[Taiwan: Taichung] 1* YUENJI 元紀．台灣菜

January 30, 2026

[Taiwan: Taichung] 1* YUENJI 元紀．台灣菜

Rating: 3.75/5

What is Taiwanese cuisine? I was pondering about that when I dined at 1* YUENJI 元紀．台灣菜 which serves refined Taiwanese cuisine in Taichung. Heavily influenced by its history of migration and colonization, Taiwanese cuisine is ultimately a mosaic of flavors from its indigenous people, Minnan, Hakka, and other areas of China. Yuenji strives to present the hometown flavors of the island in a contemporary and elevated way. While you can choose a set menu, we opted for the tasting menu where we can choose from 6 categories of dishes - appetizer, soup, signature, hometown specialties, rice & noodles, and dessert. Many of the dishes were done well - the flavors were familiar but at the same time different from what I am used to. What blew me away were the soups - specifically the stewed beef soup with chenpi. The complex flavors were impressive. The tofu dessert was also a nice surprise as it was designed to look like a savory dish but everything was actually sweet - right down to the “green onion” matcha.

糖蒜海蜇頭
Marinated jellyfish, pickled garlic

紅糟黑羽雞
Boiled black feather chicken, red vinasse sauce

紅燒牛肉凍
Braised wagyu terrine, soy sauce

豌豆百合鴨賞
Smoked duck, lily bulb, pea pods

元紀皮蛋豆腐
YUENJI deep-fried tofu, preserved egg, peeled chili pepper