Friday, January 9, 2009

Taipei Tokyo Cafe

This week, the Taipei Tokyo Cafe opened in Woburn, not far from the end of Montvale Avenue. This is the second of their restaurants, the first being located in Davis Square in Somerville. I stopped by for lunch the other day and was generally pleased with what I found.

It is a medium-sized restaurant with a sushi bar and an elegant Asian decor. It primarily serves Chinese cuisine and sushi. Most of the Chinese dishes are the standard ones you will find any almost any other Chinese restaurant. The sushi selection is fairly standard as well. Their prices are comparable to other similar restaurants. They do not have a liquor license but you can bring your own wine, for which they charge the table $10 for wine service.

They have a lunch buffet, $9.95 to eat in and $5.95/pound for takeout, and after looking at what was available, I decided to give it a try. Each of the buffet selections was made in small quantities, which obviously helps keep the food fresher and hotter and which I really liked. When you have a large tray of food on a buffet, the food can sometimes sit there for quite some time. I thought there was a good selection of items on the buffet, from appetizers to entrees.

Chicken fingers, boneless spareribs (one of my favorite items), Peking ravioli (large and filled with lots of meat), fried rice (without bean sprouts), an orange flavored chicken, some beef an seafood dishes, scallion pancakes, and more. They also had some maki rolls, about eight different types, though no nigiri available. A couple of the maki rolls were still being made when I arrived so they were definitely fresh. Overall, I enjoyed the food. It may be standard fare, but it was fresh and generally well made. You definitely can eat your fill.

Service was excellent and they are definitely working hard to make their new customers welcome. The service though was not annoying or oppressive. It was just very good food service.

For general Chinese food with sushi, this is a good place to visit. It is not fancy or high-end, and it is not unusual or even uncommon. Just basic food done well. I will return to check out some more of their dishes.

Taipei Tokyo Cafe
318 Main St.
Woburn, MA
Phone: 781-933-6699

Taipei Tokyo Cafe on Urbanspoon

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