TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At Michelin-starred restaurant Chuan Ya, perched on the 46th floor of Breeze Nan Shan, the story of Sichuan cuisine is undergoing a transformation.
Moving beyond the singular dimension of numbing heat, Executive Chef Wang Kuo-cheng (王國政) has unveiled a new seasonal menu that charts the diverse flavors of the Ba-Shu region, blending the elegance of imperial cuisine with the bold jianghu spirit of southern Sichuan.
The new collection is the result of Wang’s extensive 2025 and 2026 expeditions to Sichuan. Having officially joined the Songyun lineage under Master Zhang Yuan-fu (張元富), Wang has spent the past year surveying the three core pillars of the region’s culinary map: the refined Shanghebang of Chengdu, the audacious Xiahebang of Chongqing, and the intricate Xiaohebang of Zigong and Yibin.
The menu opens with a symphonic cold dish nine-grid, a signature Chuan Ya experience that serves as an encyclopedia of Sichuan’s 24 flavor profiles.
From the strange-flavor Matsusaka pork — a complex layering of sour, sweet, numbing, spicy, fresh, salty, and aromatic notes — to the jasmine-smoked black cod, the selection demonstrates an exacting mastery of composite seasoning.
A cornerstone of the new season is the consomme with winter melon silk. A rich stock of hen, Jinhua ham, and pork bones is simmered for eight hours and triple-clarified with minced meats to achieve a tea-hued transparency. The hand-cut winter melon, sliced as fine as bird’s nest, reflects the understated luxury of the Chengdu elite.
Wang draws on his Cantonese culinary background to introduce squab to the Sichuan table.
Inspired by classic camphor tea-smoked duck, Wang uses 22-day-old squab from Pingtung. The birds are marinated in dozens of spices, air-dried, and fried at low temperatures to achieve crisp, ruby-red skin.
Before serving, the squab is glazed with honey and maltose — a nod to Leshan’s “sweet-skin” style — and smoked with camphor tea leaves.
In contrast, the fire-roasted Penghu king prawn brings the heat of Chongqing street culture to the table. By charring Erjingtiao chilies to create a scorched chili oil, Wang infuses the prawns with a deep, smoky aroma that captures the unbridled energy of the riverlands.
Kagoshima A5 wagyu and abalone rolls are served with three distinct seasonings: an aged bean paste infused with hawthorn and red wine, a green Sichuan peppercorn sauce, and a proprietary Sichuan pepper salt made from ground dried beef.
While chopped chili is rooted in Hunan province, Wang incorporates the technique into the Sichuan philosophy of “a hundred dishes, a hundred flavors.”
The house-made chili paste that features in chopped chili fish dumplings undergoes a three-stage process: fermentation with fermented black beans and baijiu, a second pickling with wild mountain peppers, and a final saute in red oil. The chilies are folded with fish and potato puree into tricolor dumpling skins, served over soy-milk steamed eggs and finished with a fish-broth reduction.
Chuan Ya unveils new menu. (Taiwan News, Lyla Liu video)
