Nestled in Yangmingshan, a national park adjacent to the bustling Taipei city, Restaurant 12 is a culinary destination and also a little get away spot about 40 minutes drive from the concrete buildings.
Yes, it might be slightly difficult to get to this place, especially if you don't want to drive or take a taxi. However, the extra effort getting to this hidden jewel is definitely worth it. The entire area was actually a historical American Military Housing Complex back in the 50s and 60s. Overtime, it has transformed into a high-end boutique hotel/resort, and its main Restaurant 12 even got the first Michelin star this year.
If weather allows, I highly recommend to book the dinner at 5:30 p.m. and try to arrive a bit earlier than that. So you get some time to walk around the place. No rush at all, just soak in the tranquility while surrounding yourself with some greeneries and mid-century modern vibe.
The entire area is built upon the original housing complex, so basically you'll find the typical American housing units gathered throughout. In fact a total of seven houses. One dedicated as Restaurant 12, one as LAB 10 for the tea-themed culinary experiences, one for SPA, one for gallery, and other three as living spaces.
Despite the spacious location, unfortunately due to some restrictions, they don't have a designated parking lot. However, we found that the adjacent street parking was actually quite easy, and no charge at all. Overnight parking is not a problem too.
We spent some time at the gallery, especially we arrived like 20 minutes earlier than our booking time.
Then about 10 minutes to 5:30, we went to the restaurant and was led to LAB 10 for a brief break until the restaurant finishes up the final setting.
LAB 10 was so pretty, it sure gives you that cozy yet modern American house vibe. With big widows looking out to the trees, and the occasional raindrops further bringing out that calming element.
A short break at the LAB 10 complex, then the restaurant staff came over again escorting us to the main dining area. It's time to fully submerge in Restaurant 12's new set of seasonal menu prepared by Chef Jonatan Motos Ferran.
Frankly speaking, I didn't know much about Chef Jonatan before this meal. However, I looked online and found out that he had quite an impressive list of experiences. And he was literally everywhere around the world.
Chef Jonatan spent some years in Spain working with many renowned chefs, including Chef Ángel Palacios. He also worked in Mexico, China, London, and more. He was in UAE and named one of the top 5 chefs of the year by Gault & Millau in 2023. I can keep going, but the most important part is that Chef Jonatan is now in Taiwan serving as the executive chef of YMS by onefifteen, and based on what I experienced that night, Chef and the team did a pretty darn good job.
Restaurant 12 sets their table seatings at the main dining area all facing to the kitchen, so that guests can have a better view of where the magic happens -
We always choose still water over sparking at the restaurant. However, I didn't know that they use Orezza, which is famous for its naturally sparking mineral water sourced in Corsica, France. So for the still version, I think Orezza have to do that extra step and extract the carbon dioxide instead -
Wine list is pretty thorough here, and I like the fact they have a range of rieslings to choose from. Noted that riesling is not a very popular choice in Taiwan -
Mister served as our designated driver, so he went for the non-alcoholic pairing. I myself took on the 6-glasses wine pairing, still a bit too much for my tolerance nowadays though. However, if you can handle the alcohol, they do offer 9-glasses wine pairing (don't drink and drive).
By the way, the non-alcoholic pairing was $1,680 NTD, about $52 USD, and the 6-glasses wine pairing was $2,980 NTD, about $94 USD that night.
Red prawn, tomato, olive oil -
The idea came from salmorejo, a type of chilled tomato soup from Spain. And one might wonder where's the soup? Well, a mouthful of soup is carefully enclosed in the white shell made with white chocolate.
That's why our server specifically instructed us to take a full bite at once, and absolutely do not bite it in half. That would be awful seeing soup spilling out to the chin and fingers. However, once enjoyed correctly, you get this bursting sensation "inside" your mouth. A fun way to start the meal.
Otoro, lime, avocado -
I love how they also incorporate pieces of green apple to balance-off the fatty tuna. Meringue was also used as the base to make the whole bite even lighter.
Sea urchin, potato, egg -
One other dish taken from Spanish cuisine, this time huevos rotos. It's sort of a comfort food mainly consist of deep-fried potatos and eggs. Restaurant 12's version is to layer thinly sliced potatoes, rolled them up, and fried into a tube. There you'll find some sea urchin not only on the top, but also hidden inside.
