The year is 1605, and Tokugawa Ieyasu is shogun of Japan. You've come back from your day job as a samurai, ninja or Shinto priest, and you're in the mood for a decent, hearty meal.

Well, I'm certainly no ancient Kyoto nobleman, but if I were, the kind of food I might expect is just the sort served up at the Chien Che (Thousand Philosophies), Taipei's inexpensively priced hotspot for high Japan cuisine, located on Chiukuang Street near the Confucius Temple.

While thick sukiyaki and other forms of traditional Japanese "peasant food" are absent from the menu, you will find delicious, filling meals at a price well below those of the neon-decked sushi bars in major hotels.

And although the atmosphere is pretty casual - with Sapporo girl posters on the walls and a minimalist interior seating no more than 25 or so - there's no shortage of good eating for the budget-bound gourmet.

A fine start is the traditional misoshiru (NT$50), a plain miso of robust fish stock loaded with the dish's signature green onions and small tofu cubes. Unlike the many mellow misos of my past, this one is particularly robust, although I still slipped in a bit of soy sauce and wasabi for extra effect.

For the more adventurous, they also offer a variety of Japanese snacks, mostly as part of set meals, including seasoned shrimp heads, salty and tart seaweed bundles, and chewy pickled scallop strips.

Perhaps the best thing on the menu, however, are the tempura dishes. A good bet is the yasai - or wild vegetable - tempura (NT$120), featuring egg plant, green onions, juicy shitake mushrooms, taro, and niupang root. Tempura aficionados may find the batter a bit heavier than that found at many other Japanese restaurants around town, but the result is nonetheless crispy, tasty and good at drawing up the dark, smoky tempura sauce.

A similarly choice option is the ebi tempura (NT$160), consisting of two large fillets of tender shrimp meat, bought daily at a local market. Though not quite a meal in itself, the ebi does come along with a couple of taro slices and a non-tempura bell pepper garnish.
 Then, of course, we have the sushi and sashimi, most of it priced around NT$240 for a decently large quantity. I tried some salmon and sailfish, served with sliced cucumber and wasabi on a bed of shredded turnip, and found it to be of a reasonable quality, though maybe a little plain after the powerful tempura.

For the grand finale, Chian Che provides lobster, Nihon style. The tender rich meat comes in a half lobster shell and is generously swabbed with that mayonnaise-like egg yolk butter sauce so popular in the Land of the Rising Sun and Saturated Fat Intake. In fact, while the sauce it a little too rich on its own, liberally squeezing the accompanying lemon wedge creates a well-balanced taste harmony, allowing the original flavor of the crustacean to re-emerge. Note that it's not on the menu, so phone a couple of hours ahead, and they'll make it up just for you at a negotiable price of around NT$350 per plate.

All in all, not bad for a two-year-old, small storefront restaurant.
 Business hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily with some VERY good bargains weekdays at lunchtime (with the lighter fare starting as low as NT$80!). Actually, even dinner is a good deal, with miso, tempura and a beer coming in at under NT$300. 
 As they say in Japan, "Itedakemasu!"