Ten restaurants in Taiwan were given one-star ratings for the first time by the Michelin Guide yesterday, while five restaurants that were granted one or two-star ratings in previous years failed to make it onto this year’s list.
The France-based culinary publication evaluated the gourmet scene in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung and gave star ratings to 49 restaurants, up from 44 last year. Of those that received stars, 37 are in Taipei, nine are in Taichung and three are in Kaohsiung.
For the third consecutive year, no restaurants in Tainan received stars.
Photo: CNA
Most of the restaurants selected by the Michelin Guide were on its Bib Gourmand list, which was unveiled last week.
The two and three-star lists are almost the same as last year, but the one-star list showed more dramatic changes.
The 10 restaurants that secured one-star ratings for the first time this year were Gen (雋) in Kaohsiung; L’atelier Par Yao, Minimal and Yuen Ji (元紀) in Taichung; and Restaurant A, Circum-, Eika (盈科), Nobuo, Sens and Wok by O’Bond in Taipei.
Minimal is also the world’s first ice cream shop to receive a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide.
Danny’s Steakhouse (教父牛排), Longtail and Sushi Nomura (鰭野村), which had had one-star ratings for six years consecutively, failed to make it onto the list this year.
One-star restaurant Holt and two-star restaurant Liberte have closed down.
Danny’s Steakhouse apologized for not being able to secure a rating this year.
“We are deeply sorry that we let our customers down, who have been supporting us all these years,” the Taipei-based restaurant said in a statement.
“Not being able to defend our title means that we need to try harder and this also serves as an opportunity to re-evaluate our performance,” it said. “We would move forward and continue serving our customers with high-quality food and excellent service.”
Thomas Chien in Kaohsiung, as well as Embers, Hosu (好嶼), the Daan Road branch of Little Tree Food (小小樹食), Mountain and Sea House (山海樓) and the Shilin District (士林) branch of Yangming Spring (陽明春天) in Taipei received green-star ratings — symbolizing “excellence in sustainable gastronomy.”
The Michelin Sommelier Award this year was given to Tseng Ya-hui (曾雅慧) from Yuen Ji. Tseng is the first woman in Taiwan to receive the award.
Le Palais of the Palais de Chine Hotel was given a three-star rating for the seventh consecutive year.
Tourism Administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said that the Michelin Guide would add two more cities to its list of places to examine in Taiwan.
“I would let them make the assessment themselves about where they want to visit next year,” Chou said, without disclosing locations.
Asked about Tainan not having any Michelin-starred restaurants, he said that the city has many delicious snacks on the Bib Gourmand list and draws visitors with its unique style.
For a complete list of Taiwan’s Michelin-starred restaurants for this year, visit https://guide.michelin.com/tw/en.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS