In the always-bustling basement food court of the Sogo Department Store on Fuxing South Road (復興南路), a few restaurant spots are constantly changing hands.
The eateries that seem to disappear fastest are the sit-down Japanese establishments serving
mid-priced sashimi set meals, curries and fried pork cutlets.
Perhaps those businesses could learn a thing or two from Tenya (Ten 屋), which has been at the Fuxing Sogo for more than a year and maintained a steady flow of diners who queue for its Japanese soul food: okonomiyaki.
A cross between a savory crepe, omelet and pizza, okonomiyaki is a messy-looking but tasty combination of fried egg, cabbage and thinly sliced meat or seafood.
At Tenya, the waiters cook the food at your table, which is equipped with a teppan grill (tables typically seat four to six people each). It’s not a place for diners in a hurry — a serving of okonomiyaki takes around 15 minutes to prepare. Prices depend on the toppings, and range from NT$190 for pork or beef to NT$290 for fresh seafood.
Tenya serves several regional variations of okonomiyaki. For first-timers, waiters recommend the original Osaka style, for which egg and finely chopped cabbage are mixed together in a batter and cooked as one pie-shaped blob, with the meat added on top. The inside is mushy and the outside crispy.
The pancake is topped with a Worcestershire-type sauce, bonito flakes and a choice of five types of mayonnaise: plain, spicy, garlic, mustard or wasabi.
The Osaka-style okonomiyaki with shrimp and pork (NT$220) is a decent introduction, but I preferred the Hiroshima version, dubbed “Hiroshimayaki” on the menu. The base ingredients are the same, but they’re layered on top of each other instead of being mixed together as a single batter. It’s more like a stuffed crepe.
There were no surprises from the beef Hiroshimayaki (牛肉廣島燒, NT$210) with its fatty slices of meat — just the comfort one would expect from fried eggs, cabbage and noodles stacked on top of a thin flour pancake. For garnish, Hiroshimayaki also gets the Worcestershire and mayonnaise treatment. If that’s not enough, add cheese, corn or kimchi for NT$20.
Despite the cooker-cutter Japanese minimalist interior, Tenya still manages a cheery, youthful vibe, thanks in part to the J-pop and techno playing on the stereo.
Tenya’s teppanyaki menu comprises more than 20 items, including Korean-style barbeque beef (NT$220), beef and cheese quesadilla (NT$280), fried potatoes topped with bacon and cheese (NT$180) and Hokkaido-style scallops in lemon and butter sauce (NT$300). These sides are cooked at the kitchen at the back and then brought out to warm on the table grills.
Numb the guilt from a Sogo spending spree with a sour cocktail (from NT$90) or bottled beer (NT$140 for Taiwan Beer, NT$160 for Asahi). There’s also a selection of ice cream floats, but don’t expect too much. The matcha tea float (NT$130) was not as sinful as it should have been, with its mediocre vanilla ice cream.
Other branches of Tenya in Taipei are located at B1, 14 Nanjing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市南京西路14號B1) and 12F, 55, Zhongcheng Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市忠誠路二段55號). There is also a branch in Kaohsiung, at B3, 266-1, Chenggong 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市成功路66-1號B3), and in Taichung, at 15F, 299, Jhonggang Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市中港路一段299號15F).
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