Man Wei Wu (鰻味屋) is a no-frills Japanese-style eel house with a new location in Zhongshan (中山) District’s Japan quarter, where it hopes to compete with the star eel house Fei Chien Wu (肥前屋).
Around midnight, the alleys here host some of the liveliest nightlife in Taipei, but by day it is ho-hum and you can see legislators walking around, getting a coffee on lunch break.
Don’t expect too much from the ambience at Man Wei Wu. It shares Fei Chien Wu’s mission to offer economical eel and rice. Both succeed, at NT$250 per entree, and both have economical furnishings to match. Man Wei Wu is un-excitingly situated on the second floor, next to a shuttered optometrist’s office. Walk up and enter a simple dining room outfitted with utility tables and bright, good-for-your-eyes lighting — it could be a version of your mama’s kitchen, if your mother served eel in a laquer ware box.
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
The eel here is deboned by hand, glazed with soy sauce and sundry secret ingredients and then grilled over coals in a time-intensive and expensive process. At the table, you can sprinkle the eel with sansho, a limey and peppery spice powder.
This is a great eel, especially for NT$250, or NT$480 for two portions. There are bones, but they are little and soft and not bothersome. The meat is smoky, with a sweet creaminess to offset it. The top is crisp, the center, fluffy.
With orders of eel over rice, Fei Chien Wu adds a bowl of miso soup and a side of pickles free of charge. At Man Wei Wu, you don’t get any sides, but there are attractive upgrade options. For an extra NT$40, the eel comes with miso soup, three sides and a salad drizzled in wafu, an aromatic vinaigrette-based Japanese dressing. For NT$120 extra, you can trade the salad for sushi (NT$140 a la carte) or sea urchin served in a majestic smear over fingers of rice (NT$100 a la carte).
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Besides eel, Man Wei Wu has a few other entrees like Japanese-style hotpots (beef tendon, NT$140) and ramen bowls. Hsing Fu Ramen (幸福拉麵, NT$120), a new addition, seems prepared with less care than the eel. The ramen stars grilled pork medallions with excess fat seared off and a molasses-colored broth, a new recipe that blends chicken and pork bone. This soup is tasty and surprisingly light, leavened with fruit, but the noodles in it are slightly overcooked.
The rest of Man Wei Wu’s menu is a showcase of Japanese-style delicacies, such as salmon roe served with nagaimo (山藥, NT$180), a white yam eaten cold. There is a colorful selection of grilled hor d’oeuvres: sea bream chins (NT$100), eel liver (NT$30), bacon-wrapped scallops (NT$50) imported from Japan, a skewer of wrinkled mushrooms topped with sesame (NT$30).
Man Wei Wu also does don — rice bowl dishes artfully topped with sushi slices. The popular Seven Color Gems (七彩寶石, NT$180) is salmon, tuna, marlin, squid and roe, a little of everything layered over rice, so pretty it makes you feel suddenly rich. The beverage list is limited at three brews: Taiwan Beer Gold Medal (NT$60); Asahi (NT$70), a beer from Tokyo and Gekkeikan, a sake served hot or cold (NT$130). Most patrons drink only the hot oolong, which is free.
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
Photo: Enru Lin, Taipei Times
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