The launch of Michelin Guide Taipei and its Bib Gourmand list in March this year means that travellers to Taipei now have the country’s top restaurants, eateries and hawker stalls literally at their finger tips.
And to make Taipei’s newly minted Michelin-starred restaurants more accessible to visitors, the Taipei City Government department of Information and Tourism (TPE-DOIT) has also launched the “Star Feasts – Fun Taipei” brochure. It curates six itineraries based along the Taipei metro stations featuring the Michelin restaurant and Bib Gourmand selections.
For instance, there is the Zhongzheng district itinerary for art enthusiasts that takes you to Huashan 1914 creative park, via well-placed stops at Din Tai Fung and Shuang Yue eatery where you can dig into healthy home-style cooking. Alternatively, check out the West Town itinerary featuring the National Taiwan Museum, the Bib Gourmand’s recommendation Niu Dian beef noodles and Nanjichang night market, which used to be an airport during the Japanese occupation. The last is a hidden gem that ensures you don’t have to be squeezing with the hordes while tucking into Taiwan’s famous red vinegar dried noodles and stinky tofu.
To launch the itineraries in Singapore, TPE-DOIT organised ‘Star Feast – Fun Taipei’, a food tasting conference at At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy on 15 August.
The newly minted one Michelin star chef Kai Ho of innovative Taiwanese cuisine restaurant Tairroir was invited to demonstrate his culinary artistry through a live cooking demonstration. Tairroir can also be found in the brochure, on the map showing all the locations of Michelin-starred restaurants in Taipei. Combining Taiwan’s indigenous produce and modern techniques, Tairroir is known for presenting food with contrasting flavours and textures in an artful manner.
Having worked in Singapore from 2010 to 2014, firstly for three Michelin star restaurant Guy Savoy, then as junior sous chef in Jaan, Kai Ho has fond memories of Singapore. During the conference, he cooked up his signature fusion dish – “65°C silkie egg, taro en pureé et kueh, yilan ya shang and sakura shrimp”. The creaminess of the soft Taiwanese yam à la espuma and 65°C egg is juxtaposed against the small chewy cubes of air-dried and smoked duck meat from Yilan, deep-fried taro and sakura shrimp.
Tairroir is just one of the 20 Michelin-starred restaurants in Taipei, which also include modern European fine dining restaurant MUME, innovative fusion restaurant RAW by André Chiang and Taiwan-style Cantonese restaurant Three Coins.
Besides itineraries, the brochure contains discount coupons for restaurants such as Bib Gourmand recommendation Dian Shui Lou, and Sanhoyan, a restaurant specialising in Taiwanese cuisine.
The brochure can be found online on the China Airlines website. For more information, download the Travel Taipei app.
