It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post about a restaurant… Lately, nothing I’ve eaten has really surprised me. Suddenly, I had the chance to visit the famous Shuten and experience this highly-rated spot on review sites, to see what makes this Taiwanese-run Japanese restaurant so special.
Speaking of review sites, the restaurants with the highest taste ratings are usually Japanese. I suppose that’s because high-quality ingredients truly deliver delightful surprises. At Western restaurants, getting a top-notch steak often costs over 1,000 yuan per person, whereas Japanese cuisine doesn’t carry such a steep price tag.
Shuten has an old location and a new one. The old location requires booking a week in advance, but the new one is easier; you can get a table on the same day. Besides private rooms, they only have bar seating. Private rooms have a minimum spend of 1,000 yuan, so we booked bar seats. We arrived just after 7 PM; the place was already packed, with people waiting for tables. We mentioned our reservation, but unfortunately, the bar was completely full. Luckily, we were offered a private room instead, with no minimum spend!
At first glance at the menu, sashimi seemed quite expensive, while appetizers and cooked dishes were reasonably priced, similar to typical Japanese restaurants. The proprietress helped us order and warned that sashimi portions are huge; she didn’t recommend ordering one portion for two people and suggested ordering by the slice instead. Indeed, if you’ve never been here, you’d never imagine how thick each slice of sashimi is…
So we ordered 4 slices of salmon back (15 yuan each), 4 slices of salmon belly (25 yuan each), 4 slices of surf clam (15 yuan each), and one portion of scallop (120 yuan). As it turned out, each slice was a full 1.5 cm thick—one piece per person was more than enough…
One portion of sea urchin (130 yuan) and 2 sea snails (10 yuan each). The sea urchin portion was also very generous, perfect for sharing among several people.
The signature Botan shrimp is listed at 200 yuan for 5 pieces, but the proprietress said the shrimp are smaller this season, so they’re currently selling for 150 yuan. You can actually order these individually too—30 yuan each now, or 40 yuan each for the larger ones. These were fantastic, truly worthy of being their signature dish.
The shrimp heads were deep-fried and absolutely delicious. There was still plenty of meat inside, and the entire shell was crispy.
Miso-grilled black cod (68 yuan)—this is another signature hot dish. It tasted great, nearly matching the quality of Qiong Liu, but at a much lower price.
Short ribs (78 yuan). The beef was pretty good, tender and juicy with nice flavor, though the portion was a bit small.
Matsutake teapot soup (38 yuan). Very tasty and savory. Hmm… it just came out a little late.
Two avocado shrimp hand rolls (38 yuan each)—absolutely delicious! Next time, filling up on these would be a great choice. We also ordered wasabi octopus (38 yuan), which was neither impressive nor disappointing—just average.
Finally, here’s a shot of the ambiance:
From service to atmosphere to food quality, this place excels across the board. The entrance isn’t easy to find—it’s on the ground floor of an office building behind Motel 168… You need to take off your shoes upon entering. I was a bit worried about going to the restroom barefoot, but it turned out to be unnecessary—the restrooms are spotlessly clean. Just watch out for occasional water splashed on the floor from handwashing.
As for pricing, if you want to eat affordably, just order one slice of sashimi per person and stop there; other items aren’t overly expensive, so keeping it under 200 yuan per person is doable~~~~ A group of four enjoying a private room is also a nice option—just remember to book ahead. For two people, reaching the 1,000 yuan mark is practically impossible—you simply won’t be able to finish that much food…
Photos taken with iPhone 4S, post-processed in Lightroom
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