MOUNTAIN AND SEA HOUSE
Taiwanese haute cuisine first gained popularity in the 1800s. Merchants and politicians dined in glamorous banquet halls, where they were served nine course dishes by a kitchen that paid special attention to how each of the five senses interacted with food. With the austerity brought on by the world wars, these lavish banquet halls faded away and were replaced by practical and economical eateries. That is, up until the Michelin-starred Mountain and Sea House re-popularized this long-forgotten tradition by cooking up Taiwanese heritage recipes with a contemporary touch.
Seasonal potager featuring seasonal vegetables with fleur de sel and the chef’s specially made rose petal oil. (right)
Both kitchen director Jui-lang Tsai and head chef Sheng-chang Hsiao learned from Te-hsing Huang, the master chef of the legendary Penglaige, a prominent Dadaocheng restaurant that operated during the Japanese colonial era. The restaurant itself is decorated with period decorations circa 1930, including exquisitely maintained antique furniture. In the kitchen, local ingredients, sustainably sourced from the mountains and seas of Taiwan, are the subject of traditional cooking methods and heritage recipes including, sugarcane-smoked free-range chicken, stir-fried rice noodles, silver & golden suckling pig, and the eponymous Deluxe Mountain & Sea Platter.
Crispy roasted chicken. (right)
Uneventfully named dishes like “stir-fried rice noodles” might lead readers to underestimate the level of technique required to create them. First prepared by soaking in the house seafood broth, the saturated rice noodles are then vigorously wok-fried to the perfect degree of chewiness, without breaking them, and then topped with a tasty medley of dried and roasted shrimps, sun-dried Penghu squid, wood-cultivated Shiitake mushrooms and seasonal vegetables. The ambiguously named “Deluxe Mountain & Sea Jumbo Platter” features lightly cooked wild abalone spiced with a sauce made from the foraged indigenous herb “Dana”. The “egg-stuffed squid rolls” are another gem featuring three preparations of eggs stuffed inside. The vibrant color and flavor will be sure to please fans of deviled eggs. Finally, the sugarcane-smoked free-range chicken is a sweet and smoky harmony.
Chef Tsai and Chef Hsiao of Mountain and Sea House’s continued nostalgia for classic Taiwanese haute cuisine has been recognized for four consecutive years by the MICHELIN guide; in 2021 and 2022, the restaurant was also awarded the Michelin Green Star Award for dedication to organic and sustainable farming. Their produce is sourced farm-to-table straight from a farm in Nan’ao, Yilan.
For more information on the spices that go into Mountain and Sea House’s heritage recipes, read the indigenous spices of maqaw and tana.
