From its Zen-inspired decor to the beautifully presented 10-course meal, Da Shan Wu Jia (大山無價) shares a striking resemblance to another mountainside dining retreat, Shi-Yang Culture Restaurant (食養山房) (reviewed in the Oct. 30, 2009 edition of the Taipei Times).
The two restaurants are indeed connected. Da Shan Wu Jia was started by a former Shi-Yang chef, Yu Yuan-kun (游源昆). When Shi-Yang prepared to move from its original location in Sindian (新店) to Yangmingshan, Yu decided he wanted to stay in the area and open his own restaurant. The 39-year-old Yilan native found a property with a garden on Beiyi Road (北宜路) and renovated the two-story house to accommodate up to 80 diners.
The restaurant is quiet and tranquil, with a view of the mountains, minimalist interior and a comfy, spacious dining area, where diners sit on tatami mats at low tables.
There is no menu, as each
of the 10 courses is decided
by Yu and his team of six
chefs. The meal, priced at NT$1,000 per person and NT$850 for vegetarians, draws inspiration from Japanese
and Taiwanese cuisines.
Yu shares the same approach to food preparation as his former employer. He only uses locally sourced, fresh ingredients — the vegetables are from Sindian farms and the seafood is transported daily from Yilan.
Our meal started with a slice of homemade peanut tofu, which left a lasting impression for its taste and presentation. It had a creamy texture, punctuated by a tiny dab of wasabi hidden under a goji berry — a very pleasing surprise. The block of bean curd was also garnished with pine nuts and a spot of soy sauce. Served on red ceramic trays
and a large stone-colored slab, the dish looked like a Chinese ink painting.
Unfortunately none of the other dishes could match this one, though there were plenty of brilliant moments: sashimi slices served on a bed of salad and calamari cut in the shape of thick noodles; chicken stewed in red yeast rice (a mild-tasting ingredient used in Chinese medicine) served on a crispy wonton skin; homemade mulberry vinegar; a chicken soup with several different types of fresh bamboo.
I found it hard not to make comparisons with Shi-Yang, where the meal only got better and each course felt like a discovery. It was hit or miss at Da Shan Wu Jia. The later courses, a fried rice morsel with mullet roe and a bamboo and chicken soup, were good, but anticlimactic.
For service, Shi-Yang also holds an edge over Da Shan Wu Jia. The wait staff members were highly attentive, but their timing awkward. Several of them (20-something male students) were too eager to take our plates away, as if their eyes were on the plates only and not observing us.
But Da Shan Wu Jia is still worth a try, especially for those in southern Taipei looking for a novel dining experience, not to mention a peaceful getaway. The restaurant still makes for an acceptable alternative for those who can’t get a table at Shi-Yang, which usually has a six-week wait for weekends.
The restaurant is hard to reach on public transportation, but taxi drivers in the area know the place. A cab ride from Xindian MRT Station (新店捷運站) takes between 10 to 15 minutes and should cost around NT$160.
The Lee (李) family migrated to Taiwan in trickles many decades ago. Born in Myanmar, they are ethnically Chinese and their first language is Yunnanese, from China’s Yunnan Province. Today, they run a cozy little restaurant in Taipei’s student stomping ground, near National Taiwan University (NTU), serving up a daily pre-selected menu that pays homage to their blended Yunnan-Burmese heritage, where lemongrass and curry leaves sit beside century egg and pickled woodear mushrooms. Wu Yun (巫雲) is more akin to a family home that has set up tables and chairs and welcomed strangers to cozy up and share a meal
Dec. 8 to Dec. 14 Chang-Lee Te-ho (張李德和) had her father’s words etched into stone as her personal motto: “Even as a woman, you should master at least one art.” She went on to excel in seven — classical poetry, lyrical poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, chess and embroidery — and was also a respected educator, charity organizer and provincial assemblywoman. Among her many monikers was “Poetry Mother” (詩媽). While her father Lee Chao-yuan’s (李昭元) phrasing reflected the social norms of the 1890s, it was relatively progressive for the time. He personally taught Chang-Lee the Chinese classics until she entered public
Last week writer Wei Lingling (魏玲靈) unloaded a remarkably conventional pro-China column in the Wall Street Journal (“From Bush’s Rebuke to Trump’s Whisper: Navigating a Geopolitical Flashpoint,” Dec 2, 2025). Wei alleged that in a phone call, US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi not to provoke the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Taiwan. Wei’s claim was categorically denied by Japanese government sources. Trump’s call to Takaichi, Wei said, was just like the moment in 2003 when former US president George Bush stood next to former Chinese premier Wen Jia-bao (溫家寶) and criticized former president Chen
President William Lai (賴清德) has proposed a NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special eight-year budget that intends to bolster Taiwan’s national defense, with a “T-Dome” plan to create “an unassailable Taiwan, safeguarded by innovation and technology” as its centerpiece. This is an interesting test for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and how they handle it will likely provide some answers as to where the party currently stands. Naturally, the Lai administration and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are for it, as are the Americans. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not. The interests and agendas of those three are clear, but
RSS