September 2026 Shoal Menu
∥September 2026 Shoal Menu｜Autumn Stores Against the Winter ∥
A rainy autumn is a sodden autumn tiger. At first light we wind ourselves into the thin quilt like a chrysalis; by midday the nape of the neck is faintly damp.
White Dew nears and the coolness is already upon us. It is the season for stewed pear, and a little further on the pomelo of the autumn harvest will be steamed and dried into tea. The bright, keenly cooling cold dishes all wave goodbye now, until next year. In this weather that turns cool and turns hot again, we go back over our lessons in fire at the mouth of the stove: the half-fry, half-simmer of Chaozhou; the kao of Jiangzhe; the guota of Shandong; the red-braise of Hunan. We give the flavour over to time. And we drink a bowl of clear, moistening soup, and feel ourselves finely replenished.
With a thought for friends who come to eat on their own, so that they too can share in a family style meal, our dishes are conceived with one person's portion as the base unit; each à la carte price is the price of a single portion. Friends arriving as a group may add as many portions as their numbers and appetites call for. In every case, dishes come to the table family style. Wine, other drinks or cake brought from outside are subject to a modest cleaning and service charge, set at ten percent of the meal total. On Friday 25 September, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday service charge applies.
Shoal's menu changes each month in keeping with the seasons of the year, and only ten guests are served every thirty minutes. To reserve a table, please send a private message to our page, and we will reply when we have a free moment. If you would rather not use digital tools, telephone reservations may be made in the afternoon, from 14:30 to 16:30. For reservations other than for the current meal, please avoid telephoning during service hours, for in the heat of the rush it is hard to attend to things properly.
September business hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, serving lunch and dinner; weekend afternoon tea is suspended for now, and we are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. When visiting Shoal 2.0, please make a reservation and note the business hours; as there are occasional unscheduled closures, please take care that your visit is not in vain.
| September 2026 Shoal Menu |
| This translation is provided by Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, and cannot guarantee complete accuracy. Please refer to the original Mandarin menu for detailed information. |
Wind-Cured Chicken
NT$250
A Shoal classic, synonymous with the restaurant's culinary history and craftsmanship. "Wind" refers to an ancient method of preserving food before modern refrigeration—marinating and hanging it outdoors during the cold, windy days of winter to capture rich and abundant flavors. The sweetness of the chicken, the saltiness of sea salt, and the fragrant numbness of Sichuan pepper overlap in layers. The intense yet fresh Sichuan pepper salt enhances without overpowering. Stir-frying the salt elevates the spice's aroma; salting by hand determines the perfect flavor. Steaming preserves the tender texture and original taste, using a bamboo steamer passed down for three generations and meticulously maintained over the years by master craftsman Huang Fu-Xing from Lucao, Chiayi. This complex and time-consuming process infuses deep flavors, making it a masterpiece of culinary artistry.
Salted Pig Tongue
NT$180
One of Shoal's most delightful cooked meat dishes. Soft and tender yet chewy, offering a taste experience comparable to abalone; the texture and quality are determined by precise heat control. Processing pig tongue is laborious and time-consuming; cleaning the tongue coating can be daunting and requires patience. Offal emphasizes freshness, and the original flavor is the ultimate test. Beyond texture, aroma is key; sea salt, along with scallions, ginger, and star anise, removes any off-flavors, leaving a clear and pure taste that bestows an elegant character upon the pig tongue. Served with a spiced oil made by sizzling scallion whites, chili, and garlic in hot oil, the aromatic and spicy notes are like a gorgeous attire for the pig tongue.
Four Delights Wheat Gluten
NT$260
A recreation of a family banquet dish by Ye Xin-Qing, founder of Yongfu House—a symbol of culinary nobility in the 70s. Shoal's close associate, Mrs. Ye Lin Yue-Ying, provided the family recipe. Unlike common methods that tear raw wheat gluten into small pieces for better flavor absorption, we retain its complete square shape. We select black winter mushrooms and seasonal fresh bamboo shoots, lily flowers, and cloud ear fungus, meticulously removing stems despite the labor. "Roast" here implies "braising"; slow cooking over low heat to let flavors infuse and reduce the sauce. Time and precise heat control are the essence of braising, bringing out the sweetness of mountain vegetables and subtly hiding the umami of scallops—all absorbed by a piece of wheat gluten, fully showcasing the subtle flavors of the cuisine.
