Video | Michelin Guide Taipei set to raise profile of a foodie paradise that’s stayed below the radar until now
Famous for its vibrant night markets and local ingredients, Taiwan’s capital is the latest Asian city to be focus of a gastronomic guide from French publisher, which is expected to highlight both its street food and affordable fine dining
From streetside stalls dishing out US$1 bowls of braised pork rice to upscale eateries tucked away in quiet alleyways, Michelin inspectors are scouring the Taiwanese capital selecting restaurants for the French publisher’s first guide to Taipei dining.
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The island’s reputation among in-the-know travellers as a foodie paradise will be further burnished when Taipei becomes the latest Asian city to have its own Michelin guide in the first quarter of 2018.
Best-known for its vibrant night markets and fresh local ingredients, the city’s street food could well make the grade alongside higher end restaurants, Michelin says, as it has in the Hong Kong and Singapore editions.
“You don’t need to be in a wonderful place to have extreme quality of ingredients and to have real personalities of the chef,” says Michelin spokesman Bruno de Feraudy. “Exceptional for us is what’s happening on the plate and purely on the plate.”
Michelin guides have traditionally been seen as a posh gourmet compass, but increasingly they recognise budget eats, and the establishments that benefit have used the prestigious award to build big businesses.
Hong Kong’s Tim Ho Wan went from hole-in-the-wall to successful chain, while a Singapore hawker awarded a Michelin star last year has grown his soy sauce chicken stall into a franchise.
Taiwanese foodies are speculating that Jinfeng – a no-frills corner joint serving NT$30 (US$1) bowls of rice topped with braised minced fatty pork, called lu rou fan – could make the cut.