TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei Hotel is offering for the first time a takeout version of its luxurious Lunar New Year dish "Buddha jumps over the wall."
The dish's name stems from a playful legend, in which a chef's irresistible feast lured a meditating Buddha, known for his strict vegetarian vows, to jump over a wall for a taste.
Packed with high-end ingredients like edible bird's nest, fish maw, and abalone, the dish showcases Ya Ge restaurant Chef Cheng Kuo-hsiung's (鄭國雄) culinary prowess. He slow-simmered chicken and Kam Wah ham for eight hours to create a light and fragrant broth, incorporating hoisin tendon and European abalone for added depth.
The piece de resistance is the edible bird's nest, soaked in cold water for days to preserve its crispiness and texture before cooking. This decadent offering is available for both in-store dining and takeaway, with a limited run of 100 servings.
It is priced at NT$13,888 (US$444) per serving. The hotel said 80% of the takeaway option has already been sold as of Friday (Jan. 26).
The Cantonese restaurant's menu boasts other tempting dishes like stir-fried lobster balls with XO sauce, adorable goldfish scallop dumplings, and minced peppers steamed grouper fillet.
Available from Feb. 10-15, the set menu has already garnered significant interest, with the New Year's Eve set menu fully booked since November and nearly 90% of bookings on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year holidays already secured.
Ya Ge's Lunar New Year dishes.（Taiwan News, Lyla Liu video）
