A classic-style Tokyo-style Japanese restaurant in Taipei  The eel rice is insanely delicious!

Text and photos bySan Gao Chi Han

One day at noon, I went to Xinben intending to order eel rice, but it was sold out just an hour after opening. Since I hadn’t had eel rice all year, I recently booked a table at YuXin, a place I’d never been to before.

The exterior of YuXin restaurant looks like it’s converted from a residential home. It gets pretty crowded at noon on weekends, with at least half the customers being elderly. There are quite a few auntie-type servers, and partitions between tables give it an overall old-school vibe.

My main goal here was to eat the eel rice—the rest I left up to chance. The auntie taking orders worked at a brisk pace, which gave off a slight sense of urgency, though not to the point of annoyance.

The large portion of unagi don (NT$480) came with six pieces of eel. Upon opening the box, I thought I detected a faint odd smell—though maybe it was just my imagination—but the aroma disappeared once I started eating.

The grilled eel at YuXin has less crispy, oily sear on the surface, leaning more towards a soft and tender texture. It’s likely been steamed beforehand, and the almost non-existent fine bones make it very easy to eat. The rice underneath has a good texture—firm and springy. The sauce on the eel is on the sweeter side; even someone like me, who’s used to the flavors of Tainan street food, found it rather sweet. But after quickly adjusting to the sweetness, the more I ate, the more my appetite grew.

The eel rice also comes with pickled radish with fermented black beans and miso soup. I also ordered red-braised fish, shrimp vinegar, and octopus vinegar—all of which had a sweet (or sweet-and-sour) flavor profile. The asparagus and shrimp hand roll at the start had nice, crisp nori. There was also fruit for dessert. All of the above cost just over NT$1,000—a solid meal!

YuXin Japanese Restaurant
Address: No. 31, Lane 124, Songjiang Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei City
Business hours: 11:30 AM–2:00 PM / 5:00 PM–9:00 PM
Tel: 02-25621270

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