Cuisine M

Cuisine M - 三井
Japanese modern cuisine
1F., No.1, Songzhi Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City
Reservation: 02-2345-1101
MRT: Taipei City Hall station (blue line)
Open until 10pm but last order for food is a little after 9. They won’t kick you out until you are finished. We left at about 10:45 and people were still there.

Map here (wait a bit for the flash to do its thing)

Website

Directions: In the back of the Citibank building that is across the street from Eslite in the Warner Village/Vieshow Cinema area. Walk around the right side of the building in front of Citibank and follow the lights turning left at the back until you see an unlit (other than 5 small lanterns on the ground) doorway. Don’t worry, you are at the right place and it isn’t closed. Open the door, don’t resort to jumping over the hedges to get in. :wink:

Another addition, and I believe the most recent, to the Mitsui restaurants. As you can see from the pictures on their website cited above, very trendy and cool while also comfortable and relaxed.

Usually I close with this section but I’m putting it up front this time. The service is absolutely superb and bordering on impeccable. The waiter offered suggestions and the ordering is flexible and quickly keyed in with comments and entered on their touch-tablet which is immediately sent to the kitchen. The number of staff is probably double at other restaurants of this size and you the diner will reap the benefit. Unobtrusive but attentive like good service should be. Sidenote: the bussers even knew the Japanese names of the components of the dish. Our waiter was Ivan and he was excellent.

I won’t go into the decor or layout as you can see the photos on their website. Very nice with a high ceiling and trendy while comfortable. Non-pretentious cool. Inside dining area and outside (more cafe-like but still non-smoking) dining area that is surrounded by tall hedges/shrubs. Open kitchen to the grill area, sushi area, and the dessert prep area.

The menu is extensive and somewhat daunting.

We ended up ordering two sets. They have five sets but two are only available during lunch. Dinner sets are NT$1,800, $2,800, and $3,800. A la carte are in a range too wide to list. Plan on $500 per person (light) upwards for a la carte. Dining solo at $500 without drinks should be no problem. I think with a bit of knowledge one could eat reasonably well there on $500 but of course there is always that pesky thing called temptation. Originally we were going to have two different sets but the options for the Moon Glow sounded so good that we ordered the same but with different dishes. A couple of dishes were duplicates between the sets but most were tailored to have different options so we could share. This is what we got:

  1. Thinly slice Diao sashimi (sorry don’t know the name in English) with a citrus soy sauce (both sets the same) - very clean citrus accenting the fresh fish
  2. Two raw imported oysters (one set) - mabagal, you should try them for your oyster fix
  3. Caviar on a mattress of crab custard (the other set)
  4. 9 or so pieces of really fresh sashimi (both sets the same) - raw shrimp, sea urchin, white fish, 2 pieces of yellow tail, 2 pieces of salmon, and 2 pieces of tuna belly (Toro), and finally the currently popular in Taipei congealed baby fish shooter although it wasn’t a shooter per se. Also, the Toro is listed on the a la carte menu at something like $250 per slice so that makes the set a great deal as the Toro alone would have made up $500 on each set. Eat the Toro last because the bull is powerful.
  5. Grilled Sea Bream (one set) - Very nice grilled flavor with a tartar based sauce.
  6. Poached Sea Bream (one set) - Served with a sesame sauce and parboiled white radish and mushroom.
  7. Grilled Lobster (half) (one set) - Topped with spring onion. Good but slightly overcooked.
  8. Grilled King Crab Leg (partial leg) (the other set) - My god how I miss the Northwest. Crab with real meat. Spectacular. Grilled without the need for any addition and the sweet juice still nestled in the bottom of the shell. I saw a table of 6 near us that ordered the King Crab a la carte and it was piled higher and wider than a large turkey. Lucky b**ds. Next time it is me.
  9. Grilled steak with a tomato/garlic sauce (one set) - The only dish that wasn’t great. The sauce overpowered the beef and should have been served on the side or replaced with a different and lighter sauce. The beef by itself was good and cooked properly.
  10. Grilled lamb chop (the other set) - Basted with a teriyaki sauce. I’m really getting full now.
  11. 4 pieces of Nigiri sushi (shared 2 pieces per set) - 2 salmon rounds filled with roe (Ikura) and 2 grilled tuna belly (Toro). I think I need to call for assistance.
  12. Clam miso soup (one set) - close to 3 tablespoons of claims in the soup
  13. Tuna miso soup (the other set) - The abundant fatty tuna made the soup so rich that it was time to stop. Very, very good but the knockout blow that almost put me on the mat.

We moved outside for our dessert. At least we were both able to make it there without a wheelchair. Unobstructed view of 101 in a gardened patio. Very romantic.

  1. 4 desserts (same 4 for each set) - Peanut ice cream, mini red bean moon cake, watermelon and yellow kiwi, sweet puffed rice ball
  2. coffee and cookie (same each set)

I know I have forgotten a few other dishes. I’ll try to add them later.

With one beer the total was NT$6,105.

Recommendations: Either try the sets for the first visit or have one set and add other dishes from the menu so you can get a feeling for their style or stick to the sashimi/sushi/seafood side of the menu paired with some nice sake. They have a beautiful visible sake display.

For those of you that have been to a fredfest, a visit to Cuisine M will definitely make you reminisce. You need to go.

For those of you that have been envying our current resident Casanova here is a tip for your next date. Dinner at Cuisine M, dessert outside basking in the unobstructed view of 101 in the moonlight in a private flora enclosed patio, and then hitting W next door. Like Frank implied - “If you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere.”

Oh, I almost forgot… I recommend Cuisine M. :laughing: