Braised Soy Sauce Chicken Over Rice

Two ways to enjoy this chicken over rice meal, one you can leave the chicken leg as it is and dive into chewing the meat off the bones. Then there's a more elegant way but of course leaving most of the deboning work to the person who's cooking it.

Being a nice cook here, I've decided to pick out all the bones after braising the chicken legs, so whoever's eating it can save the hassles and enjoy mouthful of meat all the way through.

Braised soy sauce chicken over rice -

Ingredients (about 4 to 6 bowls)?

• 4 or about 1200 grams chicken legs
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 stalks scallion

Actual cooking:

• 2 to 3 tablespoons preferred cooking oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 bulbs shallots (about 1/3 cup peeled and chopped)
• 2 slices ginger
• 2 stalks scallion
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup dark soy sauce
• 1/4 cup aged Shaoxing wine
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 star anises
• 1 aged tangerine peel
• 1 teaspoon rock sugar
• 4 to 6 portions cooked rice
• 1 pack bok choy
• 1 pinch salt 

 

How?

Marinate the chicken legs with 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 6 peeled garlic cloves, and 2 stalks of destemed and sectioned scallion. Massage the sauce into the meat then let it marinate in the fridge overnight.

Remember to flip the chicken legs to the other side half way through.

Cook the rice when close to serving time, I prepped some quinoa white rice for extra nutrition boost.

For the braising part, peel 2 extra garlic cloves, destem and section 2 more stalks of scallion. However, do chop or slice some scallion greens diagonally for garnish in the end. Scrape the skin off the ginger then slice to about 2mm thickness pieces, we need 2 slices here. Peel and chop the shallots.

Bring out a big pot, drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of preferred cooking oil and switch to medium heat. Add in garlic, shallot, ginger, and scallion sections. Sear till aromatic but not burnt.

Move the aromatics aside and transfer marinated chicken legs over skin side down first. Just the chicken legs, in which we will add the marinade later. Once the skin gets that slightly browned sear, flip and cook the other side till colored again.

Pour in all the remaining marinade along with the ingredients inside. Also add additional seasonings over, that means 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1/4 cup of dark soy sauce, 1/4 cup of aged Shaoxing wine, 2 star anises, 1 aged tangerine peel, and 1 1/2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil then adjust the heat to keep it at a medium bubbling stage. Continue to braise for about 20 minutes. Remember to flip the chicken half way through.

Towards the end, add 1 teaspoon of rock sugar and cook till all melted and blended evenly with the sauce.

While braising the chicken, let's prep the veggies. Have a medium pot filled with water. Bring to a boil then add in one pinch of salt. Add in trimmed bok choy and cook for just about one minute. Drain and set aside for later use.

If you want to be more professional or looking for that perfect way of prepping the bok choy, go ahead and dump the cooked leafy greens in icy cold drinkable water. Quickly cool down the temperature in order to better keeping that vibrant green color. As for me? Nah.

So when the chicken is ready, remove the chicken and set side to cool off. When cool enough to handle by hand, pick out the meat and tear to threads. I actually chew on the leftover bones as my reward for cooking this meal. Some might not know, but the meat close to the bones tastes really delicious.

As for the remaining braise, drain and keep the sauce. You'll use it to drizzle all over the rice bowls. And if there's any leftover sauce, use it for future meals such as base sauce for dry noodles.

Scoop some rice to serving bowls, arrange bok choy around it, then add shredded chicken in the center. Drizzle braised sauce all over and garnish with scallion greens we saved earlier.

I didn't realize how much meat I can get from 4 big chicken legs. Thought that skin and bones occupy a huge portion of it. But ended up I got so much meat, more than enough for 4 to 6 portions.

Of course you can braise 2 chicken legs instead, but considering all the work and time involved, if let me choose again I'll still go for bigger portion. The most I'll just store cooked meat in the freezer right?

Extended reading:

• Spicy gochujang chicken rice bowls

Japanese Pickled Napa Cabbage with Shio Kombu 白菜漬け

Sometimes when you get a Japanese meal set, on top of the main dish, there are usually couple more side dishes plus a bowl of miso soup to go with it. And among many common side dishes, you'll often see a lighter colored pickled napa cabbage.

Usually lighter than the version I made here. However, the basic ingredients are the same, I'm guessing it's either the Japanese tsuyu used or the shio kombu, or even longer marinate time that caused the slightly darker version. Put the color aside though, the taste is equally good.

