Salmon Nigiri & Sashimi the Size of Your Hand
San Wei Shi Tang is a neighbourhood Japanese restaurant that shot to fame a few years back when a photo of their massive salmon nigiri went viral. They have been riding this wave of popularity ever since, and even today, San Wei Shi Tang is mobbed with visitors from far and wide (not really, they’re mostly Korean and Japanese) looking to try out their famous dish.
When we say popular, we’re not joking: check out the lines at around 1PM on a Saturday. San Wei Shi Tang does not accept reservations, so you have to put your name down in person, Din Tai Fung-style. The form was simple enough, and there was a host that spoke English who explained everything to us. We put down our name, telephone number, and party size. The host apologetically explained that it might be up to an hour before we got seated, and we told him that was fine. There are a few temples and crumbling old buildings to explore in the neighbourhood, so we kept ourselves entertained.
An hour later, our number was nowhere near being called, and we were getting antsy: the restaurant shuts for a few hours at 2:30PM, and we were nervous we would miss our chance. We were given a menu to consult so that we could immediately order when we sat down. We ended up waiting for an extra 20 minutes, bringing us very close to closing time, but lucky for us, the restaurant stayed open. From what we could see, it looked like they stopped accepting people at a certain time, but once you were on the list you would get in.
The restaurant itself is clean but basic: the kitchen is on the first floor, along with a couple of tables. The second floor has a bunch more tables, with a mural of the Great Wave off Kanagawa on one wall. We didn’t rate the decor very highly, but that’s not what we were there for.
The menu was pretty big but basic, with lots of options to choose from that didn’t break the bank. We had waited for so long to be seated that we had already nibbled on some snacks in the neighbourhood, so we weren’t as hungry as we had originally planned. We ended up only ordering the salmon nigiri, salmon sashimi, California rolls, and salmon caviar on rice.
One of the first things we noticed when we sat down was that they had free, refillable miso soup. Score! It wasn’t bad, either.
The first item to arrive was the salmon and salmon caviar on rice ($180). We didn’t have high expectations, but we were pleasantly surprised by how tasty this was. The salmon was well seasoned and saucy, the caviar melted in our mouth, and the portion was reasonable.
The next thing to arrive was the salmon belly sashimi (3 pieces for $250). As expected, they were huge. We dipped them into some soy sauce with wasabi and chowed down, but weren’t left feeling particularly impressed. Don’t get us wrong, it was great to have so much salmon belly at once, but the quality was nothing to write home about — we would liken it to chain sushi restaurants like Sushi Express. Still, the pieces were huge, so we felt like it was a decent deal.
Next came our California Rolls. These were also very large, and a total steal at $100 for three pieces. There was pork floss, egg, corn, imitation crab, pickle, and cucumber inside. To be honest, we didn’t love the addition of the pork floss, which completely overpowered everything else. We’re generally not pork floss fans so perhaps we are biased — others may enjoy this dish more.
Last but not least was the star of the show, the very dish that we came for: giant salmon nigiri ($190 for three pieces). As promised, each piece was monstrous in size — just look at it compared to our hand. The sushi came brushed with soy sauce, and a dash of wasabi glued the giant piece of salmon to a surprisingly small piece of sushi rice. After marvelling at the size and photographing it from all angles, we went to work. In Japanese culture, it’s considered a faux-pas not to eat your sushi in one bite, but in this case, we don’t think anyone will blame you for not managing it: it really is huge. Unfortunately, we felt that the quality of salmon was nothing special, just like the salmon belly. There was a lot of it, but it was pretty standard.
Everything considered, we weren’t as impressed with San Wei Shi Tang as we thought we might be. The quality of the salmon was pretty meh and the lines were absolutely ridiculous, especially on weekends. While the food was still pretty good, the service was efficient, and the prices pretty reasonable, we just couldn’t see ourselves coming back. That being said, we had a lot of fun shocking our friends with our photos of the giant nigiri, so in that way the experience was worth it — but only this once.
What’s the vibe?
A relatively modest-looking neighbourhood restaurant that attracts massive crowds, especially Japanese and Korean tourists. Service is efficient but the lines are insane, and you’re almost guaranteed to wait longer than you expected. Don’t arrive starving.
Worth it?
That depends on how badly you want to try the giant sushi. If you’re really dying to and have nothing better to do, then why not? The price wasn’t bad and the food was fine, just nothing special. If you don’t care about giant sushi, just avoid.
Would you go back?
It’s highly unlikely — maybe to take someone who really wanted to go, but never by ourselves.
Visited: December 2018
| San Wei Shi Tang |
| Chinese Name: 三味食堂 |
| Hours: 11:20am – 2:30pm, 5:10pm - 10pm Closed Mondays |
| Phone: 02 2389 2211 |
| English Address: No. 116, Section 2, Guiyang St, Wanhua District, Taipei |
| Chinese Address: 108台北市萬華區貴陽街二段116號 |
