TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The vegetarian restaurant Little Tree Food (小小樹食) is rewriting the rules of plant-based dining.
Forget traditional stereotypes—the brand is set to launch its new thematic menu, "Asian Contemporary Vegetarian Cuisine," presenting a bold and innovative collection of over 20 dishes. The restaurant also recently opened a new location in Taichung, its first outside of the Taipei area.
The new menu draws inspiration from the comforting flavors of home-cooked meals, fusing diverse culinary cultures of Asia with modern techniques to transform familiar, local flavors into fresh, contemporary expressions.
Many popular Asian street foods and home-style dishes have been reinterpreted by the chefs. Highlights include caponata-style bucatini that blends Taiwanese pickled cucumber with tomato, fennel, and fermented tofu inspired by traditional banquet cuisine, as well as a Buddha bowl that combines Japanese vinegar rice with the concept of poke bowls.
Other new creations include a Korean gochujang-infused soy sheet pasta with kimchi and avocado tartar, and radish cake—a creative spin on a classic snack. The dishes are experiments in technique as well as recreation of familiar memories, using vegetarian ingredients which reflect a diverse and vibrant culinary landscape.
The restaurant will keep its classic, popular dishes, such as the crispy and juicy southern-style fried chicken made from black king mushrooms, and the Sichuan-style dumplings with century egg and tofu. Dishes like the truffle mushroom risotto and the avocado buddha bowl, which have established a bridge between old favorites and new innovations will also remain on the menu.
The Taichung location of Little Tree Food is now open for business next to the art museum CMP Inspiration. The store's design blend's modern architecture with local culture and nature, inviting travelers on a journey that combines art with gastronomy.
The Taichung location will offer the brand's signature dishes as well as Korean-style fried chicken with local Taichung Dongquan spicy sauce.
To complement the current exhibition at the CMP Inspiration—an installation by Vienna-based team Numen / For Use titled Net & String Taichung—Little Tree Food has also launched some exclusive new items, only available at the Taichung location.
The dessert "Floating Shadows" layers roasted tea, white chocolate ganache, black sesame almond cake, and a charcoal buttercream. It is topped with a transparent osmanthus and sake jelly to echo the exhibit's interplay of light and structure.
The drink “Bean and Berry,” made with rooibos tea, red bean, soy milk, and blueberry, symbolizes the flowing and interwoven networks between people. It was designed to reflect the exhibition's spirit of human-space interaction and creating a resonant connection between art, food, and sensory experience.
(Taiwan News, Lyla Liu video)
