Sumi Sushi

My dear friend, Yuhki (different from Yuki), will be departing from Taiwan soon. So for brunch I joined him at NY Bagel in the Taipei Main station Q Squared mall today. He'll be leaving for Japan this coming Saturday. So we talked and had a nice brunch, possible our last one before he leaves. Yet another fellow student from Shida University MTC leaving :(. After saying our farewells, Yuki (not Yuhki) and I headed to the Huasan Creative Park 1914 because she has never been there. In fact I have never been there during the day. It was bustling with people and most of the stores were open. So this was my first opportunity to explore the book store and gift shops it offered. I really like the gift stores. They have a lot of unique and creative Taiwanese designed gifts. Afterward I headed to the Eslite bookstore on Zhongxiao East Road. They have a jewelry, clothing and gift shops on the basement and 1st floor. The second floor was the books. Pretty big, but not nearly as large as the Xinyi district one I visited yesterday. Yuki and I just went there to kill time before heading off to Sumi Sushi for dinner. They opened at 5:30 and we were running early. Sumi Sushi is just south of the S.Y.S Memorial MRT station. The owners are very nice. Not only are they friendly, but they can speak English too. They're Taiwanese but immigrated back to Taiwan from Vancouver, Canada. This place has some great Maki rolls and they're glad to recommend a roll or two for you. They even have a $1000 NT option to create a set menu for you with only the sushi you like. It was a little expensive for me on a student budget at the moment, so I passed. I stuck with a la cart. We had a braised salmon special, spider roll, Hokkaido raw scallop special and a special California roll. Yes, california roll. Yuki likes it because they don't have that in Japan, so it's a foreign oddity. A Japanese person that likes California rolls, go figure LOL? But this California roll was custom for us. I like Herring Roe and she likes California roll. So he combined the two, so awesome! How many sushi places do that? On the flip side though, the place was a bit tiny though. Maximum of approximately ~14 patrons. But that sort of makes for a more comfortable and quaint environment. No other patrons came in while we were there, probably because it was an early dinner, making it a nice private affair. I'll definitely try to make it out there again, and maybe try the $1000 set. Tomorrow, i'm heading to Tainan, there will be a lot to blog about there!

Huashan creative park 1914

I desided to take my friend out the Huashan creative park. They loved it there. There were lots of old buildings, smoke stacks, wierd lighting, crumbling walls of bricks and boarded up windows. The place definitly attracts the art crowd. While we were there we met a tap dancer, high school dance group and several people setting up a photography art exhibit. It's a public park so it's always open for strolling around at night for a chat or photos. And when your hungry or thirsty, there are a few restaurants to quinch your thirst or fill your belly. Alleycats has brickoven pizza and a fine beer selection. They closed at 11pm but stayed open an extra half an hour for beer patrons. We opted for some coffee, coke and of course beer. But made a mistake of sitting outside. We were eaten alive by mosquitos. I think i'll opt for indoor seating next time.

Photo by Jeff Parker

Huashan brewery, urban decay

Started out the day with a cup of spicey Xian Dou Jiang (咸豆浆).


Then some exploration into local Taipei urban decay of an old brewery. It's now called the Huashan 1914 creative park. On Weekends they have mini K-cars parked there serving small snacks. During the evening it's a good place to pick up a leaded drink.



Then finished the day off at a nice Japanese restaurant. It was a cool place. Live band suspended above the bar. The place used to be an old theatre. They had a boat of Uni pile don Uni, my favorite! and only $11, I love Taiwan!