news: 2018 OVERDUE TAIPEI RESTAURANT ROUNDUP

A TAIPEI RESTAURANT ROUND UP is long overdue. I have a lot of drafts of blog posts in my folder and this one had the following sentence- "Every summer when I come back from LA, I notice a few changes, but this summer was the first one where a lot of people had one restaurant on their lips- "have you been to Longtail yet?""

Now it's April 2018 and I've already done a 10 places you should try next that I should republish here and Taipei has moved onto another new set of restaurants. Michelin finally came to Taipei and everyone is abuzz about the bib gourmand list.

The list is going to be long because I have a draft of 2016 that was never published to add in- so forgive me if some of these places look not-so-new to you, it's new since my last round up. Please let me know if you have a restaurant that has opened or closed and I'll add it! Let's get to business.

2018 CLOSINGS

• Commune A7 (closed to make way for construction for hotels)
• Emack and Bolios (ice cream)
• Origines (closed at end of March 2018)
• Le Mout (will close at end of 2018)
• La Cocotte (closed after 9 years, the same month it was awarded 1 Michelin star)
• Juanitas (closed again)

2017 OPENINGS (aka how behind I am in posts)

• Longtail 
• Liquid Bread Co (sandwiches)
• Tamed Fox (brunch and desserts)
• Ichiran Ramen
• NKU (modern)
• Coffee DPT (chocolate chip cookies and coffee)
• Commune A7
• Honolulu Cafe (from Hong Kong)
• Gusto Market (italian deli and shop)
• Steam Pot
• Buttermilk at Amba 
• Grace
• GDS Play cafe (DaAn)
• Tastelab by Regent Hotel 
• Banco (pizza and pasta)
• Maple Tree House Korean BBQ
• District One Taipei (modern vietnamese, oxtail and lobster pho)
• Amaronis (NY Italian American)
• Pokeholic (Poke bowls)
• Jumbo Seafood (Singaporean)
• Red Dot (Singaporean/Indonesian)
• Gastrojoy (private kitchen)
• Ura muteki (deep fried wagyu)
• Kamekona Hawaii (teppanyaki)
• Mecato (empanadas at Maji Square)
• Quantum Tacos (Maji Square)
• Ice Mountain (shaved ice)
• Gusto Pizza
• Pie Guy 
• Meat Love (korean bbq)
• Wok
• Juanitas (mexican)
• Lady M (crepe cake)
• 
  

2017 CLOSINGS

• Achoi 
• STAY (closed 9/30/2017) 
• Sweet Tea (also closed 9/2017)
• Le Kief
• Savor Private Kitchen
• Grandma Nitti's
• Flavors Meatball 
• Bite2Eat 
• Juanitas
• Lobster Bar
• Dairy Queen 

2016 NOTABLE OPENINGS (even longer lists of places that I am due to post) 

• Sugar Pea 
• Jamie's Italian
• Mitsukoshi A11 foodcourt reopening 
• Nur
• Chou Chou 
• Terroir 
• Street Churros
• Plus Pizza 
• Rou
• Cafe by Juicy Diary 
• Machin
• Le kief 
• Line Cafe
• Domani (Italian)
• Rakujin (wagyu yakiniku)
• Antipodean
• Revel Eatery
• Baba Kevins (american bbq)
• Twinkeyz Tacos
• Sarabeths
• Ramen Nagi
• Plants Eatery (vegan)
• Green Room (vegan thai)
• Mortons Steakhouse
• Cheogajip (korean fried chicken)

2016 CLOSINGS 

• Cozi Burger 
• Lobster Bar 
• Amigos (in March?) 
• Dan Ryans 
• Burger Fix 
• Voodoo doughnuts 

News: TAIPEI’s FIRST MICHELIN BIB GOURMAND & CLOSING OF LE MOUT AND ORIGINES

(4/3/2018- I wrote this last month but never posted it.. I think I was trying to find an appropriate photo, but I will just have to post it without as too many things are happening in the meanwhile!)

WITH THE RELEASE OF TAIPEI'S first Michelin guide and this week's Bib gourmand list, my newsfeed has been flooded with announcements. The Bib gourmand selection includes places that Michelin wants to honor, usually under a certain price point, but have not been awarded an actual star. The first list spotlights a lot of local eats including 10 nine market stalls and 8 beef noodle soups. I thought it was also interesting that they recognized Joseph's Bistro, an Indian restaurant.

The past few days, I've also learned that Origines helmed by Chef Cyril Hou will close at the end of this month and the award winning Le Mout in Taichung will close at the end of 2018. Both have announced the closings on their Facebook pages, and Chef Lanshu has written a heartfelt letter about her decision to close her 10-year-old restaurant. I have yet to try either restaurant, but would like to try them before they close.

So with the upcoming release of Taipei is Michelin guide, will it make some of our favorites more even crowded, or will it shine a global spotlight on Taipei's fine dining restaurants that need more than local customers to thrive? Perhaps both. The past five years or so we've seen a boom of fine dining restaurants, modern bistros, steakhouses, sushi bars, Japanese and Korean bbq. Now we as customers have a wider range of culinary options, but are there enough people in Taipei who eat out that often, at that price point with that palate? As much as I enjoy a fancy meal out now and then, there are so many places even I have yet to try, or favorites that I haven't revisited in months.

Are you looking forward to what restaurants the Michelin guide will pick? I'm definitely curious! Do you think they will be able to find both the well known and not as well known local favorites? Or do you be more interested in a Taipei street food guide?


TAIPEI 2018 BIB GOURMAND

• DIAN SHUI LOU (Songshan) 點水樓 (松山)
• DIN TAI FUNG 鼎泰豐 (信義路)
• FU HUANG SOY MILK  阜杭豆漿 
• HAMAMATSUYA濱松屋 
• HANG ZHOU XIAO LONG BAO (DaAn) 杭州小籠湯包 (大安 )
• HAO GONG DAO JIN JI YUAN 好公道金雞園
• JOSEPH BISTRO
• MAO YUAN 茂園 
• MEILI 美麗餐廳 
• MY ZHAO My 灶 
• MY SWEET HOME SMALL KITCHEN 我家小廚房 
• NO. 1 FOOD THEATER CUSINE 一号糧倉 
• PENG FAMILY 彭家園 
• SERENITY 祥和蔬食 
• SHUANG YUE FOOD 雙月食品 
• SONG KITCHEN 宋廚菜館 
• TAO LUAN TING ROAST PEKING DUCK PALACE 北平陶然亭 
• ZUI FENG YUAN 醉楓園小館 

TAIPEI 2018 BIB GOURMAND BEEF NOODLES

• HALAL CHINESE BEEF NOODLES 清真中國牛肉麵食 館
• JIAN HONG BEEF NOODLES建宏牛肉麵
• LAO SHANDONG HOMEMADE NOODLES老山東牛肉家常麵 店
• LIAO BEEF NOODLES 廖家牛肉麵
• LIN DONG FANG BEEF NOODLES 林東芳牛肉麵
• LIU SHANDONG BEEF NOODLES 劉山東牛肉麵
• NIU DIAN BEEF NOODLES 牛店精燉牛肉麵
• YONG KANG BEEF NOODLE 永康牛肉麵

TAIPEI 2018 BIB GOURMAND NIGHT MARKET

• A NAN SESAME CHICKEN
• STINKY TOFU BOSS
• LIU YU ZI 
• RONG'S PORK LIVER
• CHEN DONG PORK RIBS MEDICINAL HERBAL SOUP
• FUZHOU BLACK PEPPER BUN at RaoHe Night Market
• SHI BOSS SPICY TOFU