Kanpai Honten 乾杯 @ Taipei

The name said it all – Kanpai or “bottoms up” in Japanese. A meal here almost twenty years ago left such an impression that I had to pass it on to my Princess.

Kanpai was founded in an alley in Taipei’s East District in 1999 by a group of university friends seeking a cheap and good place to eat yakiniku. Fast forward, Kanpai Group now has moved on with the original idea and opened several branches in Taiwan and China with posh, contemporary decor (and a crazy prize to match), with several of them getting the Michelin plates in their respective cities and a coveted star in Shanghai Xintiandi shop.

I first came to this shop when I started working in Taipei many moons back, 2002 to be precise. They already had a loyal following of clientele and the place was packed to the brim. I was so shocked by all the grinding and hustling by the service staff, providing customers with creative and popular activities such as “8 o’clock Kanpai”, “Kissing Challenge”, etc. I never thought yakiniku could be so fun!

And after the 8pm Kanpai time, the drink (whatever you are drinking) is refilled for free.

Kissing Challenge

Right at the beginning, they had this promotion – kiss for 10 sec with your partner, take a photo and you get a free plate of Australian wagyu. This was such a great way to get that first kiss from your date. But please wipe your mouth before you land that lips on your partner.

These days with severe inflation, they will only give you a free plate of pork belly if you kiss with someone at your table of 10 sec and let them post the Polaroid moment on the wall of shfame. And we did not see anyone did that through that dinner. Seemed like the trend had died down.

The Dinner – 乾杯特選套餐 Kanpai Premium Set

They offered some set menu for those who were lost amongst the choices of multiple cuts of meat, marinated or salted, on top of some appetisers and main courses. It’s easier to just try a bit of everything.

Right after ordering, they brought a small bowl of their famous in-house kimchi (which we did not order) which I thought was a complimentary appetiser. Then they realised they made a mistake and took it back.

燒肉店的沙拉 Signature Salad

The salad came with bits of blanched broccoli, tofu and mashed radish, and the dressing was made with soy sauce and a little bit of vinegar. Refreshing.

鯷魚蒜香小黃瓜 Anchovy and Garlic Cucumber

This was quite delicious, which the garlic and anchovy dressing on sliced Japanese cucumber. I was glad that we picked this instead of the kimchi.

本日特選和牛拼盤 Daily Premium Wagyu Platter

The platter included five different cuts of wagyu that came from their premium range.

• GETA牛五花 上 ゲタカルビ Premium Geta Karubi (in the black bowl)
• (R-L) 乾杯特選牛五花香 特選カルビ Deluxe Beef Karubi
• 澳洲冷藏厚切牛舌 豪州チルド厚切り牛タン Chilled Thick Cut Australian Beef Tongue
• 上等角切 上角切りロース Premium Diced Beef with 鹽昆布塩昆布 Salted Kombu
• 日本和牛大腹 Wagyu Short Plate (in the white plate)

Everything came in pair – the deluxe wagyu karubi (on the left) with their beautiful marbling, followed by Geta karubi, gyutan, and finally four pieces of diced beef to be enjoyed with the salted kombu.

生菜組合 Wrap Up Lettuce Set

I was told in a Korean BBQ in Seoul that only bad beef needs lettuce. I smiled now every time I see the lettuce set served with the yakiniku.

Karubi, or boneless short rib / flanken-cut rib, is one of the most popular cuts of beef for yakiniku. Everything was nice, but it as the wagyu short plate that blew out mind. The meat simply melted inner mouths. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we simply had to order another ala carte order.

BMS 7-9+現切澳洲和牛莎朗芯牛排 BMS 7-9+ Australian Wagyu Cut to Order Chuck Eye Roll Steak

Took an “upgrade” to the Australian wagyu chuck eye as the other “Japanese” wagyu steak looked like a side cut. The chuck is characterised by tender meat with excellent lean meat and a good amount of marbling. In addition to the fine texture of the meat, it has a good flavour, moderate texture and rich taste.

The Australian beef was alright for the grill, but we should have stuck to wagyu beef steak. The beef raised in temperature very quickly and the resting made it overdone.

