Fresh Station Sushi & Fruits in Taipei

When a colleague of ours once mentioned that he's had some great Japanese food in Taipei, some of us puzzlingly exclaimed, "Whaaaaat??" Sure, Taiwan has been heavily influenced by the Japanese, but when I was once taken to a place in Taipei that was said to be proper Japanese shabu shabu, I was so turned off by the localization of it that I was scared to get "Japanese" food in Taiwan again. Hence, when our colleague elaborated that there was a place that served "sushi and fruit," I nearly broke out in laughter. What was he thinking??



Still, this is the same guy who introduced me to the lovely gems of Lolla and Burnt Ends (and we share a common love for the Naked Finn), so this guy has huge credibility with me. He also was the one that referred me to the Japanese magician at Bar 84 - another thing that sounded hilarious when he said it but turned out to be impressively good. As such, I bit the bullet tonight and trusted him that this sushi and fruit place would be worth the while, and made my way here just after getting off of the plane (500 Zhongxiao East Road Section 4, 2725-3555). The place turned out to be impressively well designed, with a counter that served sushi on one side, and fruit on the other.



The good thing was that the sushi itself was pretty good, as was some grilled squid thing and even a fruit salad that came out. But that's when they kept the fruit and sushi separate. When they started to close the meal, they brought me those fruit rolls above, and that's when it got weird. Yeah, I'm not too sure about fruit-based sushi. I suppose it's not that different from eating a Japanese fruit sandwich, but that was a bit too weird for me. I'd come back here for the sushi though; they brought out an amazingly fresh squid for some neighboring diners tonight that was quite a sight to see.