Eat Local

The main problem with sushi is its cost.

A really good sushi dinner costs about $28. Sometimes more. That includes soup and salad and a bowl of rice, upon request, but it's a lot of money for raw fish.

Raw fish must be served fresh, so it's pretty much going to cost top dollar. If it's a day old, it's out. If it smells like a fish, nobody eats it. Most people don't eat it anyway, because of that missing intermediate step, cooking. Cooking's right out for sushi.

I like a couple of things about sushi and Taipei Tokyo. The fish is fresh, the service is top notch and the price is excellent. I also think I'm doing my body a huge good service. It's essentially a protein-rich, fat free lunch. It costs $14. For more information about Taipei Tokyo, click

A sushi lunch, which is most affordable as a sushi-sashimi combination, is $14. That includes miso soup and salad. If you like wasabi mustard, the lunch also comes with endless ice water.

Take the green thimble of wasabi or half of it and drop it into the soy sauce tray. It's a low-slung, 2'' by 1' tiny flat-ish bowl. Pour in some soy sauce, drop in the wasabi and mix it up with the tip of your chop stick. Grab a sushi and dip it in the now hot soy sauce. Eat it.

If you're nervous about raw fish, they serve a variety of rolls that either have vegetables only or they include cooked fish or cooked shrimp. That's a way to introduce yourself to the process. Tip the vegetable sushi into the spicy sauce and you're hooked.