Shin Yeh Taiwanese Cuisine (Original)

Review

The original Shin Yeh at No. 34-1 Shuangcheng Street was founded in 1977 by Li Hsiu-ying and her mother with just eleven tables, and it was the Shin Yeh group's first brand. The MICHELIN Guide notes that it once served only rice porridge with side dishes before expanding into banquets, while always aiming to bring home-style flavours to guests. It has been listed with a MICHELIN Plate, and NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang once booked more than a dozen tables here for a staff dinner, bringing fresh attention to the flagship.

Its most iconic dish is the preserved radish omelette; MICHELIN highlights how the cooks stir and flip it with chopsticks as it cooks, producing a thick omelette that is fragrant outside and soft within. The tender pan-fried pork liver, developed by the group's culinary consultant, is another signature, and the red crab sticky rice is steamed with a whole crab on top. Hand-made squid soup, Shin Yeh braised pork and old-style gua bao are frequently mentioned too. For dessert, almond tofu made by hand by three cooks and almond tea are favourites, and the hand-rolled spring roll wraps are also known for their craft.

Praise focuses on the wide range of Taiwanese dishes, seasoning that is not too salty and attentive, unhurried service, and many travellers feel the original outperforms the department-store branches, with pork liver, three-cup chicken and pineapple fish all singled out. Critics say the rice in the crab sticky rice is plain with little crab flavour and the crab is fiddly to eat, and some find it merely solid for the price, like upscale home cooking.

Map listings give daily hours of 11:00 to 21:30, while earlier reports said it stayed open late into the night; sources differ, so check before you go. Mirror Media reported in 2018 that the preserved radish omelette cost NT$185, the pork liver NT$280 and a spring roll wrap NT$80, and current prices may have changed. Cards are accepted and a 10% service charge applies; valet parking and an outdoor lot are available, and Zhongshan Elementary School MRT station is about a ten-minute walk.

It suits a proper yet relaxed Taiwanese meal with elders or foreign friends, as well as family gatherings. Two or three people can order the radish omelette, pork liver, a vegetable and the braised pork, finishing with almond tofu; larger groups can add the crab sticky rice or golden shrimp cakes, which take time to make, so pre-order them when booking.