Restaurant: Wasabi

By David Momphard
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 12, 2004, Page 19

A square meal at Taipei 101 Mall's Wasabi. PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES

Wasabi actually two different restaurants located next door to one another in the Taipei 101 Mall, a dining bar and a buffet. This review regards the buffet. While the two share the same kitchen and staff and even several dishes, they are distinct dining experiences. The dining bar is a straightforward restaurant, but the buffet is billed as a "Japanese food festival." It's an appropriate billing.

The Formosa Regent Hotel, which owns and operates Wasabi, has essentially brought a Japanese night market indoors and made it upscale. That is, as upscale as a buffet can be made. There is a kind of wide-eyed ravenousness among all buffet-goers, and even the highbrow mall patrons who perambulate into Wasabi quickly start salivating and circling the buffet areas. The fact that they're in a sleek interior of dark woods and vertical louver walls and carrying elegant flatware makes them look no less like a pack of dogs. It's not surprising, given all that's on offer.

The first buffet area is a fisherman's haul of shrimp, sushi, sashimi and fish-egg rolls prepared fresh on the other side of the counter and laid in individual wicker baskets.

But plan accordingly; there are four other buffets. One includes large fried octopus balls and all manner of grilled things. Of note are the bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes and asparagus, but be sure to ask for items fresh from the grill. Another area offers a variety of noodles too numerous to name and another offers dim sum, several bite-sized desserts and fruit, including mangosteens with the tops cut off. I forgot a spoon but was quickly brought one by a staffer who noticed me trying to suck my mangosteen's insides out.

Since you're already feeding from the trough, go ahead and be a pig. Dish up a bowl of Movenpick ice cream and choose your topping. Don't forget a coffee or cappuccino available at the push of a button.

There are, by most accounts, too many items here to sample in one sitting. But the bottom line is whether a buffet -- even one this good -- is worth NT$800. If you're hungry and in the mood to spend a couple hours sampling everything from soba noodles to candy-coated shrimp -- or if you're a fan of sushi and sashimi -- it's worth it (at least it feels so afterward). If you're not in the "food festival" mood, save yourself a bit of cash and step next door.