Chilled Chayote with Fermented Bean Curd
NT$160
Using the famous Kun Chang Hang sesame oil fermented bean curd, we chill and mix it with the crisp and sweet chayote. Made with a half-century-old mucor fungus strain, following a traditional two-stage fermentation method. First, tofu is fermented with Sichuan pepper and sorghum wine in clay jars for 90 days until it becomes creamy and flavorful. Then, the tofu cubes are placed in glass jars with sesame oil and chili for a second fermentation, enriching the layers of flavor. Salty, sweet, and fresh, with a slight spiciness that lingers—it's a limited handmade product passed down through three generations, capturing the authentic taste of Anhui hometown. Chayote, commonly known as Buddha's palm squash, is pale green and humble with strong vitality. Introduced to Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, "chayote" refers to the indigenous people of ancient southern Kyushu in Japan, and the vine was one of their main crops. Chayote shoots are commonly known as dragon whisker vegetables.
Kinpira Burdock
NT$180
A classic vegetable dish from “Zheng Xingze’s Shoal Bento.” The burdock is cut into fine shreds, with knife work ensuring the proper texture, then stir-fried in sesame oil with threads of chili added, balancing the Japanese kinpira flavor profile of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. Soft-braised until seasoned through, it may be served hot or cold, fragrant, sweet, and pleasing. Originating in the samurai culture and home cooking of Japan’s Edo period, burdock is tough and fibrous. The name “Kinpira” invokes the bravery and righteousness of the legendary warrior Sakata Kintoki, symbolizing a spirit of fearlessness and unyielding resolve. Shoal took part in the rescue efforts in the wrongful conviction case of Zheng Xingze, taking responsibility for regular visits, psychological support, and transition placement, personally delivering meals to the detention center, continuing without interruption for three years. In the Zheng Xingze case, acquittal and exoneration came on November 21, 2017.
Coir Raincoat Cucumber
NT$120
Coir Raincoat cucumbers are coiled like a curling dragon, utilizing the artisan's snake-belly cutting technique; the silent fall of the knife cultivates the mind and character. Fresh, crisp, and refreshing, yet richly appetizing; soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorn oil, and rice vinegar form a harmony of spices, dedicated solely to the duty of cutting through richness.
Yogurt and Yellow Ginger Roast Chicken Wings
Aubergine Chilli Sauce
NT$240
A roast in the spices of the Dai, like sipping sunlight in fine mouthfuls. Warm, fragrant and full of savour, crisp without and tender within, it carries its scent the whole way from the oven to the table. Beside it, an aubergine chilli sauce, rich and soft and yielding: a layered, generous match made in heaven, a deliciousness that cannot do without the other. The Dai, masters of the grill, are Yunnan's authorities on the herb and the spice. Yellow ginger is turmeric, one of the leading players in the Dai spice cabinet; blended with chilli powder it gives rise to a tranquil, percussive heat, a light tap upon the surface of the tongue, softly pungent. Shoal's own yogurt makes the marinade, carrying flavour into the two-joint wings, its lactic acid bacteria tenderising the flesh so that roasting draws out a rounder, warmer savour.
Jade Fish
NT$300
A family recipe from documentary director Ho Chao-ti, passed down from her father. Day-boat ròu-yú, selected by Lin Kai-lun, author of “The Fake Fishmonger in the Kitchen.” A home-style Teochew half-pan-fried, half-simmered preparation, seasoned with Min-Hsing premium fish sauce, a generous amount of finely chopped scallions, and a generous amount of finely chopped cilantro. Gently cooked over low heat until the broth turns milky, clean and delicately savory. A Top 3 choice on our September menu. A guest from Singapore returned twice and said, "Just like my grandma’s."
Guota Prawns
NT$240
Pan-frying in a wok to set the shape, followed by simmering; the "guota" technique originated in Shandong and is commonly seen in northern cuisines. What "guota" is serves as an archaeological question at the dining table; it is a rarely seen, highly skilled dish that one might not recognize even if encountered. Applied to prawn cuisine, fresh prawns are peeled, deveined, butterflied, and flattened, then dusted with flour, coated in egg wash, pan-fried first and then braised (kao). Golden brown on both sides, they are simmered over low heat to make them crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, exuding aroma. After being removed from the wok, they are sprinkled with dark red, fine sand-like shrimp roe, further enhancing the freshness of the juice and the richness of the flavor, making them deliciously aromatic. Shrimp roe is an exquisitely fresh ingredient; shrimp eggs are sun-dried and dry-roasted in a wok until fragrant, used to enhance umami. An old-fashioned banquet dish, referencing the recipe of Fu Pei-mei, the godmother of Taiwanese cooking of her generation.
