Dozo

Hello friends. Sorry about the lack of updates lately - a good friend of mine has been here visiting, and I've been busy showing her the best Taipei has to offer. And of course a big part of that has been introducing her to the fine cuisine here. On her last night here, my friend generously took us out to dinner and let us pick the restaurant. She said to pick something that we normally might not go to, so we decided on Dozo.

Dozo is a pretty upscale, trendy restaurant that offers a variety of Japanese food, from sushi to hotpot, at surprisingly decent prices. We ordered kimchi stuffed with chopped sushi tuna (180NT), a sashimi platter (420NT), okonomiyaki (like a cabbage/cheese/meat pancake for 160NT), skewers of different types of grilled meat (400NT), and deep fried soft shell crab (200NT). By the way, these prices are all approximates, as my friend was paying and it seemed a little rude to write down the price of everything in front of her. But if memory serves me right, everything we ordered was give or take 10NT from the above prices.

My favorites were the sashimi platter, and the deep fried crab. The sushi was fresh and had that melt-in-your mouth tender quality that I love in sushi. And the crab was very well done as well, and came with a tasty, a little sweet, a little spicy dipping sauce. The pancake was good, but only in small quantities, as the cheese got to be overwhelming for me after awhile. The skewers were a bit of a hit-or-miss - I thought some of the meats, like the leeks wrapped in beef, were a bit tough, but other meats, like the chicken and chicken butts(!) were grilled to perfection and nice and juicy. Oh, and I didn't particularly like the kimchi. My friend (who is Korean), said that it was very authentic, which I didn't doubt, but I couldn't taste the fish at all in it - the kimchi was just too overpowering.

(kimchi ball with chopped sushi tuna)

(okonomiyaki)

(sashimi platter)

(deep fried soft shell crab)

(grilled meats on skewers)

For dessert we ordered fried mochi with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream (180NT), which was a hit with everyone. The mochi was only very lightly fried, so it wasn't oily at all, and went perfectly with the vanilla ice-cream. Yum.

Oh, and another plus of Dozo is that it's open until 3am. But you know what I liked the most about this place? It's that you know if this restaurant were in New York City, the prices would be triple of what it costs here, not to mention that all the waiters would be looking down at us because we were wearing jeans and sneakers. (Luke, in fact, walked in wearing one of those furry hats with the ear flaps and a green jacket, making him look like he was fresh from a hunting expedition.) I've really grown to appreciate just how refreshing the dining experience is in Taiwan, at least compared to the States. Even at the fanciest restaurants that I've been to, people don't have to be worried about being looked down upon if they aren't dressed to the nines. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against dressing up, but I am against waiters snickering at you behind their hands just because you're not wearing Armani during your meal. In Taipei, I've yet to encounter a snobby waiter. I love how you can just walk in to a restaurant with casual clothes, pay decent prices, and enjoy a nice meal. Isn't that what the dining experience is supposed to be all about?

And that's what we had at Dozo.

Dozo
Guangfu South Road, No. 102 (close to the Sun Yet-Sun Memorial)
(02) 2778-1135