Water Bamboo Shoots with Mayo Make It Onto the Tasting Menu—28-Year-Old Chef Opens mirei in Dadaocheng

Water bamboo shoots dipped in mayonnaise are usually an unremarkable side dish on a typical Taiwanese dinner table. In the hands of 28-year-old Japanese chef Kenta Iizuka, this dish becomes something else entirely: Puli water bamboo shoots are first charcoal-grilled to concentrate their juicy sweetness and impart a smoky char, then topped with chilled cream that slowly melts, mimicking the fatty richness of mayonnaise coating the vegetable. Rather than "elevating" Taiwanese flavors, he's taking a familiar home-style dish apart and looking at it anew.

Kenta Iizuka is opening his first solo restaurant, mirei, in Taipei's Dadaocheng district, built around the concept of "Contemporary East Asian" cuisine. His culinary roots trace back to his grandfather's soba shop, where he watched the adults knead dough and prep ingredients as a child. He later joined Tokyo's Michelin-starred restaurant Crony, working his way up from kitchen assistant to sous chef, and was there as the restaurant rose from one Michelin star to two, eventually earning a Michelin Green Star as well.

When talking about his cooking, he keeps coming back to one word: Simple. "Simple never means easy"—a dish might go through countless rounds of testing heat levels and adjusting sauces, but once it hits the table, he wants the technique to recede behind the ingredients, so what customers remember is the ingredient itself, not how much work the chef put in. This logic also shapes his creative process: he first decides on the flavor a dish should arrive at, then figures out its form, and only afterward turns to seasonal ingredients for the answer.

Putting Sesame Cold Noodles and Eel Tempura on the Same Menu

The tasting menu opens with "Nori | Caviar・Scallop," a crisp seaweed tart shell filled with the umami of simmered nori and the sweetness of kombu-oil-cured scallop, finished with Korean-style seaweed and caviar for a briny savoriness. "Eel | Burdock・Perilla" uses eel from Yunlin, fried tempura-style and paired with burdock root common in Japanese cooking, ending on a note inspired by the chef's memory of eel wrapped in perilla leaf that he once tried in Korea.

"Sesame | Fish Roe・Myoga" is actually based on a bowl of Taiwanese sesame-sauce cold noodles: a rich, almost tongue-coating sesame aroma hits first, fish roe bursts with saltiness in the mouth, then the pungent kick of summer myoga sweeps the heaviness away in one stroke. "Abalone | Taiwanese Dried Seafood Broth・Pear・Spiced Oil" follows the logic of Japanese bonito dashi, but swaps in Taiwanese dried seafood for the stock, with the spiced oil a discovery from the chef's visits to traditional Taiwanese markets.

Later in the menu, "Tilefish | Melon・Sudachi" is prepared using the uroko-yaki (scale-searing) technique, which demands very precise sizing of the fish—too large and the scales won't crisp up properly, too small and the flesh will overcook before the scales turn crisp. "Crab Rice | Snow Crab・Wenshan Baozhong Tea・Taiwanese Peas" lets the floral notes of Wenshan Baozhong tea gradually emerge behind the aroma of the rice, without overpowering it. For dessert, "Peanut | Sake Lees・Aged Hakkaisan Hon Mirin" preserves a sesame tofu technique the chef learned in Korea, but swaps the sesame for Yunlin's Tainung No. 9 peanuts, keeping that same mochi-like, chewy-sticky texture.

The restaurant space is named "Xie · Bo" (Rest · Dock), drawing on the city's memory of prosperity from river trade in Dadaocheng. Inside, a low, gently sloping wooden ceiling evokes traditional eaves, sheltering the open kitchen and counter seating, paired with dark stone and green marble with natural veining. The private rooms use long wooden tables and woven screens to create a more intimate atmosphere.

mirei is located at 2F, No. 101, Sec. 2, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City. Phone: (02) 2558-8107. Open Thursday to Monday, 17:30–23:00. The tasting menu is NT$3,680 per person; alcohol pairing (5 glasses) is NT$1,880; non-alcohol pairing (5 glasses) is NT$1,380. All prices are subject to an additional 10% service charge.