Imperial Concubine Beef
NT$350
From the recipes of Fu Pei-mei, cooking godmother to a generation of Taiwan: a Hunanese banquet dish that asks a great deal of the fire. The sweet acidity of tomato, the root sweetness of carrot, kao-braised down into the crimson flush of a concubine's cheek, fragrant with tomato. Taiwanese beef is chosen for a sweetness that stands up to the chewing; the rib fingers are cut into pieces and fried into fragrance with a great quantity of spring onion, ginger and star anise. The pure-brewed character of Mingteh of Gangshan is here, its chilli broad bean paste and sweet flour paste hidden within. In red-braising, soy sauce comes first. We take two old soy houses, both founded in the tenth year of Taishō under Japanese rule and carrying their fragrance across a hundred years: Ruei Chun of Xiluo lays the foundation with the pure-brewed character of soybean and wheat, and Shin Ho Chun of Shetou in Changhua is blended in, its koji washed and then given a second fermentation, laid down dry in the vat, suited to substantial ingredients, its aged fragrance deep and settled, its returning sweetness beyond compare. Fresh beefsteak tomatoes, generously given, braised until soft but not fallen apart, rich and unctuous and fine.
Ginger Lily Pork Strips
NT$210
A seasonal, small‑farm delicacy. Ginger lily announce themselves: a single bloom scents a room, and in food they linger on tongue and cheek—subtle yet intense. Pork collar is cut into strips, lightly seasoned, and stir‑fried in a hot wok with cool oil; white petals like butterflies mingle with ginger‑bright, aromatic meat, setting a distinctively romantic note on the table.
Steamed Stinky Tofu
NT$160
A Jiangsu and Zhejiang style beloved by aficionados, fresh and savory with a richly distinctive aroma. The tofu is painstakingly pounded and sieved, then mixed with minced pork, dried shrimp, and shiitake, bound and seasoned with beaten eggs, and steamed over high heat until set. It re-forms into another sumptuous square of stinky tofu, finished with a generous topping of aged xuecai and stir-fried edamame.
We select Ming-Feng handcrafted stinky tofu for safety and for its singular character. Ming-Feng, a storied brand in the soybean craft, imports contract-grown, naturally bred, food-grade non-GMO soybeans from the United States. Beans are soaked in water that has passed ten stages of filtration and is cooled at low temperature, then pressed once for soymilk, coagulated into tofu, and wrapped in cloth by hand to shape. The result is original flavor and color with no additives. Fermentation relies on natural yeasts. Amaranth, mustard greens, bamboo shoots, ginger, and chili are steeped so that the natural yeasts and lactic acid bacteria of vegetables and botanicals create a purely plant-based herbal brine matured for one year, in which the tofu is cultured to develop its noble aroma.
Bamboo Shoots with Olive Vegetable
NT$170
Our house-made olive vegetable yields a mellow aroma and lingering sweetness. We first sauté the relish with shiitake, then braise sweet Tian-Long bamboo shoots cultivated under buried-bed methods in Dakeng, Taichung, together with award-winning edamame from a Shennong honored farm. The result is a bright, umami-rich vegetable plate that pairs depth with refreshing crunch.
Amber Winter Melon
NT$160
Inspired by Master Chef Zeng Xiubao’s pantry recipe, we stew our own soy-brined winter melon together with fresh black-skinned winter melon, letting the mellow depth of the preserved fruit meet the crisp sweetness of the new. The pickled component begins with friendly-farmed Ji-Le gourds from Puzih, Chiayi, cured under the sun with coarse salt from Jiounan Saltworks. Fresh gourds come from smallholders in Xinshe, Taichung; their firm flesh stands up beautifully to slow braising, releasing a gently sweet fragrance.
