Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars.
Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung.
Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time.
Photo: CNA
Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes in fusion cooking. La Vie by Thomas Buhner focuses on European classics, Yuan Yi specializes in tempura, and Frassi and Front House offer French and Italian fare respectively.
Hosu was also awarded a “Green Star” rating for following high sustainability standards in daily operations, while its sommelier, Chen Chi-rong (陳琪蓉), received the Michelin Sommelier Award for Taiwan, the French publication said.
AMaze, which opened in August last year, received the guide’s opening-of-the-year award, while Front House’s sommelier, Kiky Chen (陳玉琦), won the Michelin Service Award.
Seven restaurants were granted two-star ratings, all of which are in Taipei.
Three of the two-star restaurants were upgraded from one star last year: the Japanese-focused Yu Kapo (彧割烹) and Eika (盈科), and A, which serves French cuisine.
Taiwan’s three-star restaurants are Le Palais (頤宮) in Hotel de Chine and Tairroir (態芮) in Taipei, and Taichung’s JL Studio.
Le Palais, which is known for its Cantonese-style roast duck, has won the three-star rating for eight consecutive years, while Taiwanese-French fusion restaurant Tairroir and JL Studio, which serves modern Singaporean cuisine, received the rating for the third year.
Taichung’s Tu Pang (地坊) received the Green Star for the first time.
Two restaurants that made last year’s list have since closed: two-star restaurant Raw, founded by Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang (江振誠), closed at the end of last year and is to be turned into a culinary school; and Taichung’s Le Maison de Wen (文公館), which is known for its Cantonese-French fusion fare, closed on June 29 because of renovations at Fulwon Hotel, where it was located.
Meanwhile, Minimal in Taichung, which was the first ice cream shop to receive a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide, no longer sells meal sets.
Another one-star restaurant, Forchetta, which focused on Mediterranean fusion dishes, reportedly lost its star due to allegations that its ingredients were not fresh and that it underreported workers’ salaries.
Although restaurants in Tainan, New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County were evaluated, none of them received star ratings this year. Tainan has yet to have any Michelin-starred restaurants since the city was included in the evaluation in 2022.
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