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Restaurant: Mihan 101

By Noah Buchan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 02, 2007, Page 15

It may sound strange, but soymilk hot pot with meat makes good eating. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GRAND FORMOSA REGENT HOTEL

The number of items available at hot pot restaurants throughout the island is only exceeded by their ubiquity on the streets of Taipei. In addition to the different meat, seafood and vegetables found at these dens of gluttony, patrons can also choose from Thai, Korean or local broths to boil their food in. The recently opened Mihan 101 on the fourth floor of Taipei 101 and operated by the Grand Formosa Regency, has taken the average shabu shabu restaurant and made it upscale by creating four unique broths based on traditional Japanese recipes.

Rather than offering a buffet like its pedestrian rivals, Mihan 101 offers a set menu that includes an appetizer, one of four soup bases — soymilk, miso, sukiyaki and dried fish — for cooking the main course and a dessert. The meat selection includes yoghurt pork, New Zealand lamb or free-range chicken (NT$780), US boneless rib and rib eye (NT$880) and US Wagyu beef (NT$1,280).

According to public relations manager Beth Tsai (蔡惠茹), the soymilk pot and sukiyaki pot are ideal for the meat menu. Made with fresh soybeans from Kyoto, the soybean pot goes brilliantly with the beef because the light soup compliments the taste of the red meat. Though this reviewer is not particularly fond of soymilk, I found the texture of the soup creamy and after cooking some ingredients, it retained an appealing meaty undertone.

The sukiyaki pot is made with Kikkoman soy sauce, sake and black sugar from Okinawa. The saltiness of the dark soy sauce blends well with the rice wine and sugar to provide a rich seasoning for the meat.

The miso broth is an equal mixture of red and white miso, the soup was fragrant and ideal for the seafood combo (NT$980), a combination of oysters, squid, prawns, fish and clams. Lovers of crustaceans can also choose from lobster and seafood, king crab legs and seafood or oyster and seafood (NT$1,280). For those wanting to splurge, the high-end super combo (NT$1,680) is similar to the abovementioned with the addition of king crab, lobster and scallops, but minus the prawns.

In addition to specializing in the four hot pot flavors, there is an abundant selection of authentically Japanese a la carte items such as sashimi, sushi, tempura and grilled meats.

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