學生牛五花 U.S. Short Plate

宜蘭產特製鴨胸 Duck Fillet from Yilan | 雞腿肉（醬油奶油）Chicken Leg (Soy Butter Sauce) | 草蝦 Shrimp

After the beef came a selection of the rest of the meat they had to offer in the menu if you didn’t eat beef for any reason. There was the duck fillet from Yilan, which to my surprised cooked very well (and quickly) on the grill. And then there was the chicken leg, shrimps and Iberico pork shoulder.

The highlight of the chicken leg was the soy butter sauce. We were told to dip the raw chicken in sauce and then grilled it. But my years of experience told me to grill the chick so that the skin will crisp, and then dip it in sauce (which I melted the butter and heated up the sauce on the fire) just like you would yakitori.

西班牙伊比利梅花豬 スペインイベリコ豚肩ロース Iberico Pork Shoulder

I thought it was beef because of the cut and the marbling, but it was actually Iberico pork shoulder. The piece of meat wa not marinated, only a dash of sauce on the serving plate. It cooked in seconds, so we had to watch carefully for the pork to change colour and quickly took it out of the fire.

櫛瓜鯖魚起司燒 Cheesy Zucchini and Scomber Bake

The set meal came with a casserole as well as a soup. Princess picked the zucchini cheese bake with bits of mackerel in it. The cheese was quite salty and not cheesy, not a quality cheese.

They accidentally served the 和牛牛肉丸鮮湯 Wagyu Beef Ball Soup which we did not order. It looked quite delicious, like a wagyu version of Indonesian bakso.

辣味牛肉豆腐煲 Korean Tofu Stew

The stew had a lot of their homemade kimchi to make a very delicious soup. And it was a generous portion, each one of us had more than one bowl.

越光米白飯 Rice

And the set came with a bowl of rice, very good local rice called Kohishikari 越光米（コシヒカリ） that was mass cultivated in Taiwan in 1977.

澳洲冷藏厚切牛舌 豪州チルド厚切り牛タン Chilled Thick Cut Australian Beef Tongue (ala carte)

I love cow tongue as an ingredient since I was introduced to it in Hong Kong. And then the yakiniku version just blew me away.

Technically it is a piece of muscle instead of meat, so it needs some skills to get the best texture out of it. The best way to enjoy this would be to simply grilled them with some salt slightly on all sides until the colour changed.

And then just a bit more but not too long, to get the doneness just right. Else you will be left with just a chewy piece of muscle.

日本和牛大腹 Wagyu Short Plate

Beef short plate is a forequarter cut from the belly of the cow, just below the rib cut. It is typically a cheap, tough, and fatty meat. It’s also the home of the skirt steak — a thin, flavourful cut that’s best when marinated and seared over high heat.

Two pieces of this cut was provided in the platter and we loved it so much that we added a whole ala carte order.

The cut is very fatty, and it was nice to have one piece. But when you have the whole plate, it was too much.

鹽蔥牛舌2.0 新型ネギ牛タン New Style Beef Tongue with Salted Onion

This is a very thin cut of wagyu-tan with a copious amount of scallion and onions. We were advised to just grilled it until the colour changed on the meat and that would be perfect. And it was – the gyutan was delicious, crunchy and full of onion sweetness.

美人高麗菜 豪州和牛もつキャベツ Stir Fried Cabbage with Australian Wagyu Intestine

The waiter talking our order recommended the wonderful Taiwanese cabbage, how sweet and crunchy they are. Which true to his words, the cabbage was really delicious. The bits of intestine were the main attraction for me.

However, I was expecting something more crunchy but this was really chewy and too much fats (because of the lacked of time on the hotplate).

They have come a long way from this humble beginning, and it seemed that they have kept the faith of providing authentic, quality and entertaining yakiniku to the masses. However the price has quietly creeped up to more than affordable. till a recommended destination for yakiniku in Taipei.

Kanpai Yakiniku (Honten) 乾杯本店
17, Lane 236, Section 1, Dūnhuà South Rd, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan
臺灣臺北市大安區敦化南路一段236巷17號
Tel : +886 (0)2 8773 1150

Visited Aug 2023

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