"As a kid, I'd cry at the sight of rice noodles." That's the first thing Chef Craig Yang said when discussing this season's new menu. That childhood confession has now become a fried spring roll, served inside a century-old house that once held Taiwan's judicial archives.
Tucked away in an alley off Nanchang Road in Taipei's Zhongzheng District, this residence once belonged to Dai Yan-hui, Taiwan's first native-born President of the Judicial Yuan. A graduate of National Taiwan University's law school and later a Justice of the Constitutional Court, Dai devoted his life to researching Taiwan's legal history. His most significant achievement was compiling the Tamsui-Xinzhu Archives — records of civil court cases from the late Qing and early Republican eras in the Tamsui and Xinzhu regions, the originals of which are now housed at National Taiwan University. Students often came to his home to help organize files and transcribe records, and Dai's wife would prepare a pot of red bean soup to welcome them. Dai himself had a private fondness for taro, and spent his days smoking and reading — small details of daily life that later became clues for the Hui Room team as they developed this season's menu.
A New Stove in an Old House
The residence was built by a merchant during the Japanese colonial period, and Dai lived there in his later years. The Hui Room team partnered with Dai's descendants to obtain licensing to display parts of his archival collection — his former study has been converted into a display room featuring reproductions of his handwritten file codes and family letters, while another private room was renovated from the original kitchen. After three and a half years of restoration, the space officially opened last year under the name "Hui Room." The cypress wood structure and original roof tiles were preserved, and the visible traces where old and new materials meet make it stand out amid Taipei's crowded restaurant scene.
This summer marks Hui Room's first anniversary, and the occasion also brings a new team at the helm, led by Chef Craig Yang, who has been recognized in the Michelin Guide Taiwan's Bib Gourmand selection. Raised in the kitchen of his father, a traditional Taiwanese banquet chef, Yang's palate was shaped almost entirely by Taiwan's ban-doh feast culture. He later trained in Japanese chain restaurants and a two-Michelin-star kitchen, accumulating over two decades in the industry. This season, he co-helms the kitchen with Executive Chef Esaka Shintei, who is of mixed Taiwanese-Japanese heritage. Together, the two have built the skeleton of this season's menu from their understanding of Hui Room's history combined with fragments of their own lives — including Yang's childhood resistance to and eventual reconciliation with fried rice noodles, a signature dish that first took shape when the two worked together at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and even Dai Yan-hui's own personal tastes.
"Cooking is how I get to know my guests — and it's also how guests, in turn, come to know the chef," Yang said. As long as one part of a dish resonates with someone, its purpose has been fulfilled. He believes that everyone defines "authentic Taiwanese flavor" differently, and that the decision should belong to whoever is sitting at the table. Where Hui Room once told Dai Yan-hui's story, this season marks the beginning of the kitchen team telling their own.
Seven Courses, Two Timelines
This season's tasting menu features seven courses, priced at NT$1,680+10% for lunch and NT$2,480+10% for dinner, with reservations now open. The appetizer pairs grilled shrimp with coffee kombucha, grilled corn purée, and smoked paprika, capturing the unpretentious charm of night-market grilled corn. An off-menu hidden dish — brown sugar mochi with apple sour cream and kombucha sauce — recalls after-school memories from the surrounding school district.
The rice noodles that once made young Craig Yang cry have been transformed into a fried spring roll, packed with vegetables, natural sweetness, and pickled daikon made by the chef's own father, served alongside crispy sesame-oil egg bits and fermented chili sauce. The duck dish, which both chefs consider a signature, traces back to a prototype from their time working together at a Michelin-starred restaurant: Yang drew from his memories of duck dishes from his hometown of Jinshan in New Taipei City, while Esaka brought his own take on the Salisbury steak, resulting in a duck hamburger patty. Made using traditional techniques to lock in the juices, it incorporates a demi-glace-inspired sauce with tomato for depth and a hint of fish sauce as a secret seasoning. Spinach juice is added to the sauce to create a flavor close to jade-green thickened soup. The dish is served over roasted sweet potato, garnished with betel flower and vinaigrette-dressed bell pepper, and topped with crispy shredded taro — a nod to Dai Yan-hui's lifelong love of taro.
The congee course uses Taichung 194 rice, known for its taro-like fragrance, paired with century egg tofu, pork floss, and pan-fried fish, tossed together with pickled melon, marinated egg yolk, and fermented tofu. The main course, red jade chicken, draws inspiration from Yilan's clay-pot smoked chicken; the team made a special trip to Yilan to obtain smoked chicken fat for the sauce, which is served as pepper-salt foam alongside a pickled bamboo shoot chicken broth. Hidden within the fern greens is an often-overlooked cut — the rooster's wattle — which Yang discovered at a local market. After repeated processing, it develops a texture reminiscent of jellyfish: crisp on the outside, tender within. To close, osmanthus-scented longan and red bean soup, made with amazake ice cream and red bean mousse, revives the memory of the pot of red bean soup Dai's wife once served to visiting students.
Hui Room is located at No. 2, Lane 1, Section 2, Nanchang Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei. Open 12:00–14:30, 14:30–17:00, and 18:00–22:00 (closed all day Sunday and Monday, and Tuesday lunch). Phone: (02) 3322-6298. Reservations available online.
