Thirty-eight restaurants in Taiwan have earned Michelin stars this year, according to Michelin’s 2022 gourmet food guide on Taiwan released Tuesday that covered Tainan and Kaohsiung for the first time.
“This year, we have the extreme pleasure of adding to our new edition two new territories whose gastronomic richness impressed our inspectors. I’m of course referring to Tainan and Kaohsiung,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides.
While Tainan is known for its many snacks and popular culinary culture, Poullennec described Kaohsiung as a destination that delights lovers of seafood or rice specialties.
Tainan did not place any restaurant on the list of 38, while Kaohsiung had two restaurants earn one star — Liberté, and Sho?.
There were a total of 30 restaurants that got a star in Taiwan, including the two in Kaohsiung. Twenty-others were in Taipei, while four were in Taichung.
Aside from Liberté, and Sho?, five other restaurants were starred by Michelin for the first time — Holt, Paris 1930 de Hideki Takayama, Shin Yeh Taiwanese Signature, Sushiyoshi, and Yu Kapo.
The 23 one-star restaurants that were holdovers from last year included Danny’s Steakhouse, De Nuit, Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne (Songshan), Golden Formosa, Impromptu by Paul Lee, Ken Anhe, Kitcho and Longtail, all in Taipei.
Also earning one star again were Ming Fu, Mipon, Molino de Urdaniz, Mountain and Sea House, Mudan, Sushi Akira, Sushi Nomura, Sushi Ryu, T+T, Tien Hsiang Lo, and Ya Ge in Taipei, and Fleur de Sel, Forchetta, Oretachi No Nikuya, and Sur- in Taichung.
There were seven two-star restaurants this year, all of them in Taipei and Taichung.
They were JL Studio in Taichung and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Logy, RAW, Shoun Ryugin, Taïrroir, and The Guest House in Taipei.
Cantonese restaurant Le Palais in Taipei remained the sole three-star restaurant in the country for the fifth year in a row.
Awarded for the second time in Taiwan, the Michelin Green Star for 2022 went to Mountain and Sea House, Yangming Spring (Shilin), Embers and Little Tree Food (Da’an Road).
The Green Star is awarded to restaurants that value sustainability and offer their customers gourmet experiences that combine both gastronomic and eco-friendly excellence, according to the guide.
Kei Too (???) and Johnny Tsai (???) of T+T also won this year’s Michelin Young Chef Award, with the guide praising the two for their “strong culinary background and creativity in their Asian-inflected cuisine, showcasing the food culture of Asia in their menu.”
A Michelin three-star rating denotes “exceptional cuisine worth a journey,” while the two-star and one-star categories recommend excellent cooking worth a detour and high quality cooking worth a stop, respectively.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel