Restaurant Review: Taisho

A few weeks ago I went along to Asakusa, a Japanese restaurant (above PhoBay on Wedding Street) to celebrate a friend’s birthday. However when we got there, we discovered that they weren’t serving sushi that evening —  which was what my friend wanted to eat —  as it was a Thursday.

Disappointed, we wandered down the road to another establishment called Taisho. I had noticed the place before, and was happy enough to check it out. Being a Thursday night it was quiet when we arrived, however as a group of around eight people we quickly changed that. My first impression was that Taisho had a nice vibe to it. It was quite dark and small, giving it an intimate ambiance.  The staff were friendly and quickly arranged a couple of tables next to each other, and we were promptly seated.

To begin with we ordered a couple of plates of sushi to share, with a range of salmon, tuna, and beef sushi. The kitchen was in plain sight, so we could see the chefs working away, and it wasn’t long before we were eating delicious pieces of sushi. There were only eight pieces per plate, and there were four people to a plate, so it was hardly substantial. To be fair, around eight pieces of sushi to a plate is pretty standard at Japanese restaurants in Korea. Still this clearly wasn’t going to suffice as a meal. So we ordered jjum-bbong noodles, and another noodle dish (but I am not sure of the name). We ordered another two plates of sushi as we enjoyed the first round.

We did not have to wait too long before our jjum-bbong arrived, and we eagerly dug in as by that stage we were famished. The broth of the jjum-bbong was amazing and gave the whole dish a wonderful flavor. It also had generous amounts of seafood and vegetables in it, as well as plenty of noodles. The other noodle dish took a little longer to arrive, as by this stage the restaurant had filled up (always a good sign), and so the chefs were busy trying to prepare everyone else’s meals as well.  I did not eat as much of that particular dish, as I enjoyed the jjum-bbong so much.

I would recommend Taisho as an enjoyable place to eat with a couple of friends. The atmosphere was really good and the food was great. We were easily the biggest party in the restaurant, though —  the rest of the patrons were only groups of two. From what I hear, Asakusa does quite big sushi platters that are reasonably priced as far as sushi goes. Furthermore, by all accounts the sushi there is fantastic, so Asakusa is a better bet if you are eating with a larger group of friends. But for a nice enjoyable evening with a couple of friends, Taisho is a perfectly good option.

To get to Taisho, go down Wedding Street. If you are walking towards the Kunsthalle, take the street on your right that has the little square/intersection on it, where Mix Lounge is. Taisho will be on your immediate right when you are looking down the street from Wedding Street — you really can’t miss it.