They're all over Taipei, with a couple on the east-side and one right down the street from GF's place. I guess the proximity was sufficient to breed contempt since we've never bothered to try the place due to the ubiquity. But I was over at the GF's and we found out late that her folks weren't bringing dinner back from Hsinchu. Didn't feel like running out some place far for dinner, so we decided it was time to give the chain restaurant a try.
Received the training-ingrained pseudo-Japanese greeting from the service-people upon entering. There were the standard Japanese meal choices such as various stuff-over-rice donburi bowls, ramens and udon noodles, plus some down-home mains like Salisbury steak. The seasonal menu added some zest to the standard menu, which was what we went with. I had the eel+egg donburi and the GF got the spicy egg-flower udon. Also ordered the fried-tofu appetizer, which was a little different than usual since it was coated with a sticky tapioca-starch coating instead of the typical crispy outer coating. The softer skin does allow it to sit in the soy-benito sauce longer without losing integrity and helps to soak up the sauce for flavor.
My rice bowl was covered with the cut up unagi chunks melded with almost-raw scrambled egg to provide extra richness. Mix the runny egg sauce into the warm rice, and it was time to pick up the bowl and shovel. Sure, it's mass-produced food, but it's tasty and filling without being too full of crap. The spicy udon was in an eggy shoyu broth with shrimps for substance. The broth wasn't blazing hot or anything, just a hint of spice reminiscent of kimchee or sansho. The shrimp kinda get overwhelmed by the other flavors, maybe chicken would've worked better.
Azabu Sabo is more known for its desserts, which contained various combinations of shaved ice, soft-serv ice cream, mochi, bean pastes, and syrups. Got the strawberry milk ice, and for once the real thing actually lived up to the plastic window model and more. Shaved ice is a bit painful sometimes because my teeth get sensitive, but the ice cream on top helps to moderate the cold ice, while the crisp coldness of the shaved ice keeps the ice cream from being too rich. A cheap strawberry syrup was added for flavor and color. The artificialness was a bit disappointing, but it was fine in small doses, and the bowl was large enough that just eating the edges was plenty for the both of us and we could leave the syrup-drenched core alone.
NTD750 for all that wasn't cheap, but it's fair enough for a decent sit-down meal in a tastefully decorated space. And it's useful to have a reliable spot for a decent meal or an icy dessert.
Azabu Sabo
麻布茶房
All over the place