藤原豆腐 (Fujiwara Tofu Shop)

My ex-colleague once quipped that I'm a part-time Jay Chou fan. And since this part-time fan was heading to Taiwan, she decided to check out the latest restaurant under his Mr. J chain since ZX has gone to the others. As of now, he has three eateries under his chain (see more here).

This latest one is named after the tofu shop that Jay Chou's character and his dad owns in the flick, Initial D. The menu offerings are Japanese, instead of tofu creations. Bummer. Was really looking forward to satisfy ZX's and Heidi's love for the yummy softie. Like the rest of his other restaurants (I'm told), there's many a memorabilia of Jay Chou. Each restaurant is also styled uniquely in a movie theme, such as Initial D for this one. Other than the Japanese cuisine, there are posters of the Initial D tour or behind the scenes or just movie stills. The coolest is that the AE86 which he drove in the movie is the star of the eatery! I mean, I've seen the chiong versions on our roads - but this is the AE86.

The AE86 tucked just off the right of the entrance

For a Friday night, this eatery's patronage was underwhelming, to say the least. Other than us, there were only a handful of others - a group celebrating one of the girl's birthday, an elderly lady and a couple of Singaporean girls. Sad. And we soon found out why.

Sides accompanying the set meal. Does not look appetising. Heidi didn't even want the tofu.

My katsu don

ZX's oyako-don

Each of our set meals cost NT$200, which works out to be under S$10 each. (Final bill has an added service tax.) Verdict: The fare is mediocre, nothing special. You'll find better food at the nearby Shida Market. We should have given in to the array of foods and inviting smells.

As you can see, it was already quite late when we got and left. Reckon we reached around 8 and left forty minutes after. Hmmm, perhaps that's why there wasn't a crowd?

Can you see the name of the store?

This is what's in the window display of the shop - the Mt. Akina (Qiu Ming Shan) scene from Initial D.

We had so much difficulty finding the eatery because nobody knows where the lane is?!?!?! Realised that we made the mistake of exiting at Shida Night Market (Exit 2) when we should have gone out at Exit 3. There, just cross the large junction to the road opposite and turn left for a couple of streets before you reach Wen Zhou Jie 74 Xiang. The confusing hike to the damn place took 1.5 hours and our legs were spoilt by the time we reached, however, that's not why we didn't ooh and aah at the food. Seriously, Taiwan is the land of awesome street food and this was our disappointingly, somewhat-pricey dinner on the first night. We were so upset. Anyway, it is obviously not prepared for little patrons because there were no baby high chairs.

To my colleague TLJ, I say, thank goodness I'm only a part-time fan. I'm staying that way too. Next time I go to Taiwan, I'm just going to eat my way through Shida Night Market.