Needed a place for a late dinner with the GF, since neither of us were that hungry 'til then. GF did some research on the Net and Dozo got some good reviews as a night-spot and as an izakaya. Plus it's close by. Good thing we were calling relatively late, since the only way we were getting a table was by slipping in after the dinner crowd and before the nightlife crowd. High ceiling, mirrored walls, spot lighting, and plush chairs indicated that this isn't your typical after-work drinking-spot type of izakaya. There was the Japanese guy and his Taiwanese companion chattering away in Japanese next to us. One more seat over was a couple of OLs well on their way to finishing off the five-liter tower-of-beer. Hey, a fancy izakaya is still an izakaya, and that means beer and lots of it. I had my usual, the fresh-lemon shoju sowa. They give a bottle of marble soda instead of the usual unflavored soda water, so it's quite a bit sweeter, which I'm not sure I like. GF got the green-tea latte, which was basically concentrated green tea mixed with foamed milk. Tasty but not really special or complex in any particular way.
There was a loft with taiko drums and a Japanese dulcimer for some added entertainment. Taiko wouldn't be my first choice for chamber music, although they did give it a shot by playing a 梁靜如 ballad to start. Delicate ballads don't usually come with a big drum section, so the taiko guy was reduced to an occasional bang behind the dulcimer. Thankfully the other numbers had the big drums hammering away. Even more thankfully the show was over soon enough to we can get back to dinner.
The sesame-miso salad dressing came in a shot-glass which was a clever touch, a light and flavorful way to add flavor to the mixed veggies. The teppan kimchee pork had plenty of hot kimchee. Really could've used some white rice to go with it. Instead we got the Dozo special grilled rice-triangle. The big hunk of rice was grilled to give it a nice golden color on the outside, and stuffed with dried fish-roe (or something like that) for flavor. The stuffing did make it a bit too salty as an accompaniment to other dishes, and the grilling seemed to do more to dry out the rice rather than imparting that grill-char flavor. Should've gone with the sushi-maki instead.
The meat skewer is the signature dish of an izakaya. The skewer combo plate featured various mysterious but tasty fatty/crunchy/gelatinous pig/chicken bits and innards, along with a straightforward chicken teriyaki kebab, a piece of unagi, and a beef-roll skewer. The beef was the star of the show, thin slices of tender, barely-cooked beef wrapped around scallions and daikon. Unfortunately the GF was a bit squeamish of the fatty bits and not a big fan of under-cooked beef.
Dozo makes for a great night-spot for those wanting to see and be seen (it's next to the CTS TV studios), but for izakaya food I liked the more casual Watami (和民) better. Surprisingly the cost-per-person ended up being very similar (i.e. not cheap), even though Watami appears to be more casual and less up-scale at first sight. Must be the fancy east-Taipei rents.
Dozo
台北市信義區光復南路102號
02-27781135