Oroxylum Seed, Winter Shiitake and Chicken Soup
NT$160
Oroxylum indicum, the "wood butterfly," known in common speech as the old‑paper flower, is the ripe dried seed of a plant of the trumpet‑creeper family. Its seed coat is a translucent butterfly wing, thin as paper, fine as a cicada's, drifting on the wind, thousands upon thousands, without a care. Zhao Xuemin of the Qing dynasty writes in his Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica: "Each is as light as the lining membrane of a reed, white in colour and shaped like a butterfly, hence the name." Faint of scent and light of flavour, it adds a clean, verdant moisture to the evenly firm, deeply fragrant Heizao winter shiitake and to the rounded depth of the native‑cross chicken broth.
The dried winter shiitake are chosen from Happy La Mushroom Farm: a hundred years of sambar deer husbandry, the unspoiled land and air of Guoxing in Nantou. Heizao is a cultivar raised solely for drying. One crop a year, and one only, planted at Start of Autumn and picked at Minor Snow, grown by natural ecological method under mountain haze and morning mist, the cold days drawing the fragrance inward until it sets. Mugwort smoke drives off stray fungi; the summer fallow keeps the beds dry and open to the air, so that pest and disease stay in check through the winter planting. No pesticide residue detected. Thirty‑six hours of slow‑flame roasting, a sleepless fineness of heat, every cap turned by hand, one turn of the wheel every two hours.
Fragrant Rice
NT$30
A frequent champion among award-winning rice varieties: Tainung No. 71, Yihchuan Aromatic Rice. To commemorate Dr. Kuo Yih-chuan, who bred the rice variety, it was named “Yihchuan.” Created by crossing Koshihikari rice with Taikeng No. 4, it inherits the beautiful appearance of Japanese rice while fully preserving the rich taro aroma of Taiwanese rice. As it cooks, its distinctive rice fragrance already overflows; the grains are lustrous white and rounded, with a soft, glutinous, cleanly sweet texture. We select it from Wufeng, the home of Yihchuan Aromatic Rice and Taiwan’s largest fragrant-rice-growing region. Its mountain-adjacent climate, wreathed in morning and evening mist, and the Wu River, originating from the southwestern foothills of Hehuan Mountain and irrigating fertile fields, together with the natural conditions and the local farmers’ association’s human management, have supported, since 2005, cultivation without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or herbicides, making it one of Taiwan’s most scaled and systematic natural-farming rice-producing regions.
| Pre-order Delicacies | Two days in advance
Chicken Rice
NT$250
Founder Su Wen-wen's longing for her childhood and her home town. It began as something made for our own people, cooked only for those few days of the anniversary, and yet it gathered a following past counting, who pronounce it the most unbeatably delicious chicken rice in the world. Ma Shih-fang called it peerless under heaven. Feng Hsiao-fei said, we need a food like Shoal's chicken rice to raise the rate of rice consumption. But one mother put it most tellingly of all: this is the chicken rice a mother wants to give her child.
Rice, soft and yielding and sweet of scent, laid over with shredded native-cross chicken, sweet, fragrant, tender and smooth; a sauce spooned through it, made from concentrated chicken essence and the mellow, fragrant sweetness of traditional black-bean soy; and then chicken fat poured over, unctuous and clean... The first mouthful alone is enough to open the heart. Chicken rice, bursting with fragrance and slick with fat, set beside an array of finely made side dishes, homely and exact at once: the surest trick for a plate wiped clean.
| Refreshing Cool Drinks |
Dual Wen Herbal Tea
NT$85
Throughout history, when encountering miraculous herbs, ancient texts would often exclaim, "This is true heavenly herb." These medicinal and edible plants have become a staple of everyday life across the seasons. Each plant of resurrection grass is simmered in a clay pot, brewed into a cooling tea that dispels seasonal heat. Founder Su Wen-wen, with twenty years of study in Chinese herbal medicine, has perfected these cooling remedies, carefully crafting the formulas herself. As the saying from the Shennong Bencao Jing goes, "There is nothing useless in the world, only people who cannot make use of things."
Prunella & Honey Date Infusion
NT$95
Adapted from Hong Kong food writer Wong Shuang-ru’s recipe in Shuang-ru Talks Food. Bencao Mengquan records: “It sprouts after the winter solstice and withers by the summer solstice, hence the name xiakucao.” The dried flower spikes and fruits of Prunella vulgaris carry a light aroma and help dispel internal heat. Gently simmered with honey dates, they produce a drink that is cooling, mellow, and subtly sweet.
