news/michelin: 2023 MICHELIN TAIWAN STARS REVEALED

Wow! This year, Michelin decided award two new restaurants with 3 Michelin Stars, changing the predictable result of Le Palais being the only one in Taiwan holding 3 stars since 2018. 

The first restaurant the Michelin Guide honored with new 3 stars was JL STUDIO in Taichung, and Michelin mentioned it’s the first time Singaporean cuisine + chef has gotten THREE STARS!! Huge huge congrats for Chef Jimmy Lim, who looked visibly shook (not shiok, haha) and taking in the moment, and the JL family! 

The second milestone of the day was chef Kai Ho receiving his first shiny THREE STARS for TAIRROIR, putting modern Taiwanese flavors on the Michelin 3 star map for the first time ever. Congrats Chef Kai and your team!!  

Ten other restaurants received new Michelin stars, including chef Kunihiro Hagimoto’s playful INITA, which has been on my to eat list for too long, and ZEA, a modern Latin American restaurant by chef Joaquin Elizondo that I enjoyed very much when it opened, and MUDAN, a refined (and expensive but still very difficult to book) restaurant serving an amazing tempura tasting menu. 

 

Congrats to all the chefs and their teams! Here is the 2023 Michelin Stars for Taiwan- Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. (Will add more tomorrow, typing this out from East Coast 230AM!) 

2023 MICHELIN GUIDE TAIWAN

★ MICHELIN ONE STAR

Danny's Steakhouse 

de nuit 

Fleur de Sel (Taichung) 

Forchetta (Taichung) 

Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne 

Holt

Impromptu by Paul Lee

Ken Anhe

Longtail

Ming Fu

Mipon

Mountain and Sea House

Oretachi No Nikuya (Taichung) 

Paris 1930 de Hideki Takayama

Shin Yeh Taiwanese Signature

Sho (Kaohsiung) 

Sur（Taichung) 

Sushi Akira

Sushi Nomura

Sushi Ryu

Sushiyoshi

T+T

The Guest House

Tien Hsiang Lo

Ya Ge

Yu Kapo

Golden Formosa 

2023 NEW ★ MICHELIN ONE STAR

A Cut

Ad Astra

Ban Bo

Haili (Kaohsiung) 

Inita 

La Maison de Win (Taichung) 

Zea

★ ★ MICHELIN TWO STARS

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

logy

RAW

2023 NEW ★ ★ MICHELIN TWO STARS

Liberte （Kaohsiung）

Molino de Urdaniz

Mudan

★ ★ ★ MICHELIN THREE STARS

Le Palais

2023 NEW ★ ★ ★ MICHELIN THREE STARS

JLStudio（Taichung）

Taïrroir

MICHELIN GREEN STAR ★

Embers 

Little Tree Food

Mountain and Sea House

Yangming Spring

NEW 2023 MICHELIN GREEN STAR ★

Hosu

Thomas Chien (Kaohsiung) 

news: ASIA'S 50 BEST 2023

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for 2023

Wow! Congratulations to all the restaurants on the list and to chef Tonn who has not only the number 1 restaurant with Le Du, but 2 in the top 5 with Nusara as number 4. Sezanne made an incredible climb to number 2, with chef Daniel Calvert at the Four Seasons Tokyo. A lot of movement on the list this year with everyone being able to travel again last year. 

This year, Mume is the sole rep for Taiwan at number 45 on the list. 

