Japanese for Dinner Tonight, Please

For dinner tonight, my friend Blue, his friend, and I went to a little Japanese place near the office. I'm not sure of the name or the address, exactly. It's located on the street between Gong Zheng and Gong Yi, and one street/alley west of Zhong Ming. It's called 川前屋, located at 台中市西區中美街331巷10號 (04-2301-3743).

Downstairs is cozy, with the chef standing behind a sushi bar. Upstairs are tatami-lined booths. Sigh -- next time I want to come with a few more friends so we can sit at the real tatami table. The food here is delicious and the atmosphere relaxing. :+)

Taiwanese Futomaki platter:

 

 

Mao Dou / Edamame

 

Fried tofu with seaweed garnish

Veggie Tempura

Mushroom skewers with spicy dip

Stringy mushrooms wrapped in bacon, on skewers

Cabbage with pork

Steamed egg with a clam

Soup in a teapot

Oranges for dessert

Everyone left full. :+)

Going Home.

Another year, another Lunar New Year celebration. I headed home early, opting for Taiwan's HSR to get me back to Taichung. My trip here was quick and uneventful, and I thought going home would be the same. Nope. The station was packed with families, also northbound. I bought my tickets at 6pm and the first train I could buy tickets for was at 8pm. It certainly is better than a few years back where I went to buy tickets from Taipei to Chiayi, only to find the next available ticket was for a train the following day!

Lunar New Year Eats, Dinner

We went to a Japanese restaurant for Lunar New Year dinner. The food was a mix of Chinese and Japanese, starting off with sushi and moving to crispy, fatty pig knuckle, sticky rice with dried shrimpies, crab, and squid in brown sauce. I'll write more later, for now, enjoy the pics.

Lunar New Year Eats, Lunch

Each year, the family gets bigger and bigger. We're all getting older and now there are new spouses and babies to bring to the table. This year, we took up three tables plus a few extra chairs. A few years ago I went with the family to this restaurant, but I don't remember having as great of food as we had this year.

First dish: Clear noodles with crab

Second dish: butterflied fish

 

Third dish: Soup with fried quail eggs

Fourth dish: Jumbo shrimp with mayo-covered pineapple (For sure, I ate the pineapple from the bottom -- no mayo or sprinkles on my pineapple, please.)

Fifth dish: Asparagus. Gone before I could snap a photo.

Sixth dish: Kung pao chicken

 

Sixth dish: Succulent ribs

  Seventh dish: Sizzling pork and carrots in a brown sauce

Pre-dessert: Fruit platter of orange slices, wax apples, and cherry tomatoes. (Lil' bro is handing me an orange. Or, he's taking one for himself. Either way, said orange slice got eaten.)

Dessert: "Looks can be deceiving" Mua-Ji I almost didn't take one of these since the red bean on top usually promises red bean filling. Nope! (Scroll next photos, please.)

 

Sesame filling. Yea!

 

You know the food is good when every last bit is gone. (There were some leftovers, but for the most part, the meal with home with us in our tummies.)