“Elegant Abode” Sour Plum Drink
NT$95
A standout woody bouquet with the deep aroma of smoked black plums and a lingering return of red cardamom. After a long soak and two clay-pot decoctions, the herbal profile is fully expressed. It moistens and quenches without sticky afterfeel or heavy finish. The recipe draws on Professor Chang Wen-te of China Medical University and researches Liang Shih-chiu’s “Essays from the Elegant Abode,” tracing materia medica sources to recreate a concentrated, robust formula.
Salted Lemon Sparkling Juice
NT$120
Shoal's own salted lemons: fragrant lemons under friendly cultivation from Chiang Hsia Hsin Yuan in Puzi, Chiayi, with coarse salt from the Zhounan Saltworks, the whole fruit salted and laid down to age. What was fresh and astringent turns to a sweet fragrance somewhere between kumquat and preserved plum with aged citrus peel. Layered, sour and aromatic, mouth-watering, salty and sweet with a returning sweetness. Zhao Xuemin, the Qing dynasty pharmacologist, held in his Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica (juan 7, Fruits I) that the lemon settles a pregnancy, and named it the "mother-friendly fruit": salted and eaten, it settles the qi and harmonises the stomach, and is good for an unquiet pregnancy; made into a drink, it wards off the fierce heat and quenches thirst.
Preserved Oriental Plum Sparkling Juice
NT$130
Shoal proudly presents its sugar-preserved oriental plums, sourced from wild ancient trees in Yushan National Park and safeguarded by the Bunun people of the Meishan community. Grown without chemical fertilizers or herbicides, these plums ripen into brilliant ruby-like gems—so enticing that even macaques and wild boars are left with a lingering taste. Hand-picked at full ripeness rather than plucked unripe by poles, they are meticulously de-pitted by hand to retain whole fruit pieces. The naturally sweet, sugar-preserved plums are pure and free of additives, exuding a fragrance as delightful and aromatic as cherry blossoms. Blended into a sparkling juice, they yield an exquisitely refreshing cold beverage.
Preserved Akihime Plum Sparkling Juice
NT$160
These golden-hued plums are sweet and juicy from peel to flesh, shining as brilliantly as blooming canola in midsummer when cicadas serenade in the rainy season. Grown exclusively in Lishan, Taiwan, they have a very short harvest window and limited yield, making perfectly ripened Akihime Plums a rare summer treasure. Harvested at Baolian Orchard in Lishan—celebrated in A Woman Farmer’s Mountain Writings and often compared to a Taiwanese Walden—they’re nothing short of a natural marvel and a gracious gift.We sugar and simmer the whole fruit without any additives, transforming the soft flesh and fibers into a fragrant pulp that exudes a pleasantly sweet-tart aroma with a subtle honeyed note. Served in a tall slender glass, it bubbles into a champagne-like hue—bright, lively, and reminiscent of sparkling wine—while its distinctly sweet fruit flavor leaves an unforgettable impression.
Preserved Plumcot Sparkling Juice
NT$120
These plumcots boast a brilliant red skin and fragrant yellow flesh, yet their short harvest season and low yield make them truly rare. In Taiwan, the most coveted varieties come from Baolian Garden in Lishan—revered in Notes from a Female Farmer on the Mountains and honored as the Taiwanese equivalent of Lakeside Musings, cherished as both a prized and sacred offering. Hand-pitted and sugar-cooked whole using only natural methods and zero additives, they yield a radiant red syrup that is sweet, beguiling, and reminiscent of strawberries—showcasing the captivating fragrance unique to red fruits. The finely pulped flesh reveals layers of plum tang, peachy perfume, and plumcot essence, fresh and refined.
Preserved Pineapple Sparkling Juice
NT$120
Pineapple, so emblematic it’s like holding a Taiwanese ID card, representing the fervent summer of the south. Shoal preserves the whole fruit in sugar, first peeling the skin and boiling it into syrup until aromatic, then continuing to cook the fruit, capturing its fresh taste and fragrance through precise heat control. This southern flair sealed in sugar is bright and sweet. We select Tainong No. 2 pineapples from Songlinmei Organic Ecological Farm in Luye, Taitung, certified by MOA. Forgoing artificial flower forcing, the farm allows natural growth without inducing early bud formation. Farmer He Jiachen thanks beneficial birds for pest control, leaving some fruit for the wildlife. The result is tree-ripened fruit with a distinct acidity, intense aroma, and complex layers of flavor.
| Comforting Hot Drinks |
Sour Mandarin Tea
Preserved Orange
NT$80
A unique Hakka tea drink, sour mandarin tea is made by repeatedly steaming and drying tea leaves stuffed into tiger-head mandarins, following the "steamed into rounds" method dating back to the Tang and Song dynasties. This rare compressed tea is used for health and wellness, with the lightness of aged tangerine peel aiding in vitality and warmth.