Paired with yolk sauce and potato purée, creating an even creamier bite. Alongside the velvety sensation, there's this potato chips-like crispiness every time you chew into it.
Trout, caviar, calamansi -
The trout was sourced locally, like right on Yangmingshan, where the fish was raised under cold spring water. So it got made into mousse, together with calamansi gelée, hazelnut crisp, and French caviar.
On a side note, have you noticed the "panot" style plate? The floral pattern plate was taken from the geometric concrete paving tiles commonly found in Barcelona, Span.
Pairing-wise, I decided to simply put the pictures up instead of getting too deep into every single serving. To make my feedback short though, wine-speaking, I think Restaurant 12 picked slightly better quality selections as compared to other fine dining restaurants in Taipei. However, that does directly translated to slightly higher pairing charge.
On the other hand, Restaurant 12's non-alcoholic pairing doesn't disappoint. In fact, I think non-alcoholic pairing in Taiwan has grown tremendously in the past couple years. You get to play on so many elements gathered from different areas. Let it be tea, juice, herbs, spices, and more. So in a way it's easier to put together something that can better tailored to the dishes.
Oyster, cucumber, kefir -
Our first cold dish with key components of Gillardeau oyster, kefir yogurt granité, and cold soup made with cucumber and mint. The overall flavor is more like a chilly refreshing breeze. From here, the upcoming courses will start piling up seasonings and kicks from spices.
Crab, wendan (pomelo), almond -
Hands down my top dish of the night. In fact, when Chef stopped by our table later that night and asked what were our favorite dishes, both me and Mister gave him this answer. He nodded and told us that the crab was one of Restaurant 12's signature dishes, and will stay on the menu even when they do the seasonal change of offerings. Good to know, good to know. I would love to enjoy this interesting crab and almond combo every single time.
They used steamed Japanese snow crab meat and crab roe, accompany floral gelée, fresh pomelo, and almond flavored foam. Everything was so well-balanced, as with just the right amount of these bright floral and fruity note without overpowering the delicate sweetness from the crab. The almond foam was definitely the highlight too, who would have thought that almond can sing such a harmonic tone with crustacean ingredient.
New set of pairings, in which I think they intentionally picked a fuller bodied white wine to go with the upcoming "creamy and dense" course, a much more interesting and fun way to approach -
Foie, pear, vanilla -
Easily my second favorite course of the night. At a glance, there's this thin layer of foie on the plate, but in fact there are two layers. The foie was also infused with chicken stock for the density and depth. To balance that, another layer of gelée made with pear and vanilla was added.
However, there's one thing I need to complain about. This dish is so good, that merely one little brioche just won't cut it. I intentionally spread more foie onto the bread, but in the end I was still left with at least 1/3 of the foie on the plate. It'll be super nice if I can get a second brioche. It's too delicious and I demand more!
Seasonal vegetable, Iberico ham -
It would be nice, and luxurious, to have this course on a daily basis. Such a fancy yet nutritious course. They actually packed more than 20 different variety of vegetables, with all sort of preparation methods in this single plate.
In fact a total of 25 vegetables according to our waiter. Some where chargrilled, some stir-fried, and some boiled. In order to create a central tone for all these different ingredients, they basically "sandwiched" the veggies on the top and bottom with Iberico ham and emulsion made with Iberico fat.
Another round of pairings, and that's also the moment I realized that my full wine tolerance would be two servings only -
I'm far-off from my prime wine days. Taking that into consideration, I kind of hope that some high-end restaurants can seriously consider offering a higher scale 3-glasses pairing in the future. I mean not just me, younger generation doesn't really drink as much wine nowadays too.
Bread and selected extra virgin olive oil -
The bread here is refillable, but...I would love to have that earlier creamy brioche refillable too. Anyways, put my whining aside, I noticed that whenever the servers come to present new dishes or take away finished plates in the end, they always try to do that for both me and Mister at the same time. Like they'll have two servers over to do the job. Quite attentive to details there.
Lobster, zucchini, basil -
Sous vide Taiwan Penghu lobster with zucchini weaving, and the table-side added foam was made with lobster stock and supposedly pomelo or grapefruit. The reason why I'm unsure is that, well mostly because it's hard to distinct which citrusy ingredient was used solely by the taste. Even though the server did say "yoo zhi" in Chinese, but that could mostly mean either the pomelo or grapefruit, sometimes even some Japanese citrus variety can be simply put as yoo zhi in Chinese.
