If you do not like raw fish, stop reading. On a trip in Taipei (April 2019) I came across a Japanese-style izakaya in a residential area. Izakayas are quite popular in Taipei and usually are open till late. Next to the izakaya, there is a high-end Japanese restaurant that I shall try one day.
The visit
I arrived very early on a Saturday evening (before 6pm) and the place was already bustling with diners. I was accommodate at the counter.
And I was offered a free appetizer. The menu was also available in English, which is nice because it is not so common in this kind of establishment.
My main order was a bowl of sashimi. I really could not expect to be served ginormous pieces of sashimi. There was salmon, swordfish (in rolls), a cube of tuna, and yellow tail.
The pieces of sashimi were almost one centimeter thick. In some restaurants, a single slice like this would make a full dish. It was epic.
I could have avoided to order anything else, but I also had a pairs of sushi: tuna and hamachi.
I also had some potatoes with mentaiko, but the dish was too big (I guess designed to be shared) and I did not like them so much.
Before leaving I was offered free dessert: some sweat soup and apple.
The check
After 10% service charge, the check came to 1230 NTD (or 40 USD).
The sashimi bowl was alone 550 NTD (18 USD). Two people could have easily been fed by what I ordered, so I would say that this izakaya is very good value for money, especially for the fresh sashimi.
Sometimes is nice to find a no-frill place like Kingyo Izakaya where the focus is just good food. I would certainly go back to have again that bowl of sashimi. They also have a number of set menus (advertised as kaiseki meals) and some reasonably priced lunch sets. Hotpot seemed to be another favorite of the diners that I saw during my visit.
Where in Taipei:
No.18, Lane 233, Yanji St, Da’an Dist, Taipei 106, Taiwan
In Chinese: 台北市大安區延吉街233巷18號
Check their menu from the website (their website is in Chinese, but the menu page is also translated): http://www.kingyotaipei.com/menu.htm