Shoal continues the tea-making tradition passed down from Zheng Xingze’s mother, Zheng Wang Qin-zi, who followed ancient tea-making methods. The tea blends twenty-year-old roasted tea with various herbs, following field research on Taiwanese herbal tea formulations, which often adapt to local needs. These practices honor the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine.
The tiger-head mandarin from Miaoli’s Yuanli is grown with natural farming methods. Thick-skinned and juicy, the fruit’s sour and sweet flavor is released by opening the stem end and stuffing the cavity with tea leaves and herbs. The fruit is carefully steamed, compressed, sun-dried, fermented, and baked, undergoing nine rounds of steaming and drying. Over time, it becomes dark, firm, and shiny, embodying labor-intensive craftsmanship.
After being used in New Year offerings, these mandarins are transformed into tea, symbolizing blessings of peace, hence known as "peace tea." It takes six months to turn a single sour mandarin into sour mandarin tea, with its sweet and mellow flavor becoming richer as it ages, offering a glimpse into the wisdom of ancestral diets.
We select organic-certified, tree-ripened oranges from Chu Chang-hui’s orchard in Xidiyao, Zhongliao, Nantou. Pure, natural, and additive-free, the whole fruit is preserved in stir-fried sugar and aged. A finger-licking candied treat, it is approachable and delicious, dispelling wind and nurturing health.
Mint and Orange Tea
NT$150
Chen Shiduo’s Qing-era “New Compilation of Materia Medica” records an old formula: “When someone is struck by external evils and burdened by stagnant qi and will not take medicine, counsel the use of thin-orange tea for immediate effect. Use one qian mint, one qian tea, one qian orange peel, and pour a large bowl of boiling tea to drink.” “Mint not only excels at resolving wind evils but is especially good at easing melancholy.” We apply this to Shoal’s tankan cakes and candied tankan, hoping to sweep away life’s many wearinesses, the five labors and seven injuries.
Tankan Cakes are whole fruits candied in syrup, sweet, spicy, and aromatically vivid, documented since the Qing and now part of Taiwan’s Hakka foodways. Nourishing and home style, they perfume the teeth and gums. We source from Zhong Jing-feng, head of the production group in Emei, Hsinchu. Following Miaoli Hakka tradition, the tankan is scored, pressed into cake shapes to release their juices, then simmered whole with Zhubaoyuan hand made wood fired malt syrup, Shoal’s winter melon caramel, and red rock sugar until the rind softens to orange, the pith turns translucent, and the syrup is as thick as honey. After an overnight rest they are baked to dry: the peel taut, the flesh tender, textures layered, sour and sweet in fragrant balance. With careful heat and aging, time transforms flavor and the peel’s sharpness becomes supple sweetness.
Starfruit Drink
NT$90
A traditional beverage rich in Taiwanese local flavor. In Taiwan History—Volume 27, Agriculture—Fruits, it's noted: "The fruit has five or six ridges; the sour ones are made into candied fruit or soaked in sugar water to make a drink." The greenish-yellow star-shaped fruit, with ridges like a sword's spine, preserves the sweet and sourness of starfruit with sugar. The clear amber-colored drink overflows with natural fruit aroma. The honey-soaked starfruit transforms into a gentle force, quenching thirst and soothing the throat. We select honeyed starfruit from the Liu family's Starfruit Drink in Tainan, a legacy spanning three generations over 85 years. It brings back warm childhood memories of roadside starfruit juice stands—drinking it is like savoring a gentle poem of nostalgia.
Stewed Pear with Chuan Bei Mu and Rock Sugar
NT$100
Pears are listed second among fruits in the “Compendium of Materia Medica,” where Li Shizhen wrote: “The pear facilitates flow by nature.” We stew wild-grown Hengshan pears from Dongshi whole with Yongliang handcrafted golden rock sugar, adding Chuan Bei Mu for benefit. Pure and additive-free, refined through careful heat and a period of resting, the result is gentle and harmonious. The pear is like uncut jade, and its nectar like jade dew, a clear and softly sweet restorative.