Which reminds me that the earlier brioche we had was infused with yoo zhi too, but don't ask, my palate is not as refined to tell from pomelo or grapefruit mixed in such buttery bread.
Catch of the day, saffron, bamboo -
Look at that glistening and silky smooth body of the fish, it's splendid alfonsino, also known as Kinmedai in Japanese. And its appearance directly translated into the taste, which is soft, tender, and delicate.
One other delicate element was the mini yellow ravioli on the side. The wrapping was actually thinly sliced bamboo shoot with saffron sauce filling. Underneath that you'll see a line of green sauce mainly made with cilantro.
Chef chose to use Taiwan's brand name duck called rose duck as entrée. The name rose is due to its rose-like luster of the flesh -
Anyone noticed that I've been slowing down on the drinks?
Duck, figs, Maqaw -
The servers here really do pay attention to the diners. I think this one noticed that I do take videos and pictures of the food, so he informed me to take some images first before he adds the sauce. As to why? Because there was actually a vibrant green fig oil on the plate, and that might be just too pretty not to noted. I did capture that on the video though, which will be shown on my Instagram later on.
It's the classic combo of duck and figs, and that sauce poured over was made with duck broth and maqaw, a type of minty and lemony peppercorn in Taiwan. So one could imagine the usual fuller denser-bodied duck course, but also brighten up with some crisp-edged local spices.
Melon, aloe vera, honey -
Right after the duck course with heaviest seasonings, gear-switched and we were then presented with a very refreshing dessert course.
It was dessert with a gentle brush of Southeast Asian flair, in which lemongrass and galangal were used. However, the main sorbet part was made with melon and aloe vera.
Pine needle, whisky, buckwheat -
I was a little worried about our second dessert the moment I heard whisky in the bunch of ingredients. However, this might be the lightest whisky-infused dessert I've ever had, and I love it.
Briefly speaking from top to bottom: buckwheat cracker, pine needle sorbet, Taiwan Kavalan whisky parfait, and buckwheat sponge cake. The spherical thing was whisky caviar. It's more like an adult type of dessert I would say especially with a tiny bit of bitter tone here and there. However, I'm not a total whisky fan and I still love it. Mostly they kept the aroma without the strong alcoholic burn. In the end I would say that this is more of an earthy grassy dessert, and whisky was there like a silenced shadow underneath.
Coffee or herbal tea, we got one each -
They infused a bit of Sichuan peppercorn to the herbal tea, a fun and recognizable touch that definitely adds a few points to the rather light drink.
Mignardise -
Bottom right - cacao, mint, anise. Bottom left - lemon, tarragon, cardamon. Top left - shan yang, oriental beauty, ginger. Top right - sage, pineapple, coconut.
Personal favorite is the whirl-looking soft candy on the top left corner. They used a fruity wine made with atemoya, so a bit fruity, a bit alcoholic, and also the oriental beauty tea. Usually I would shy away form ginger used in sweet stuff too, but this one was merely a breeze of gingery aroma, all well-balanced.
That make sense, recalling all the courses throughout the night, most of the usual distinctive spices were used in moderation. For instance, normally we would think that saffron, lemongrass, and maqaw are quite strong and can totally takeover the core profile of the dish, but all these were all in harmony on the plates shown tonight. Whisky too, and it took me by surprise that I would actually enjoy a whisky-themed dessert.
For that reason alone, Restaurant 12 is one Michelin star worth visiting in Taipei. On top of that, if budget and time allow, perhaps considering staying at the resort for a night or two. They do offer one night plus breakfast and Michelin dinner combo. Of course the package is on the pricey side, but I'm pretty sure the quality should exceed the cost.
And to sweeten-up the deal, you get to venture to Yangmingshan National park after a nice breakfast. Take a few hikes here and there, then you can head back to hotel to feast on Chef Jonatan's creative dishes. What a wonderful way to recharge both mentally and physically.
Restaurant 12 currently holds one Michelin star status.
Restaurant 12 - YMS onefifteen
No. 10, Jianye Road,
Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan
+886 2 2861 8880
Official website: https://ymsbyonefifteen.com/en/
Online booking: Restaurant 12 TableCheck
Operating hours:
Wednesday to Sunday 5:30 p.m. ~ 10:00 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday off