Shin Yeh is a very popular traditional Taiwanese restaurant. This location happens to be the original. Is it worth checking out while in Taipei, Taiwan?
Shin Yeh is a chain restaurant serving traditional Taiwanese food. It’s an upscale, sit down, white tablecloth and “thank you sir” type of restaurant. When I say upscale, I don’t mean Michelin 3* star upscale but compared to other typical Asian restaurants in its class. In addition, Taipei is known for its abundant night markets where a meal or a snack won’t cost more than a few USDs.
My first thought was to grab breakfast then have Shin Yeh for lunch. However, I never end up waking up early enough for breakfast on my trips; my breakfast usually consists of the strongest cup of coffee available. I hailed a cab from the Okura Prestige Taipei hotel after I ran through my morning routine. I wasn’t in a rush but I had reservations for Shin Yeh. It was a good thing I did.
When I arrived, it was packed. There were multiple groups waiting for a table; however, I was seated immediately next to the window. It was a good opportunity to watch the Taiwanese go about their everyday lives. The server came by to drop off some tea and I asked for an English menu. She returned with an English menu and recommended some of their popular dishes.
I ordered several items on the menu. Everything was decent to good, but I’m only going to touch on the items I thought were good.
- Beef w/ XO Sauce – The XO sauce is apart of a lot of Asian cuisine especially the Chinese. The beef was thinly sliced and tender. The beef wasn’t overcooked and the beef quality tasted decent. It was sautéed in the XO sauce for additional flavor. However, it wasn’t spicy. It made me wonder whether “XO” sauce was used to denote quality versus the traditional spicy chili sauce. The overall taste of the dish was semi-sweet.
Beef w/ XO Sauce - Oyster Omelette – The oyster omelette had an unusual texture to it. It was a really slithery feel on my palate. The chili sauce had a pretty pungent taste to it. It was a thick omelette and the sauce took away any crunchiness from the fried shell. There was a slight fishy taste to the dish due to the oysters; it wasn’t for the weak at heart who prefer familiar textures and flavors.
Oyster Omelette - Drunken Chicken – The chicken was marinated in alcohol. The flavor was pleasant and texture was really soft; it reminded me of cold Hainan chicken minus the taste of alcohol. It’s definitely an acquired taste to eat cold chicken. The chicken was steamed and the dish was served cold.
Drunken Chicken
As I paid the bill, I looked over my agenda for the rest of the day. The flavors linger on my palate so I reached for my Coke. I thought Shin Yeh provided a different experience for Taiwanese food. It’s a good stop for a family style meal and to experience traditional Taiwanese food outside of the night markets. It was decently price with good enough service to get me through the meal. However, the food wasn’t mind-blowing.
Check out our other Taiwan articles here.
- Service - 6/106/10
- Presentation - 6/106/10
- Flavors - 6/106/10
- Decor - 5/105/10
- Atmosphere - 5/105/10
Summary
Shin Yeh is a very popular traditional Taiwanese restaurant. Shin Yeh is a chain restaurant serving traditional Taiwanese food; it’s a bit upscale when compared to the night markets. It’s a good stop for a family style meal and to experience traditional Taiwanese food outside of the night markets.