Ylang-Ylang Milk Tea
NT$160
Ylang-ylang is hailed as the perfume tree; as in Li Shangyin's poem "Composed at the Zhongyuan Festival," it is a being of "not knowing the path was lost because the flowers had bloomed." Using Yong-Liang's handmade golden rock sugar, Shoal cold-infuses the golden, ripened petals that dot the treetops like stars to make its own ylang-ylang flower sugar; together with Fourways fresh milk and Sun Moon Lake Assam black tea, it is simmered in a pot into a milk tea, a rich, sweet fragrance that soothes body and mind, drawing out the deep, honeyed sentiment that the tropical blossom exhales once ripened in the sunlight. Fourways has its own ranch, growing its own forage by natural farming methods and using no additives to adjust the flavor, so that its clean, full-bodied milk fragrance gives the sweetness of the ylang-ylang a place to settle. As though a flower were in full bloom within the cup, a warm and abundant floral milk tea.
| Desserts Supreme |
Akihime Plum Granita
NT$160
Golden, radiant fruit, sweet and juicy; from skin to flesh, yellow as rapeseed flowers in full bloom, dazzling on the branches in the last month of summer, when cicadas call through the plum rains. In Taiwan, its only producing area is Lishan; the season is short, the yield small, and the fruit prone to cracking. Fully mature, intact Akihime plums are a treasure of high summer. Produced at Lishan’s Baolian Orchard, known from A Woman Farmer’s Mountain Journal, they are especially rare and difficult to obtain; praised with the fine reputation of being Taiwan’s version of Walden, they are divine things, gifts of grace. The whole fruit is sugar-preserved and syrup-simmered, entirely natural, with no additives. The flesh is soft in texture, tart-sweet and fragrant, releasing a distinctive honeyed aroma.
Plumcot and Shiso Ume Granita
NT$160
Plumcots, rare jewels with ruby skins and amber flesh, arrive from Baolian Orchard in Lishan, famed in the memoir A Female Farmer’s Mountain Journal. Each short-season fruit is hand-pitted and gently candied without additives, yielding a shimmering scarlet compote whose bouquet recalls strawberries and other red-fruited delights. We fold the plum purée into shaved ice together with Shoal’s decade-aged shiso ume; the resulting granita mingles tart ume undertones with the honeyed, floral notes of plum, creating a refreshingly elegant tribute to high-mountain orchards.
Orange Granita
NT$175
From Zhu Chang-hui’s orchard at Xidiyao, Zhongliao, Nantou, where eleven years of patient, friendly farming have yielded organic certified tree ripened oranges. All natural, with no additives. Whole fruits are candied, gently simmered, and aged. Garnished with Meyer lemons from a Pingtung supplier practicing friendly cultivation. This gentle citrus lends a clear, lovely freshness that brightens the finish.
Akihime Plum Butter Cake
Sun Moon Lake Assam Black Tea
NT$260
Golden fruit, sweet and full of juice, skin and flesh alike as yellow as rapeseed flowers in full bloom, blazing on the branch in the last month of summer, the month of cicada song and plum rains. In Taiwan it grows at Lishan alone. The season is short, the yield small, the fruit quick to split; a ripe and unblemished Akihime plum is a treasure of high summer. Those from Baolian Garden at Lishan are rarer still: the orchard of A Woman Farmer's Chronicle of Reckoning with the Mountain, celebrated as Taiwan's own Walden, a thing of the gods, a thing given in grace. The whole fruit is candied and simmered in honey, wholly natural, nothing added, the flesh soft and yielding, sweet-tart and fragrant, giving off a honeyed scent all its own.
We use LESCURE AOP unsalted cultured butter from France, certified to its appellation and made by the traditional methods of the region, with slow biological maturation; its dairy aroma is clean, like milk caramel.
The recipe descends through the family of Jennifer Thompson, founder of Healing Justice in the United States and one of the authors of Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, the book of reconciliation between Jennifer, the perfect witness whose mistaken identification sent an innocent man to prison, and Ronald Cotton, who was wrongly convicted. Brimming with butter and sugar, and with a thick, uncomplicated happiness.