Japanese pickled napa cabbage with shio kombu 白菜漬け - 

Ingredients?

• 1/4 medium napa cabbage
• 1/2 medium carrot 
• 1 teaspoon salt

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon double-condensed Japanese tsuyu
• 2 tablespoons shio kombu 塩昆布
• 2 grams dried bonito flakes 鰹節
• 1 dried red chili
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Destem the napa cabbage and slice each big pieces of leaves in half lengthwise. Then slice to smaller rectangular chunks. Peel and julienne the carrot. Destem and slice the dried red chili to smaller rings.

Add the napa cabbage and carrot to a container. 

Mix in 1 teaspoon of salt. Give it a quick massage then put aside for 10 minutes. You'll start to see some liquid drawing out on the bottom.

After 10 minutes, squeeze out the liquid really hard and transfer the veggies to a big Ziploc bag. In that bag, also add 1 tablespoon of Japanese tsuyu, 2 tablespoons of shio kombu, 2 grams of dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), dried red chilies, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Use 2 teaspoons of sugar instead if a sweeter taste is preferred.

Mix till evenly blended. Flatten the area and store in the fridge overnight. Remember toss a few times or flip to the other side half way through.

Enjoy the pickled napa cabbage as it is the next day. 

You can move the rest of the pickles to a seal-tight container. Continue to store in the fridge and it'll still be good over the next few days.

The pickles are best when serving along side some heavy or stronger-tasting main dishes, such as fried pork cutlet or curry. That refreshing acidity will help cutting through the fat and sometimes remedy the spicy numbing sensation. 

Extended reading:

• Spicy Korean cucumber salad
• Japanese pickled daikon 大根漬け

Pesto Orzo with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Do you know that orzo is not rice, but a type of pasta shaped like bigger and plump rice grains? As much as I love risotto, but the skills and price involved have swapped me from cooking orzo instead of risotto. 

I know I know you can't really compare these two just because they share similar appearance, but it is actually what's happening in my kitchen. So this time I'm making a pesto-themed orzo meal, supposedly the flavors and seasonings both work with risotto too. But like what's being said, let's stick with orzo this time.

Pesto orzo with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes - 

Ingredients (about 5 to 6 portions)?

• 500 grams orzo
• 375 grams chicken (I used chicken tenders)
• 1 bundle/about 250 grams spinach
• 3/4 cup peas
• 135 grams pesto sauce
• 2 garlic cloves
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Some salt
• Some black pepper
• 1 teaspoon mixed dried Italian herbs
• Some sun-dried tomatoes and oil

How?

Cut the chicken to medium bite size pieces. Destem and section the spinach to shorter length. Peek and chop the garlic cloves.

Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan, I used a Dutch oven. Switch to medium heat and add in chopped garlic. Sear till aromatic but not burnt.

Add in orzo and give it a quick mix, making sure every grain has been coated with the oil. Add 1 teaspoon of mixed dried Italian herbs. Continue to stir and cook for 10 seconds.

Pour in 5 cups of vegetable stock. Cook the orzo till half way done, about 6 minutes.

Add in chicken and mix a little, cook for couple more minutes. Add in spinach and peas, mix and cook for about a minute. Spoon in the pesto sauce. Mix and cook till orzo reaches desired texture. 

Taste and adjust with salt if needed. I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt here. However, the amount of salt used depends, especially we might be using different vegetable stock and pesto sauce here.

Once all checked, plate and dot the orzo with some sun-dried tomatoes. Perhaps drizzle some of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes for a gentle flavor boost. Crack some black pepper on top then ready to go.

You don't have to use such big pieces of sun-dried tomatoes like I did here. Use smaller ones or give the sun-dried tomatoes a few chops all work great.

Other orzo recipes:

• Dairy-free chorizo and colorful bell pepper orzo
• Big big servings of chicken orzo soup

Misoyaki Onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり

Some onigiri specialty stores will emphasize on how great the rice they're using, often imported from Japan too. Well, let me show you one trick and maybe save you some money on buying expensive high-end rice grains.

Use less water when cooking the rice. Yes, it's that simple. You know some people also do that when making fried rice? It's kind of similar to using leftover or overnight rice. Storing rice in the fridge will help drawing out some moisture. So why not start from the beginning and simply use a wee bit less water to cook the rice? I ensure you the end result can be wowing and amazing. I know I was super happy with the rice texture for this batch of misoyaki onigiri.

