Summer dining recap: Ladurée’s Taiwanese chef wins a world title, Polux Taipei opens and Sushi Saito visits Taiwan

Looking back on the week from July 27 to August 2, 2026, Taiwan’s catering circle has received a lot of news: French dessert brand Ladurée’s Taiwanese chef won the global brand championship, French celebrity chef Paul Pairet’s all-weather restaurant opened in Taipei, Tokyo’s famous sushi restaurant Sushi Sushi came to Taiwan for the first time for guest-chef collaboration, and Korean Chinese cuisine chef Zheng Jishan’s brand announced its entry into Taipei. Some activities have now ended with the schedule, and some stores in preparation have not yet seen follow-up announcements.

How did Ladurée’s Taiwanese chef win the brand’s global championship?

The French dessert brand Ladurée’s 6th Global Chef Conference was held in Paris. Executive pastry chefs from various places proposed interpretations of the French classic Saint-Honoré. Ann Li, Taiwan's executive pastry chef, won the championship with her work "Saint-Honoré Jin Xuan & Apple". The work uses pomelo-flavored Jin Xuan tea as the main flavor, paired with green apple, green cardamom and fresh nasturtium leaves, bringing the Taiwanese tea flavor into the French dessert structure. It was unanimously recognized by global judges. The brand originally planned to have this champion product sold in limited quantities at the Champs Elysees flagship store in Paris and Taiwan stores in September 2026. However, the actual launch date and price had not yet been officially announced as of the time of the report.

How was the opening of Polux Taipei?

The all-day French restaurant "Polux by Paul Pairet Taipei", hosted by French celebrity chef Paul Pairet, officially opened in Da'an District, Taipei City. It is the brand's first overseas location after Shanghai. It is jointly operated by Paul Pairet, VOL Group and Jiapin International Holdings. The restaurant follows the path of a Parisian street corner cafe and does not do fine dining. It serves French home-cooked dishes such as sardine toast, oysters, classic steak fries, etc. There are about 80 seats indoors. Paul Pairet's Michelin three-star restaurant Ultraviolet in Shanghai has closed its operations at the end of March 2025. The Polux brand was founded in Shanghai in 2019. The store name is taken from his childhood nickname.

How does the guest-chef dinner in Taiwan go?

Sushi Sushi, a famous sushi restaurant in Edomae, Tokyo, came to Taiwan for the first time from August 10th to 12th. It hosted a limited-edition guest-chef dinner at "Sushi Kaneko", the Itamae sushi brand under the Fujitsu Group. There were seven events in total, with ten seats each. All were by invitation only and were not sold to the public. The former head of the management board is Ishikawa Hiroshi, the chief disciple of Sushi Sushi, who follows the standards of the Tokyo main store to control details such as the selection of fish ingredients and the temperature of the vinegared rice. Sushi Sushi was founded in Roppongi, Tokyo in 2007 by owner Koji Saito. It quickly received three Michelin stars after its opening and maintained them for ten consecutive years. In 2020, it switched to a referral system from regular customers and therefore withdrew from the Michelin Guide selection system.

Why did Sweet Honey announce its entry into Taipei?

The Chinese cuisine brand "Tianmi" (티엔미미) owned by Korean chef Zheng Jishan announced that it will enter Taiwan. Its first overseas official base has been selected in Zhongshan District, Taipei City, with an area of ​​more than 100 square meters. The brand said at the time that it planned to open in August, but the exact address and opening date had not been announced at the time of the news. Jung Ji-sun is one of the few female chefs of Chinese cuisine in South Korea. She founded Tianmi Mi in Seoul in 2020 and currently has branches in Hongdae and Gangnam. She became popular in the first season of "Black and White Chef: Cuisine Class War" with her carne-drawing technique and spicy butter shrimp and other dishes, and finally won 7th place. In the second season, she was transferred to a special judge.

What other dining trends are worth reviewing?

Coffee Sind, the only store in Taipei to be selected as one of the world's top 100 coffee shops, announced at the time that it would open a new location in Guangfu South Road Lane, Da'an District, with a green forecourt and indoor seating, tentatively scheduled for trial operation in August. Hong Kong-style dim sum brand Tim Ho Wan announced a four-year plan to open new stores in Taiwan, with the target of increasing from 16 to 32 stores by 2030, and using Taiwan as the first pilot market for new concept stores. In addition, "Red Leaf Cake", founded in 1966, plans to open its first physical store in Xitun District, Taichung. In the past, it only entered the Taichung market in the form of a department store pop-up, but the opening date had not been announced when the preparation announcement was made. Morihico, an independent coffee brand in Hokkaido, Japan, opened its world's first overseas store in Caotun Lavender Forest, Nantou Jiujiufeng Park, with a "snow-ink" space concept designed by founder Sosuke Ichikawa. As for the limited-time events that were originally scheduled to be launched in mid-August, including the summer set menu of Chuyu Tetsuban Tei and the cross-store joint dining parties of Zài Cuisine and Buyongjia, they have all ended at the end of August along with the schedule.