Nomura Sushi — Restaurant in Da'an District

Nomura Sushi is my favorite omakase restaurant in Taipei. Sushi restaurants in Taipei are a dime a dozen but few serve authentic Edomae-style sushi like they do. Chef Nomura is from Japan but speaks fluent Mandarin and is hilarious. The service is always warm and super attentive.

Nomura offers 3 price points - NT$5,000, NT$6,000, and NT$7,000. As an indecisive person, I hate this about Taiwan. If you pick the cheaper tastings, you’d worry that you’re not getting the full experience. My family and I typically go for the NT$7,000 during dinner service. However, I ordered the NT$6,000 tasting for a business lunch today and found that the ingredients were just as high quality. Chef Nomura only uses the best quality ingredients, so I’m sure even the cheapest tasting wouldn’t disappoint.

Nomura’s tasting features a unique variety of seafood on top of the usual favorites like uni and toro. And OMG THE RICE. Chef Nomura makes two types of sushi rice - one with white vinegar and another with red vinegar - and pairs each with different types of fish. He uses a mixture of premium rice from Japan and Taiwan that is husked in the restaurant. The sushi rice here has incredible texture and is seasoned to perfection.

Michelin, give them...

Came here for my friend's birthday and had the omakase.

There is 3 different tiers of omakase atL NTD 3000, 4000 and 5000.

The price reflects the quality of ingredients provided in the Omakase

Had the NTD 4000 Omakase and overall was not impressed and I don't see myself returning. The ingredients were fresh, the rice was cooked well, but at NTD4000 I was expecting a lot more.

The omakase starts off with sashimi slices and then moves on to Nigiri sushi, in total there are about 20 items, served one at a time by Chef Nomura. Chef Nomura was precise and methodical in preparing each of the dishes, using 3 different types of rice depending on which fish is being used. It is clear that alot of though went into each pairing as they complimented each other well.

The meal was satisfying but was not exceptional. the Toro was good but a bit more rubbery and stringy then I have had before at high-class sushi restaurants. The uni came in a box, it was good, but when you've had Uni straight form the shell, seeing it come from a box is a turn off. With these two, typically the heavy hitters of any japanese meal, falling short, I was...

I took a lunch here for 2000NTD+10% service charge with a silver haired beauty. You would expect the waitress' in this calibre of restaurant knew where to pay the attention to and their priorities. Sorry, the service was nice but wrong. They made so many low level mistakes, that you feel you're in an average cheap restaurant where a smile will fills all the gaps.

Then to the meal. You didn't come here to eat for a little bit more than the price of the food itself, but the mastery how the sushi chef handle and present them to you. Well, if language is the barrier. Just do it in the way it feels right(for him). An inconsistent and half baked presentation what (the chef think) should be given, but in a way you're seeing him fighting with himself...hmm, well, of course I left out the plastic wrapping and other things that distorted the experience.

Still, this lunch is worth half the price (without service charge), that's it. Don't expect anything cool. Don't trust any Michelin recommendation in Asia (I fall into this trap over and over again). It's just a hygiene...