Celebrity chef Andre Chiang (江振誠) said he will close Restaurant Andre in Singapore, which received two Michelin stars, to focus on Raw, his restaurant in Taipei.
Chiang — Taiwan’s first Michelin-starred chef — on Tuesday said that he requested Michelin Guide Singapore not to review Restaurant Andre for next year, as he would close it on Feb. 14 next year.
“I’m a perfectionist and for the past 30 years of my career, I’ve been looking for that unrealistic ‘moment of perfection’: three Michelin stars, world’s top 50 restaurant,” Chiang said. “Until now I realized, at this moment — it is perfect as it is.”
“I want to go back to where I started, I want to go back to cooking, have a balanced life and cook happily,” he added.
After “retiring” from Restaurant Andre, Chiang said he would work at Raw to concentrate on cooking and educating young chefs.
Chiang also asked Michelin not to include Raw in its future editions for Taipei or Taiwan.
Restaurant Andre was the second-best restaurant in Asia and the 14th-best in the world on British magazine Restaurant’s The World’s 50 best Restaurants list.
Chiang was trained in France and is famous for his “Octaphilosophy,” which abstracts gastronomy into the eight elements of salt, texture, memory, “pure,” terroir, south, “artisan” and unique, words printed on Restaurant Andre’s menu.
Chiang is known for frequenting restaurants and bistros in Singapore’s Ostram Park and for his imaginative cooking that combine shis culinary heritages of Taiwan, Japan, France and Singapore.
He said he favors the hands-on style of running a restaurant that is only open when he is cooking, so that he can greet every table and guest, and handwrite greeting cards for the diners’ special occasions.
“After 30 years of a professional culinary career, returning to where I was born 40 years ago has always been my dream. Passing on everything I have to the next generation in Taiwan and China is my duty, and providing young chefs [with] a better education and culinary culture is an urgent priority for me,” Chiang said.
Chiang on Wednedsay said that it has been a decade since his return to Asia and that he hopes to discover more knowledge, techniques and talented people, to pass on the Asian cultural experience.
Taiwan has many industries in which it enjoys inherent advantages and the country should think about how to sustain and maximize opportunities for growth, Chiang said.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS