明水然・樂 遠百信義店

📍Location: Taipei, Taiwan

Thanks to Fooday AI, I found a restaurant to celebrate with my family. The keyword was 🔍 “recommended omakase.” At first, my vague request 🔍 “recommend a restaurant suitable for celebration” didn’t yield suggestions that matched what I wanted, but after giving a specific and clear instruction, I found a suitable restaurant! Here’s some reference for everyone.

I evaluated the price, availability, convenience of parking, and whether there were any discounts, and finally chose “Mingshuiliang・Le,” considering how far it was from home, I opted for the “Far East Department Store Xinyi Branch.”

It was my first time eating omakase, so I was unfamiliar with the process. When making the reservation, I had to prepay the “full meal cost + 10% service fee” within the deadline to secure the booking, which was limited to bank transfer. They would also call the day before to confirm ✅.

💰 There are only two set menus priced at 1600 and 2400, and I could prepay 1600 for the reservation. If I wanted to upgrade at the venue, I could ask the staff if there were ingredients available to upgrade my meal.

There are two teppanyaki chefs, each serving six guests. With each dish served, they explain the name of the dish to us. The chef at our table seemed shy and didn’t make much eye contact with the guests while explaining, speaking rather softly; in contrast, the chef at the adjacent table spoke louder and interacted more with the customers, sharing laughs. This part depends on personal preference and luck, whether you prefer a quiet meal or a lively one 🙂.

Aside from that, it was quite interesting to watch the chefs prepare the dishes while having our meal, so it wasn't boring at all. There were a total of 14 dishes, and the entire meal ended up taking about 2 hours. The staff provided excellent service, proactively refilling our tea and adding side dishes.

I’ll share some favorite dishes in the pictures:

⭐️ Clam soup
⭐️ Salted egg lobster claws
⭐️ Lobster
⭐️ Wagyu beef hamburger
⭐️ Main dish A5 Wagyu

Overall, the seasoning of the dishes was rather light, perhaps to showcase the original flavors of the fresh ingredients. Looking at the dishes I liked, they all seemed to be the comparatively richer-flavored ones 😂. The food was delicious, but not overwhelmingly impressive; I feel that the internet's “must-try” rating for omakase is somewhat overrated.

When making the reservation, they asked about birthdays or anniversaries, and we could receive a complimentary cheesecake. Everyone seemed to mention it, and while every group received one, we didn’t since we forgot to write it down, so I felt a little shortchanged 😅.

The manager was very thoughtful and played a little ukulele rendition of “Happy Birthday” for us at the end, jokingly saying he was the resident singer when he handed over his business card, which was quite amusing.

Overall, this experience was quite nice; the environment and service are suitable for celebrations. The meal also included validation for parking at A13 for about 3-4 hours. I can't remember the exact time, but after eating, I still had plenty of time to browse around the department store, so I would recommend it to everyone.