You know, there are times, even in these "influencer – make things look great online" times where you might only need a photo or two of a delicious, memorable meal instead of extensive verbiage. And I think that these two photos are all that are necessary.
Add to that the fact that each of these nigiri "plates" was less than $25 each?!!?!?
Ok, I'm going to go now, see you tomorrow! JJK!
Though honestly, you could stop here if you'd like to…..
Otherwise, here goes…..
After spending most of the day checking out the National Center for Traditional Arts and Kavalan Distillery, we headed back to Taipei. On the way back, I thought stopping by a fishmarket-dining hall named Addiction Aquatic Development would be nice for dinner. The Missus agreed and we told our driver to drop us off in front of the market hall.
Our wonderful driver dropped us off right in front of the place which is located in a part of the Zhongshan District we hadn't been to yet.
We entered the huge market hall, historically this was the Taipei Fish Market and was transformed into the AAD in 2012. The morning fish market is now held next door. As we entered we came across tanks of seafood….wonderful looking seafood.
The Missus, who had become quite the social person in Taiwan asked one of the workers where all the seafood came from and he answered Her say, "mostly Japan!"
So, choosing where we were going to eat was pretty easy.
We picked the sushi bar of course! What's interesting about the sushi bar in AAD is that it's a stand up operation.
The young lady who served us was unusually serious compared to what we had encountered in Taiwan, but would prove to be quite good to us later on.
Anyway, instead of ordering the usual combination from the menu, we picked our own nigiri to start, based on what I saw in the counter case as I walked by. Our initial a la carte foray cost us a handy $10200 NT, now if that sounds expensive to you, well, it was about $30/US at the time of our visit. Pricey by Taiwan standards, but let's look at what we got.
We liked that the rice was on the smaller side and the shari wasn't overpowering. And yes, that buttery Otoro, Hokkaido Uni (!), so umami-sweet and creamy, tender-sweet-oceany Hotate, and Amaebi!
We also got two Temaki, the Ebi-Asparagus was $75 NT, about $2.25/US and the Uni $150 NT – $4.50/US.
These were fine, but not nearly as good as the nigiri.
We went with the standard "Addiction Sashimi" $240 NT, think $7.25 US!
Now, I think we had been spoiled by the nigiri as the typical maguro, which was fine and the thick slices of hamachi, etc, was perfectly fine….but we wanted more nigiri.
So, we decided to order a second round of nigiri. Now this is when the young lady came in really handy. I started ordering using the Japanese names; you know, hotate, otoro, uni, when she stopped and said something to the Missus and walked away. I was wondering what was going on. Apparently, she told the Missus, "you like fatty, we have something for you!"
And wouldn't you know it; when our nigiri arrived there was the great otoro, hotate, and uni….but also engawa, which was so collagenic and sweet!
Man, this was a great meal and when you totaled things up, it came to $ 2425 NT, big bucks right? That's about $75 US! For real…..
We had myriad of great meals in Taiwan, but man, this one really spoiled sushi for us.
Addiction Aquatic Development
No. 18號, Alley 2, Lane 410, Minzu E Rd.
Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10491
Can you believe this?