Misoyaki onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり - 

Ingredients (for two rice balls)?

• 2 portions of cooked white rice (bouncier texture preferred)
• 4 grams katsuobushi (dried bonita flakes)
• Some sesame oil

Sauce:

• Some white miso
• Some honey (optional)
• Some drinkable water (optional)

How?

Cook the white rice use slightly less than usual amount of water, that way you'll get bouncier grains in the end.

Brush some sesame oil to a big bowl. Scoop two portions of rice to the bowl. Add in 4 grams of katsuobushi, use smaller pieces katsuobushi. Fluff the rice and mix till evenly blended.

Dip both palms with some drinkable water if needed. This can help preventing the rice sticking on your hands when making onigiri. However, since we already brushed some sesame oil on the bowl, the rice shouldn't that sticky, so it's up to you.

Take half of the katsuobushi-mixed rice and form into onigiri, let it be round or triangular shaped, both are fine. Just make sure to flatten the front and end a little so the onigiri won't roll around in the pan later.

Prepare a small bowl and add in some white miso. The miso I'm using has a more watery consistency, which is ready to use right away. If you have a thick paste type of miso, mix in a little honey or even some drinkable water to thin it out.

Line the pan with aluminum foil to prevent sticking or miso burning directly onto the pan if needed. Either way, brush some sesame oil to the surface you're working on, aluminum foil or directly on the pan.

Spread some miso to one side of the onigiri then transfer to the pan with miso side down. Use medium heat and sear till slightly browned and hardened. Meanwhile spread some more miso on top of the onigiri. 

Once the bottom side is ready, carefully flip the onigiri and continue to sear till the bottom turn slightly browned and hardened.  

Once done, move the onigiri to serving plate.

Don't worry if the miso doesn't get browned nicely or got stuck to the aluminum foil or pan. There's one way to save it. Spread a bit more miso to the onigiri and torch it instead. 

The torching method yields a flavor that is a bit different than searing, but still aromatic. Especially that slightly torched burnt aroma, smells quite appetizing to tell the truth. 

Other onigiri recipes:

• Egg scallion and shio kombu onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰
• Tuna and sesame oil rice balls
• Hijiki and Inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰

Crunchy Shallot and Garlic Chili Oil - Especially Good When Added to Noodles

Since I'm completely out of Asian chili sauce at home, it's time to make a new batch. As I scrolled through old blog posts, I saw that there was a chili garlic sauce recipe back in 2022. So why not change the flavor a bit? How about crunchy shallot and garlic chili oil?

Crunchy shallot and garlic chili oil - 

Ingredients?

• 4 bundle shallots (about 6 tablespoons when peeled and chopped)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 8 tablespoons red chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 cup neutral oil (but even olive oil will do, healthier too)

How?

Peel and chop the shallots to smaller rings. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Take a medium pot and pour in one cup of chosen oil. Any neutral flavored oil will do. However, I used olive oil instead because it's much healthier. The decision is yours.

Switch to medium heat and add in the shallots. Slowly fry the shallots till darkened and crunchy. It can take up to 10 minutes plus or minus couple minutes. Just check constantly and make sure not to burn the shallots.

Scoop out the crunchy shallot once ready, leaving the oil in the pot.

Still using the same pot, now add in chopped garlic and cook till golden. Don't get greedy and cook any longer because garlic will brown and turn bitter way faster than the shallots. Just remove the pot from heat once the garlics seemed ready.

So when the pot is still hot but off the heat, add in 8 tablespoons of dried chili flakes, 2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds. Stir and mix till blended. If the oil sizzles a little when adding these ingredients, that's good, that means the oil temperature is just about hot enough but will not burn the garlic.

Then add in 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Mix till blended then add back the shallots.

Mix, taste, and adjust the seasonings if needed. Once all checked, store in preferred container, also somewhere cool and under the shade.

Sometimes I do keep my chili sauce in the fridge to ensure the best quality over longer period of time. However, the oil might coagulate due to low temperature. Doesn't bother me that much though.

This crunchy shallot and garlic chili oil is not like super spicy but definitely has a kick to it. However, for this recipe in particular, the main stars are the crunchy shallot and garlic. That aroma pop when you bite into it can be quite addicting.

You can definitely use the crunchy shallot and garlic chili oil just like all other chili sauce, simply by dipping food in it. But one other way to enjoy this homemade sauce the most is by adding a big spoonful to Asian noodles. Let it be soup noodles or dry noodles, it'll boost up the flavors without the risk of making you sweat like hell.

