Results are out: Le Palais is again the only three star establishment in town. 
Guy
A bit late adding a suggestion… but this place is awesome
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only 3 ~tire company~ stars.
Lots of places only have 3 stars in town 
I went there recently, and was quite disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, the food was good, but not 3-stars worth, there was no wow-factor or “fuck me this shit is amazing”. The only interesting dish was the Peking duck finished and served table side. Even the CharSiu was just above average, I know at least 3 places in HK which make a better one for a third of the price.
Service was appalling, so many floor staff but our teapot stayed empty for a good 10 mins… Almost amateur at times.
And this is not the first time I have been sorely disappointed by starred restaurants here. Both RAW and Tairroir (2 stars each) were completely unworthy of the accolade, especially RAW, Tairroir at least had very good service and ambience, RAW is just really too focussed on “show”, little substance.
Only one I actually appreciated, since run by 2 Spanish chefs (so European style of dining, can’t get around the Taiwanese concept of fancy dining), is the Molino de Urdaniz (1 star). The food was very good, genuine Spanish yet modern using also Taiwanese ingredients, with some Basque accents since the main restaurant is in the Basque Country.
Speaking with some of my friends in the F&B, Michelin guide here in Taiwan is a scam, since the local govs basically pay the guide to go to the restaurants and… show them.
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With your critical eye, you may enjoy this local commentator (a noted architect) and his assessment of the current dining situation in Taipei:
https://michaelfei.blogspot.com/2022/02/tasting-menu-only-take-it-or-leave-it.html
Guy
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completely, wholeheartedly agree with the man. This tasting menu farce is silly. 90% of the restaurants as he says do this only to manage costs and make their life easier. If you are a “bistro” or a normal restaurant and you serve only tasting menus, you are grifting me and do not deserve my money.
You know which non-Italian restaurant is my favourite here? Ruth’s steakhouse. Unpretentious, just steaks, something from the sea, THE BEST SIDES, decent wines and old school service. And THE BIGGEST DESSERTS ON THE PLANET. When I go there, I know the deal, maybe I change the starters, maybe I get a different cut or change the wine, always satisfied and I pay reasonable imo for the food I’m eating and the experience.
Taipei is having a very bad trend, mostly fuelled by clueless hipsters or flashy wannabes, that the more the restaurant is strict, difficult to book, expensive and flashy, the better it is. Utter chickenshit.
Taipei is still a very decent place for food, in particular Japanese and to some extent Korean.
There has been a flourishing of Italian joints, mostly small establishments, basically all of them unpretentious, down to Earth with good food (only one I didn’t like and many of my friends agree, but apparently Taiwanese love that crap) and decent prices. And Chinese food is decent on average (TW food ofc is king, cantonese food a bit lacking, but still found a few places, other provinces are well represented, although to find actually spicy Sichuan food is challenging).
Anyways, we are digressing. But, rule of thumb, fancy restaurants here in Taipei are mostly scams, especially if western-style or Taiwan fusion with French cuisine (the worst, see RAW, Tairroir, etc…). You want quality? Go to steakhouses, famous ones: Ruths, Smiths and Wollensky, Lawry’s, all at different price points, but you won’t walk out hungry or disappointed. Even Friday’s for Christ’s sake is not that bad! You know the deal.
You feel more adventurous? Go to an Italian restaurant like La Mole, Divino (both Daan and Tianmu), Zoca, A Mano, Domo de Sardegna, La Locanda.
You want to play easy? Go to a JP or Korean BBQ which doesn’t cost 1k per person, a bit more at least you are sure you are actually eating meat.
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I presume you’ve been eating at different places than I have. I find Taipei’s take on these two cuisines to be—with some exceptions—largely terrible.
I fully agree that Cantonese food is lacking. Most places simply don’t have a clue on how to prepare such dishes properly—and unlike places in Canada, they cannot simply bring in more chefs from Guangzhou who actually know what they are doing.
OK, digression over!
Guy
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Yes you have.
There are many nice small izakayas with decent skewers and drinks all over, especially in Daan. A very good one near my house in Neihu too. Then many nice katsu places, decent ramen (not only bloody tonkotsu, also shoyu, shio and miso, even chicken broth, that’s my main complaint for Ramen in HK, they basically only serve tonkotsu). Even good curries (JP style).
Korean I’m not an expert, my fiance’e likes it though, all the places I’ve been were fair, nothing exceptional but far from bad.
I don’t get how people say in Taipei food is bad. Besides my disappointing experience at starred restaurants (more due to their starred status and relative expectations than the food) and cantonese food, I always ate well and felt fed. Probably I’m not a food critique haha
Only some people here say that. I’ve never heard that anywhere else, which says more about them than the food.
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I agree that the nice katsu places (even chains like Saboten) have been very good for a while. The curry places have upped their game, which is nice to see. The ramen boom continues—we’ll see how long that lasts, as I’ve seen countless booms-and-busts while living in Taiwan.
All this being said, my main complaint about far too many “Japanese” places in Taipei is that they simply don’t pay attention to the basics. So we get: fake wasabi, garishly bright pink gari, lousy badly cooked rice, ad nauseum. Too many of these places simply don’t have a clue about what they are doing, and somehow—due to Taipei’s collective culture—they can carry on without blinking.
If an actual Japanese person is in charge, somehow this changes. I wonder why.
Guy
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Now I get what you mean, and I agree to sone extent. The FOMO brings always shabby implementations just to ride the tide high and get some dollars.
I get very, very annoyed with bad rice, it makes me sad and angry. There is a shop, Ichi, in Daan which makes very good shoyu ramen (the noodles are themselves very tasty, hate places where they use half-assed cheapo industrial noodles but then good broth and meats, it spoils everything) but in particular an awesome chashu rice bowl. Rice cooked like it should, nice pork, onsen eggs, the works. Love it.
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Close enough doesn’t work with Japanese cuisine. That’s the problem.
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Put otherwise: pay attention to the godd&mn basics please!
Guy
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The subtle, delicate flavours of many Japanese dishes are actually why I’m not a massive fan. However, if you’re going to do it do it right.
EDIT: getting served sashimi on a pile of ice that’s still slightly frozen. Attention to detail, chaps!
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talking about sashimi, they cut it way too thick here, especially the fatty tuna (toro). So difficult first to grasp with the chopstick and second to chew. And they always put way too much wasabi in the soy sauce… (fake wasabi btw, not the real delicious and fragrant deal).
Whilst JP kaiseki (imperial cuisine) dishes have many subtle flavours, the traditional normal ones are to me flavour bombs. Curries, shoyu/miso ramens, nice cold soba with the right sauce and wababi, chewy udons with nice tempura, okonomiyaki, taokoyaki, all the katsus (pork and beef mostly) with their amazing sauces and the cabbage salad with sesame sauce. All about the sauce, they nailed it.
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And the sinewy bits are invariably left in. Not QQ. Or, perhaps it is for the local palate?
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