Ikki Taipei Hengyang Branch — Restaurant in Zhongzheng District

The food was great, but my experience was disappointing. The server initially was nice and helpful to recommend some dishes. But in the end I was rushed so much, I left with stomach pain and a headache.

The crab cake with sweet bread was excellent - the texture and taste was so unique. The beef was delicious. And the Kombu salt (which you get on the side with the meat) was amazing. The threadfish was good but tasted a little fishy. The matcha cake was superb. And I loved the house tea. Also light and refreshing sake.

Ok now to the full story.. I came at 9pm - an hour before closing, and I asked "will have enough time to eat?" and they said "yes". But I definitely did not have enough time to eat.

I've never felt so rushed. I drank a bottle of sake, and ate an expensive 5 course meal in about 30-45 minutes. And they asked me to pay immediately after I ordered - so right away I could feel they were rushing me to leave.

Another thing I didn't like was after clearly asking "does the fish have bones?" She said "no". I asked another server the same questions, and she also said "no" too. And then I almost choked on the fish bones.

Anyway, I left exactly at 10pm when they closed (seriously, they were turning off the lights, and I could tell they seemed upset with me). I had the biggest stomach ache and felt a little drunk. Not a good experience. But still the food was great. But honestly, I mostly remember the stomach ache and the bad experience. I walked almost an hour to come here, but if they told me "sorry we will kick you out in 45 minutes" I probably would not come in. Maybe I'll come back earlier in the day and give...

A pleasant surprise to know that they offered a vegetarian equivalent set meal (cannot choose dishes) off the menu. You can notify them about vegetarian diet guest by calling ahead. They also offered my 3 yr old kid a sweet custard starter in a glass (on hindsight we shld have hidden it coz he wouldn’t eat his rice) along with kid utensils (much appreciated)

Their beef was fantastic according to my other half albeit a tad oily.

For the meat lovers, the series of courses start with 4 small cold appetizers comprising chilled radish slices, quartered length wise cucumbers with some sauce, spinach etc. It was followed by hot fish soup, grilled fish, rice with mushroom ( cooked in chicken broth), A5 beef slices, lovely dessert that looked like a flowers decorated cake

For the vegetarians, the 3 appetizers are similar to above except that 1 appetizer above was non vegetarian & hence not served to vegetarians. It was followed by a dish of extremely fresh chilled bamboo shoot with wasabi & soya sauce (stunning presentation for pic), mushroom rice (tasteless although the rice quality was good hence a pity), dessert was a dark pudding (so so).

My sake was average 300ml bottle, they sell by bottle. The restaurant requires adults to order a drink each so we had some very...

Here is what I learned on this trip. Just because Google says something is good or is highly rated, doesn’t mean that you will like it. There probably is nothing wrong with this place. The 2500 people who gave it almost 5 stars must really love it. But when i see 2500 reviews of something and it’s almost 5 stars, I’m thinking it’s going to be amazing. My review is obviously ethnocentric, but I’d say this is like a big chain place with a set formula. Imagine Sysco products. It’s not a home cooked meal that was given any thought. It’s a product that is pumped out for the masses. Why would they serve unseasoned chicken with no rice or accompaniment? The service here is wonderful and everyone was very kind and helpful. Just to reiterate, I may not understand or know how things work here, so take my review with a grain of salt ( which the chicken needed.) but if you are looking for a one of a kind or unique dining experience,...