enishi — Restaurant in Da'an District

======= 2025 UPDATE =======

I've been a longtime fan of 緣麵屋 enishi for their tsukemen (dipping noodles) and their soup base (based on fish). It is still one of my few favourites for tsukemen in Taipei. (Other reviewers have said there’s better in Taipei, so I’m interested in seeing where those are!)

This quaint little restaurant is run by a friendly husband-and-wife (I presume) team, seats about 10-12 people along a long bar, and serves mainly tsukemen: essentially it’s a ramen bowl with a intensely-flavored dipping “sauce” that is fish-based.

I like to explain that it’s your typical ramen bowl but the soup has been condensed/reduced to half: you take your foods and dip them into the sauce before eating. When you’re done, you can ask for “plain soup” which dilutes your leftover sauce and then you can drink that. (They reheat your sauce at the same time, so it comes back to you hot.)

I took my kids here this time, and they enjoyed the chewy soba (which are the noodles they serve here instead of ramen), and the fun of dipping into a sauce at their own pace.

The pork is precooked, and upon service they torch up one side of it. This is fine overall, though might be better if they pan-seared it a bit for the finish instead. Our egg was perfectly done, no complaints. I felt the sauce this time could’ve been a bit more intense, so maybe another reviewer’s comment about it being watered down is possibly true? Not so much that it’s too noticeable, to be fair.

I would still come back. And my kids told me they want to come with.

2017 REVIEW =======

I first visited in 2010. They used to be closed on Mondays.

Since July 2017, they started to open on Monday as well: but on Mondays, they only serve a very short menu of Japanese curry rice, no noodles.

In this review, I'm speaking strictly about the curry. It's not your typical Japanese curry joint.

The curry seems to be based on their fish base as well, which is clearly their strength. The flavours of course have incorporated curry spices as well as stewed green peppers (diced), carrots, mushrooms. The flavour is strong and bold, and comes with a saucer of yogurt to temper it if you do wish. Served with a mix of white rice and purple rice (to add texture), and a tea cup of vegetable miso soup, all for $160 (or $140 for takeout). As in photo, it's topped with half an ajitama (ramen egg) done to perfection, and a halved cherry tomato.

Most menu items are curry rice topped with cheese and baked, so I selected the only one that was "plain" (without baked cheese).

It's an interesting take on the average curry, and I would come back...

We ate at three japanese styled casual eateries in a period of 9 days in the da'an general area. This was by far the biggest let down. We ordered a cucumber appetiser and was shocked at how fine the slices were and how sour it was due to excessive vinegar. The tonkatsu-fish soup base and dipping sauce was virtually the same. There is no umami taste rather a sense of too much bonito flakes and weird taste. I cant imagine drinking directly from the dipping sauce as it was so thick. Pork was dry and nothing special. "Ramen" was actually soba. If you disregard the fact it is not ramen, the soba was fresh tasting. It would have been great if you were eating it as a different kind of dish,maybe. Service, was nothing special? The professionalism that was mentioned by other reviewers felt like a rehearsed routine. Two stars for decent soba and edible meal but not going back. We paid the same amount at Din Tai Fung and CP value was...

This place brings me so much joy. I usually order the ramen noodles $280. I think it’s a really good value. The meat is tender and fatty (this is good), the noodles are perfectly cooked (QQ for TW folks), and the broth is very well balanced with a very rich, fish-based broth (not sure if this is accurate but it’s what I taste and it’s amazing). The interior is always very clean and tastefully decorated. I would recommend this place to anyone. Personally speaking, I would not bring friends here because I would have no interest in talking to them. When I’m here, it’s just me and my bowl of noodles. The bowl of noodles here is my...