sushi as shown in the photo.
 |
| Chef Tomi packing the Box Sushi |
 |
| Block of sushi after "packing" |
Then Chef Tomi cuts the sushi in small squares and aligns them on a plate in the shape of a fish! The finishing touch is to add fresh wasabi, green onions, yellow flower petals and black olive pcs. to complete his masterpiece presentation. This was a superb sushi with the freshest tasting fish!
 |
| Look at this masterpiece presentation of sushi !! |
Tomi’s Japanese Cuisine offers fixed menus at a fixed price,
as well as individual servings and custom dishes. The fixed menus come with generous servings
of cold appetizers and vegetables.
 |
| Juliet and kitchen assistant preparing fixed price platter appetizers |
 |
| Everyone gets these appetizers |
 |
| This is just the starters .... what a special deal! |
The
salads are unique and they offer a variety of tastes and ingredients unlike
many restaurants that serve just lettuce with a cherry tomato. Everyone received a bowl of Miso soup which is rich with a vibrant taste to
the pallet with plenty of tofu and seaweed.
 |
| Chef Tomi preparing salads |
I enjoyed a generous plate of mixed sashimi and I could
taste the freshness in every piece.….good to the last bite.
 |
| Fixed price sashimi course |
 |
| My special sashimi assortment just for me...... |
 |
| ......GOOD to the last bite !!!! |
I
next had sliced beef cooked medium rare with in interesting soy paste and black
Hawaiian Sea Salt. This salt is very
special with the Tender beef slices.
 |
| HAWAIIAN Black Sea Salt |
 |
| Sliced Beef Medium Rare with special soy dressing and black sea salt |
We also tried an superb beef dish with a side order of steamed rice with a very special sauce....Yummy!
We tried several different fried Local Taiwan fish and all
were cooked to perfection.
In all my years enjoying Japanese sushi and sashimi, my
favorite is FRESH Toro from the belly of a large blue fin tuna. I ordered three pieces of Toro and when he
brought it out, it was a gorgeous pink with white marble texture appearance. Chef
Tomi suggested that he serve it with a light Tataki style (lightly seared with
a torch on the top). He also served it
with what appeared to be brown rice.
 |
| Look at the block of pink marbelized Toro on the left of the chef's cutting board. |
However, he said that all sushi rice has a little vinegar for
flavor. He does not use processed white
vinegar, he uses only the best light brown natural vinegar. The bottom line was that this was some of the
finest tasting Toro sushi I have ever had.
For Dessert, the chef offered me a special hand-made ice cream
and all he would tell me is that it was made with sesame and Japanese wine. He served it in between two cookies that
were light and crispy and boy was this delicious. I am an ice cream fanatic, and this was both totally
unique and surprisingly wonderful to eat.
The finale was a serving for all of us which was a light and firm milk/cream
topped with a special sauce. Everyone
enjoyed it and they commented, “good to the last bite!”
We all agreed that this was a superb dinner and that we all
wanted to come back again and try more offerings from this great chef.
TOMI'S JAPANESE CUISINE
No.. 15, Alley 7, Lane 185 LioNing Street
Taipei, Taiwan
You can reach Tomi's Japanese Cuisine by phone for reservations: 02 2713909; or you can reach him by email: afu.tomi@gmail.com.
Here is the link for Tomi's Japanese Cuisine Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/fu.kappo/
No comments:
Post a Comment