Extended reading:

• Chili garlic sauce 蒜蓉辣椒醬

Yuen Ji 元記 - A Journey Through Taiwan's Tasting Menus and POUYUENJI's Tea Hospitality

If you ever visit Taichung, the central city of Taiwan, and considered yourself a gourmet or even a tea lover, Yuen Ji might be a good fit for you.

Yuen Ji got its first Michelin star right after soft opening year in 2024. The restaurant's east meets west ambience, interpretation of Taiwanese cuisine, detailed service, and personally speaking most importantly its tea service were the mere few things that wowed their guests.

Truly, with booming dining scenes in Taiwan, it's not super hard to find various Taiwanese fine dining restaurants to try, especially in major cities. So what impressed me the most was Yuen Ji's wide selection of Chinese tea. And for that, I would highly recommend anyone who loves Chinese tea come and give Yuen Ji a Try.

The restaurants was located on the first floor of POUYUENJI's headquarters. So if you actually drive here, you can simply park at their business parking lot, venture outside then turn to the left. There you'll find the actual front door of Yuen Ji.

So what is it about POUYUENJI? Well, Let it be POUYUENJI or Yuen Ji, they are both under the same family business running by the Tsai family, more so a team of father and son. But before the dining scene, the family's origin was Pou Chen Corporation, which made its way as a footwear manufacturer and is still going on strong. 

With Pou Chen Corporation as a solid backbone, the father and son had a vision to share their love of food and tea, I would also add their great taste to the world. To sum up in a very simple way, the father Mr. Tsai, Chi-Chien now overseeing POUYUENJI, I would call him the tea expert of the group. And the son is like a great partner pushing their visions to reality. 

To fully embrace Yuen Ji's tea collection, the best way is to go for their set menu, because the courses have been carefully paired with selected tea variety. Such as sea bass with "Lan Cang Gu Yun white tea" with specified brewing temperature and length. Or steamed white gourd with "Tian Chi Tie Guan Yin" from Lishan Taiwan. Oh man, my mouth is watering just by thinking of the pairings.

They even dedicated an area as tea bar/tea counter inside the restaurant - 

However, during my visit to Yuen Ji, me and Mister were with a group of friends and they happened to prefer a more "free style" tasting menu, which doesn't come with a well-rounded tea pairing. 

One of the pre-decided set menu choices - 

However, tasting menu does have its benefits despite the absence of full-on tea pairing. Not only it offers at a more bargained price, diners also get to choose from the planned six category of dishes. The only constraint is just that the same table of diners have to share the same chosen dishes, instead of tailored to each individual preference.

Diners can also pre-order some of Yuen Ji's secret dishes, such as buddha jumps over the wall (what a name), or the collagen-rich soft-shell turtle -

Well, as per my preference, good thing is that even with a less extravagant set, we were still offered "POUYUENJI" hospitality," which is a shortened three tea selection for $180 NTD, that's about $5.5 USD per person. 

Under the awakening section, we can choose from cold brewed tea or hot tea. Followed by the sharing section, my friend picked Tien Guan Yin oolong tea even though I was kind of trying to alter the choice to fermented Puer tea. 

Plan failed, they were a bit reluctant to add $150NTD per person, about $3 USD to the upgraded Puer tea. Man, only if they know how much it'll usually cost to get that same Puer tea, but think of it now, even if they understand the price beforehand, truth is they probably won't notice the taste difference due to lack of experience.

As for the last selection "gathering," I still get to try one of POUYUENJI's post-fermented Puer tea. So all happy in the end.

The show plates are more for the eyes, which will be taken away when the meal officially starts. The paintings on the plates are from a female Chinese artist Lin Hairong.

Yuen Ji offers wine pairing too. In fact, I'm kind of fond their sommelier there, very friendly and very informative. Some of our friends want to share the wine pairing, so the restaurant-side was kind enough to split the wine portion in half with separate glasses. The picture shown was half portion for the first wine pairing on the left, and our first hot tea on the right -

I didn't bother much to take picture of each wine bottles, but there's a "get together" image of all the wines served that night towards the end of this blog post.