1. Le Du (Bangkok)

2. Sezanne (Tokyo) 

3. Nusara (Bangkok)

4. Den (Tokyo)

5. Gaggan Anand (Bangkok)

6. Odette (Singapore) 

7. Florilege (Tokyo)

8. La Cime (Osaka)

9. Sorn (Bangkok)

10. Narisawa (Tokyo)

11. Labyrinth (Singapore) 

12. Sazenka (Tokyo) 

13. The Chairman (Hong Kong)

14. Villa Aida (Wakayama, Japan)

15. Mosu (Seoul) 

16. Masque (Mumbai) 

17. Meta (Singapore) 

18. Fu He Hui (Shanghai) 

19. Indian Accent (New Delhi) 

20. Ode (Tokyo) 

21. Zen (Singapore) 

22. Suhring (Bangkok) 

23. Onjium (Seoul) 

24. Burnt Ends (Singapore) 

25. Euphoria (Singapore) 

26. Cloudstreet (Singapore) 

27. Les Amis (Singapore)

28. Mingles (Seoul) 

29. Neighborhood (Hong Kong) 

30. Avartana (Chennai, India) 

31. Ensue (Shenzhen, China)

32. Cenci (Kyoto, Japan) 

33. Ms. Maria & Mr. Singh (Bangkok) 

34. Da Vittorio (Shanghai) 

35. Potong (Bangkok) 

36. Born (Singapore) 

37. Wing (Hong Kong) 

38. Raan Jay Fai (Bangkok) 

39. Wing Lei Palace (Macao)

40. Anan Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

41. Mono (Hong Kong) 

42. Toyo Eatery (Manila) 

43. Sichuan Moon (Macao) 

44.L’Effervescence (Tokyo)

45. Mume  (Taipei) 

46. Baan Tepa (Bangkok)

47. Born & Bred (Seoul) 

48. Metiz (Manila) 

49. Caprice (Hong Kong)

50. Refer (Beijing)

vegetarian/western: i strongly recommend MIA CUCINA

MIA CUCINA

No. 11, Lane 107, Section 1, Fuxing S Rd, Da’an District

(02)2752-8767

(more locations below)

MRT: Zhongxiao Fuxing

11AM - 9:30PM

$$

Date visited: February 2022

Recommended dishes:  the 3 cheese roasted tomato flatbread (NT$420), the avocado mushroom panini, wild mushroom pasta, harvest salad, kale farro salad

Hello everyone in 2023! It really is easy to forget things when I don't write about it. This meal was from almost a year ago February 2022, and the first one that popped up from my google photos that uploads from my laptop. Looking at this meal, I remember it's from Mia Cucina because of their signature thin crust flatbread pizza and piles of salad and pasta, but without the menu in front of me, I'll have to google the prices and names of the dishes.  I'm thinking if I can upload random past meals from my photostream and get some posts done for 2023, even if they are throwbacks. Let's see how long this lasts! 

Mia Cucina was one of the first "vegetarian, but you can take your family who eat meat" restaurants and also one of the first places to have a great salad selection. Looks like they celebrated their 10th anniversary last year, which means they opened in 2012. Now there's a ton of Western vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Taipei, but Mia Cucina really was one of the first to have pages of over a dozen salads, pizzas, paninis and pasta, and be exclusively vegetarian. Now there's Herbivore, Baganhood, Herban Kitchen and Bar. It also reminds me of Gonna, which is not vegetarian but does the whole salad and pasta with same ingredients thing.

The first location I went to was their first one in Neihu, probably in 2013 and I remember being in awe because they had a semi-open kitchen with huge assortment of colorful veggies and you could see them as they assembled the salads and dishes. (I'll have to see if I can dig out the photos!!) The state of finding a salad in Taipei before then was so tragic- Caesar salads or lettuce with some diced cucumber, and at best, the salads from Chilis. It really was so sad. Look at us now! Mia Cucina now has locations in Daan, Tianmu and Xinyi, in the very visible second floor walkway of A11. I actually really used to like Mia Cucina, but haven't gone as often once all the cafes and Gonna and Herbivore opened. But don't be deceived- it can still be very busy and popular and you should make a reservation.

Their OG salads were the Farmers and the Harvest, which I would always get confused, with overlapping ingredients (and early menus only in Chinese). Ok let's break it down- Farmers salad has grilled sweet potato, bell peppers, grilled corn, raisins (YUCK WHY), red onions, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, cherry tomatoes, carrots, boiled egg, caramelized pecans, pineapple (again hmm), broccoli, croutons, avocado, cheddar cheese and ranch dressing. Harvest salad has grilled corn, grilled bell peppers, cherry tomato, asparagus, grilled carrots, grilled eggplant, red onion, cucumber cubes, quinoa, cilantro, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, feta cheese with lemon vinaigrette. 

In the last few years, they've changed it up, adding salads like Kale and farro (NT$435) and brunch and bowl options. Might have to revisit to give it a try!

Farro Kale Salad - kale, pecans, cranberry, scallions, celery, feta, lemon vinegar sauce

wild mushroom pasta

Other locations: 

110, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Songshou Rd, 11號2樓號

(02) 2722-3120

Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Nanxi Store One

Zhongshan District, Nanjing W Rd, 12號2樓

(02) 2522-2438

No. 48號, Dexing W Rd, Shilin District, Taipei City, 111

02 8866 2658