Restaurant of the week - Suntory Restaurant (燦鳥日本餐廳)

Anyone who secures a seat at Suntory Restaurant is in for a treat. The restaurant was brought to Taiwan by Far Eastern Group tycoon Douglas Hsu (徐旭東), who ate at a Suntory branch in Japan, liked its food and mandated an outlet in his Taipei hotel. Suntory is a wonderful mix of fine dining with sophisticated Japanese cuisine and classic decor.

Set lunch menus, priced at NT$750 plus a 10 percent service charge, include an appetizer, miso soup, pickles, dessert and coffee along with a choice of main courses. The main courses include una-ju, which is grilled eel with teriyaki sauce; sukiyaki, which is sliced beef, vegetables and bean curd braised in sweet sauce; a sashimi assortment; and chirashi, a sushi rice garnished with sashimi and vegetables and seasonal grilled fish.

For dinner, there are a variety of set meals to choose from as well. Prices start at NT$1,800 for a lacquer box dinner with sashimi, tempura, beef steak and grilled fish as the main course. Beef lovers can choose a set with US beef sirloin for NT$1,850. The kaiseki set costs NT$2,500 and gives you grilled fish and fried items along with sides of sashimi, sushi, dessert, soup and a starter. Not to be missed, if only for the novelty value, is the Japanese Matsuzaka beef, which comes from cows that are fed apples while listening to classical music. A set with a main course of Matsuzaka beef teppanyaki costs NT$2,400. Add NT$600 and get an additional seafood plate.

A regional highlight for the period until Aug. 13 is southern Kyushu cuisine. Authentic Kyushu dishes include deep-fried scallop paste and seaweed amber jelly, both exceptionally nutritious and tasty. The restaurant's guest chef Tsukasa Kitahara from Kyushu has also created unique dishes of boiled yam in bean curd, and roast duck and pollack roe dressed with mayonnaise. The next featured regional cuisine will be Kanazawan.