滿酌屋 mansyakuya

Overall Review: 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Dickson's Fooday food critique is here!
This time, I visited a Japanese restaurant nearby Zhongshan Station that opened not long ago. This place emphasizes the concept of a Japanese izakaya. Because it has just opened, there aren't many reviews yet.

The style is quite basic, reminiscent of a typical Japanese izakaya.

Unfortunately, the food is quite ordinary. During my visit, nothing particularly impressive stood out. The overall decor is very Japanese, but the food feels very average.

The highlight of the menu appears to be dishes centered around yam. You can find a variety of yam-related dishes, which indeed are creative and abundant. So if you're looking for some innovative dishes, you could definitely explore the yam offerings. However, it might be because Dickson himself isn't particularly fond of yam dishes, so he didn't enjoy these flavors that much. 🤣🤣🤣

You can't say the food is bad, but given the intense competition among Japanese restaurants in Taipei, if you don’t showcase something unique, it truly becomes hard to sustain a business! I’ve tried quite a few dishes here, but in hindsight, none of them stood out in any special way.

Additionally, when I visited, the air conditioning in the restaurant was broken, making the dining experience very hot. While the staff did their best to bring out fans, it was a sweltering summer day in Taiwan, and the temperature just wouldn’t drop. It was really a poor experience. 🥹🥹🥹🥹

The restaurant definitely needs to step up if they want to keep running. 🤣🤣

Food: 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Beverages: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Atmosphere: 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑
Service: 🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑
Price: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Location: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

⭐️ Food Section
👉 Assorted Sashimi (5 types) $580
The sashimi was very basic. In Taipei, expectations of sashimi at Japanese restaurants aren't particularly high. The serving was a bit small for the price, and the texture and freshness weren't extraordinary, so I can only give it a passing grade. If only the portion was a bit larger and the flavor and freshness better, then it would meet our standards. 🤣🤣

👉 Fresh Japanese Oysters $200
The oysters were pretty standard, acceptable in freshness, but nothing memorable.

👉 Hand-cut Yam Noodles $130
The yam noodles were quite refreshing and simple. Essentially, they were cut into noodle-like shapes topped with chives and salmon roe. The portion was pretty small, likely meant for one. However, the way they handled the yam made it taste like noodles, so if it was served without explanation, one could easily mistake it for an actual noodle dish. If you’re a fan of yam, I suggest trying this one out!

👉 Grilled Squid Sausage $160
I found this squid sausage to be quite flavorful and recommend trying it if you visit. The squid flavor was quite strong, but unfortunately, the serving size was quite small. If you’re visiting with three or four friends, I suggest ordering two servings, as a single one might just be enough for two.

👉 Flank Steak $430
This was one of the pricier items on the menu. However, when it arrived, I was left quite disappointed. The portion was very small, with only about eight slices of meat, likely four pieces sliced thinly. There wasn’t anything special about the beef itself. Accompanied by some basic asparagus and mashed potatoes, this dish overall felt quite underwhelming. At this price point, you’d expect at least a better quality of beef.

The portion was small, flavor was just passable, and without any standout features, it’s hard to impress customers who order higher-priced items.

👉 Stinky Tofu Dumplings $130
These stinky tofu dumplings seemed quite unique on the menu, so I ordered them with friends. However, they were a bit different from what I expected. They were more like potstickers, with dumplings stuck together. Since they were stinky tofu dumplings, you'd expect a distinctive stinky tofu flavor, but I found them to be rather mild. Despite that, they were still passable in taste.

👉 Shiso Eel Spring Roll
This spring roll had an okay flavor, but lacking a strong taste of shiso or eel. You could discern the eel inside, but the flavor was not strong enough, making it feel like just another spring roll.

👉 Salted Kombu Cucumber $80
This dish was quite refreshing and inexpensive. It consisted of cucumber topped with kombu. I think this is a great appetizer as the flavor was pretty good, the combination of cucumber and salted kombu worked well.

👉 Grilled Corn $120
This is essentially grilled corn, or rather, baby corn. I found the price to be reasonable, but it didn’t have anything particularly special about it. It was just baby corn topped with some butter. It was slightly better than standard baby corn but still worth trying.

👉 Prosciutto Zucchini $120
This dish was also simply prepared. Topped with several slices of zucchini and some prosciutto, it offered a simple taste. Personally, I’m not a fan of zucchini, so pairing it with prosciutto didn't impress me.

👉 TKG (Tamago Kake Gohan) $90
This is essentially rice topped with scallions and a raw egg yolk. As the main carb options are limited here, I suggest ordering this dish if you're seeking something filling. For the price, it's essentially just rice with scallions and egg yolk.

👉 Chicken Soup $70
This soup was your typical chicken soup; I can't even recall if it had pieces of chicken.

👉 Almond Cream Pie $80
This dessert is subjective; everyone's taste for almond varies. Personally, I enjoyed it despite its intense almond flavor. The cream pie balanced the strong almond taste quite well, making it more enjoyable.

Overall, none of the dishes were particularly high-priced. The yam offerings were creative and abundant, while there were also many cucumber dishes available. It could be turned into a specialty restaurant focusing on yam and cucumber dishes. However, it’s unfortunate that few of the individual items had distinctive features.

⭐️ Beverage Section
The restaurant did offer a variety of drinks, but nothing particularly memorable.

⭐️ Atmosphere Section
From the moment you walk in, you can feel the effort to create the ambiance of a Japanese restaurant, and the decor is quite decent. However, they employed an open-kitchen concept, which has its pros and cons. The upside is it allows customers to see how food is prepared, which intrigues many. Yet handling smoke and heat during cooking requires good management.

As mentioned, the air conditioning was broken during my visit, making it very hot. I remember sweating profusely! Thus, the overall mood of the experience suffered.

If we disregard the air conditioning issue, I believe the restaurant's basic style and atmosphere are average to above average, resembling a typical izakaya.

⭐️ Service Section
Since the restaurant is relatively new, the staff was quite proactive. They tried hard to address the heat issue by providing fans and were very forthcoming in explaining the dishes.

However, due to various circumstances, some dishes weren’t available, and it seemed there was a lack of communication regarding that. That was a bit disappointing.

⭐️ Price Section
The prices here are not particularly high, but each dish is served in small, refined portions. The advantage is you can try many small dishes, but since no item stood out significantly, the prices were average. It creates a vibe similar to a Japanese place for after-work snacks. I can’t speak to the CP (cost-to-performance) ratio though; while the prices are low, the flavors leave something to be desired.

⭐️ Location Section
It's a bit of a walk (around 10-15 minutes) from Zhongshan Station, so while it's in a decent location, it requires a bit of walking. Thankfully, there are plenty of other restaurants nearby.

⭐️ Summary
As a newly opened izakaya, there are definitely areas for improvement, especially concerning the flavor of the food. The restaurant seems to emphasize yam and cucumber dishes and has already shown creativity in the menu design. However, the texture and flavors need to be enhanced.

The environment suffered due to the air conditioning being broken, which likely affected the overall dining experience. The first visit wasn’t great, but if anyone is curious and in the area, it might still be worth a shot to try! Then maybe share some feedback afterward! 🤣🤣🤣