Honda Ya - Taipei

This was actually our first meal in Taipei. On Christmas night when we arrived in the city, our friend took us to this Jap restaurant. Only problem is, I was sleep deprived, the menu was in Chinese or Japanese, and my ability to decipher Chinese in a sleep deprived state was minimal.

Hence, we opted for the next best option - a set menu. There were set menus of different prices. I think we opted for one that was around AU$50 ish? This is what we got.

Super fresh sashimi small prawns with wakame on the side. These tiny sashimi prawns were super subtly sweet. It was that fresh sweetness. The sweetness kind of lingers on in your mouth. Could have more than just this little plate of this.

sashimi little school prawns

The next was tiny little fishy sashimis. Lots of little fishy - eyes and bones and all. All see through and in this brothy sauce thing. This was not as appetising nor as sweet as the prawns. I don't know if it was partly psychological - but eating it eyes and all RAW... hmm... not too sure about it.

raw fishi

Next was sashimi. Squid, snapper, kingfish and errmm... something in the bowl. I don't remember anymore. What I do remember, however, was that the sashimi was definately decent and fresh and sweet and yum.

sashimi

Next was a surprising dish. Barbequed HUGE scallop in a sweet sauce sitting atop super super crunchily fresh seaweed. It was like, awesome! Scallop and seaweed definately go together. I would have liked my scallop just a few seconds rawer, but really, it was quite good already.

Scallop and seaweed

Next came an oyster. Apparently oysters are slightly expensive in Taipei - hence we get one. A big one though. In a vinegaretty sauce. Again, the main ingredient was freshness~

Oyster

After all the raw stuff came some deep-fried goodness. Tempura fish, deep-fried wonton and deep-fried asparaguses. It was all kinda average. Nothing spectacularly good or bad about it.

tempura

The chiwanmushi (steamed egg) was quite awesomeness! Smooth. Tasty. Cooked with stock. With seafood bits and shitake mushroom. YUM. I could down a few of these too!

Chiwanmushi

Sushi aburi came next. Lightly flame-grilled on top and lightly salted. The sushi had a good punch to it. Not bad at all.

aburi sushi

After the lightly flame-grilled one came another sashimi one. This sushi was also very yum. Fresh. The rice was a good consistency, good amount of vinegar, and just a good portion.

sushi

California rolls came next. California rolls with REAL crab meat (not the imitation ones). Super super fresh and crunch seaweed. My friend thought it was really quite awesome.

california rolls

What came next was a huge bowl of soup. Fish soup with tofu. Mixed shallot, chilli, sweet sauce for dipping the rather big chunks of fish in. I think I was slightly too full by this stage to appreciate it properly.

fish and tofu soup

Miso soup - standard. Not overlly excellent. Not too shabby. I think there was a rice after this as well. I don't actually know what happened to my photos but from memory - there was actually a few more courses after this. (in my sleepy state, maybe I just thought I took photos but didn't really)

miso soup

And last but not least, red bean sweet soup. This is actually really really concentrated red bean sweet soup liquid - such that with each spoonful, you're getting lots of that red bean dissintigrated grain stuff, with whole red beans in it too. Hectic red bean flavour~

red bean soup

We all left the restaurant feeling extremely extremely full. I was extremely full AND extremely tired and although some Christmas festivity (which in Taipei seems to comprise of either being at a bar or club - or both) followed, I was well and truely ready for bed with a super filled stomach :)

Not a bad welcome to Taipei food though.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32/40

Honda Ya
No. 1, Alley 7, Lane 303, Section 3,
NánJīng East Road,
Songshan District

Taipei City, Taiwan

Get Directions

Tel: 02 2545 8828