We get to pick five appetizers from the selection, so there were smoked tofu skin roll with cordyceps filling, boiled black feather chicken with red vinasse sauce, and grilled Lukang wild sliced mullet roe -

Cordyceps is kind of famous nowadays thanks to the popular TV series "The Last of Us." Might be surprising to some, but these supposedly scary cordyceps were actually quite delicious. Think of it as chewier mushroom with even more condensed umami flavor, and that's why the filling can withhold the equally heavier scented smoked tofu skin, thus became a balanced dish.

As for the mullet roe in the back, us Taiwanese were very familiar with it. But if you're a westerner visiting from aboard, this one is definitely worth a try. Especially grilled mullet roes are usually served during Chinese new year period, so here at Yuen Ji, you get to try such festive dish without any time constraint.

The mullet roe is considered a preserved delicacy. They removed the thin coating first then brushed with Kaoliang liquor before grilling. Eat together with Chinese leek and daikon radish for a boost of aroma plus a juicy refreshing touch all at once. 

Braised pork neck and ear terrine -

Steamed Tainan crab ball, also shrimp and minced fish -

At first we were like crab ball? But it's shaped like a terrine. In fact, it reminds me of Vietnamese steamed egg meatloaf, which also has that yolk yellowish layer on top. 

The texture is super fine, similar to Japanese seafood shinjo しんじょう if you ever had it at fine Japanese restaurant serving traditional food. Imagine regular seafood balls but leaning towards the texture of marshmallow, yet also packed with umami, definitely one interesting dish to try at Yuen Ji.

Since most of the people at our table got the wine pairing, half serving or not, I should get something too but without alcohol. Don't drink and drive they say. But trust me, Yuen Ji's mocktail for sure seems interesting -

Basil oolong, that's right, and it's not the usual slightly sweet scented basil, but the stronger Chinese basil. They mixed it up with non-alcoholic osmanthus gin, magao mountain pepper, and Dongding oolong tea. Quite refreshing actually especially if you prefer herbal, slightly peppery or minty style cocktails in general. 

Stewed beef soup - 

Not just a fancy beef soup using wagyu. In fact, the most important ingredient here per my opinion is the aged tangerine peel used to infuse the stock. Aged for 12 whopping years too. So you get this dense yet just a slight touch of citrusy note with a pleasant aroma that'll linger for a while.

I got stewed chicken and white radish soup flavored with aged radish and scallop -

One would image the level of umami here since I got the chicken and scallop as the base. To further giving this soup a unique flavor, a bit savory yet with a prolonged sweetness to it, aged radish was used. Unlike the 12 year tangerine peel from the beef soup, here Yuen Ji paired 3 year and 10 year aged radish to create layers of flavors rooted to the land of Taiwan.

Mister also got one mocktail with even more intriguing ingredients, the name of the mocktail is called sesame oil ginger soda - 

That's the tall on on the left. Despite the possible scary and overly strong scented ingredients suggested by the mocktail's name, the taste was surprisingly both refreshing and satisfying. It has Beigang sesame oil, koji, apple vinegar, and ginger to it. But all the supposedly strong ingredients were just like a brush of breeze in the drink. 

The apple vinegar also did a good job subduing any possible bitter note from the sesame oil and the spicy note from the ginger. Only left with distinct aroma but a rather soothing drink in the end. 

The second part of the tea hospitality, our friend chose Tie Guan Yin oolong tea - 

Commonly you would like such variety of oolong tea being roasted in higher temperature, but the one we had used lower temperature to process the tea leaves harvested from higher altitude. By doing so, it'll help in preserving the tea's unique gentle peachy aroma.

Deep-fried stuffed nugget, shredded duck, Dajia taro paste, pop rice - 

Traditionally the so called taro paste duck is usually presented in a thick pancake form, so making the shape similar to a potato was like a 3D or even 4D interpretation of this classic dish.

With crispy thin coating, inside you'll find velvety paste intertwined with flavored shredded duck. The overall taste even reminded me of charsiu barbecue pork buns/char siu bao. It was a fun dish to all, taste pretty good too.

Grilled beef rib with chef's special barbecue sauce - 

Since every one just shouted out what they would like to try when ordering the food, we didn't think much in the beginning and ended up with way too much red meat dishes. However, the beef rib was a hit at the table, so despite that some people started to get full by all the protein, they still managed to devour the whole chunky beef rib.

Well, since it's a "secret" for the barbecue sauce, I can only describe that the coating was slightly grainy with an almost coffee-like bitter tone to it. Of course there were also a bit of sweet touch and savory flavors fused till the very center of the meat, yet the beef remained tender all around. No wonder it's possibly our table's favorite dish of the night. 

