[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 / 紅糟黑羽雞 / 紅燒牛肉凍 / 豌豆百合鴨賞 / 元紀皮蛋豆腐
Marinated jellyfish, pickled garlic / Boiled black feather chicken, red vinasse sauce / Braised wagyu terrine, soy sauce / Smoked duck, lily bulb, pea pods / YUENJI deep-fried tofu, preserved egg, peeled chili pepper