And if you somehow get tired of the barbecue sauce, they prepared osmanthus infused picked radish on the side, a little floral touch to sooth the palate. Not me though, I'm happy hitting on the flavor-packed beef rib from the beginning till the end.

For the hometown specialties, we get to pick two dishes. However, the waitress came over and informed us that chef wasn't too happy with one of the item we picked, the finished result wasn't up to chef's standard. We were pretty flexible and changed to another dish right away. As a kind gesture, the restaurant came over with two complimentary dishes for us to munch on - 

Both were crunchy and aromatic but in their own way. From these two, the candied walnut was definitely a crowd pleaser, also good with drinks too.

Deep-fried pork belly with garlic and pepper -  

If you love chewing on the meat around the bones, this is the one to order. The orange thing on the side is candied kumquat. 

Stir-fried squid in oyster sauce -

Wine pairing bottles that night - 

We also got some side orders of pan-fried scallion pancake -

If you still have room, I would highly recommend getting Yuen Ji's pan-fried scallion pancake. It's not the common flat-shaped scallion pancake you'll easily find on the street stand in Taiwan, but a more refined version.

What they do is that they'll have chopped scallion laying out on the flatten dough, roll up like a tube then roll that log into a round chunky pancake. By doing so, you get to lock in the moisture of the scallion. Not mentioning the thin and slightly crispy dough once pan-fried.

If you haven't touched any of the sauces on the table, now it's the time to pair the pancake with some Yuen Ji's chili sauce or even XO sauce for a spicy boost. 

Yuen Ji fried rice - 

As for seafood lovers, Yuen Ji fried rice comes with lots of shredded dried scallops, fresh spear shrimp, dried spear shrimp, and shrimp oil. With fluffy and bouncy rice grains, it's like a fancy version of Taiwanese's comfort meal.

They pot they used to serve the fried rice was so cute so I also took another picture with the lid on -

Finally the post-fermented Puer tea I've been craving for -

Let's compare Yuen Ji's Puer tea to the usual Puer tea you get when dining at a Chinese restaurant. Earthy and woody are Puer tea's general traits. However, the iconic Puer tea from Yuen Ji also got a pronounced mesona aroma. If you ever tried grass jelly, it's that distinct sweet minty scent.

Moving on to desserts, we have chilled soy milk tofu on the left, handmade lemon aiyu sorbet on top, and simmered red bean soup with dried tangerine peel on the right -

I supposed thousand year old egg or century egg should be known by more people thanks to the US TV show "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern." Well, we are not going down that scary Asian food route, but the soy milk tofu dessert was created with the image of thousand year old egg in mind.

That dark semi-sphere thing on top of soy milk tofu mimics the look of thousand year old egg. However, it was made with peanut sugar and caramel sugar. The cracking inside was colored with coconut milk. Look closer, there's even chopped scallion looking thing, which is made with matcha.

Taken the versatility of Yuen Ji's tasting menu, I can imagine me and Mister coming back again next time we visit Taichung. That's a rare thing though, because we tend to try new restaurant instead of revisiting the same place. But with Yuen Ji's tasting menu, I get to savor the entire new set of dishes from starter to dessert, and I can finally get to enjoy the whole traditional tea pairing at last.

On a side note, if you enjoy Chinese tea and would like to know more about it, POUYUENJI has a location in another city Miaoli. The place is called POUYUENJI Hills. You can book the time of visit along with some handcraft courses online. And of course they have a wide selection of tea there waiting for you to explore.

POUYUENJI Hills look so pretty from all the images on the internet. With my experience with Yuen Ji, I'm quite sure the actual POUYENJI Hills might even been more amazing in reality. I haven't been there yet, but it's already on my to do list. In fact, they even have a tea salon in Tokyo Japan, which is also on my to visit list. Imagine savoring Taiwanese tea in such beautiful cultural setting surrounded by Japanese garden, it'll definitely mark one of the highlights when traveling there.

Yuen Ji currently holds one Michelin star status.

Yuen Ji 元紀

No. 5, Anhe E. Rd., Xitun Dist., 

Taichung City 407022, Taiwan

+886 4 2358 6368

Official website: https://yuen-ji.com/

Online booking system: Yuen Ji restaurant booking

Opening hours:

Tuesday through Sunday lunch 11:30 a.m. ~ 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday through Sunday dinner 5:30 p.m. ~ 9:30 p.m.

Monday off