THE GUEST HOUSE: THIS COULD BE THE LEAST EXPENSIVE TWO STARRED MICHELIN RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD
The Cost -$54 per person
The Atmosphere – Located on the 17th floor of the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel, The Guest House is a carpeted restaurant that is simply designed and decorated with more of a corporate office or hotel ballroom feel rather than a high-end eatery feel. It is far from a trendy or chic restaurant and not one that is going to set a very romantic tone but it is a good spot for groups who can sit at one of the larger round tables with a giant Lazy Susan in the middle. Jeans or pants and something nice than a t-shirt are recommended though you could probably fit in with nice shorts and a nice shirt or blouse. Reservations are accepted and are a good idea to have before heading over.
There are at more than a few interesting things to know about The Guest House, a restaurant that has received two Michelin stars each year since 2018. To name a few, it used to be a members only club, it offers an la carte menu option with dozens of menu options, and a meal can be had for less than sixty dollars per person, all things that are extremely rare when it comes to 2 Michelin-starred restaurants. The restaurant serves Chinese food, mainly from the Sichuan and Huai Yang regions and its extensive menu, which can be quite confusing, features a number of dishes that say they serve 4-10 people. Know that the restaurant anticipates sharing a large number of dishes with your dining party so any dish that serves 4 is really just a single, entrée-sized portion.
The Order – Shredded Hundred Layer Bean Curd, Handmade Noodles with Chili Sauce, Black Sesame Oil Chicken, and Stewed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables.
The Fantastic – By far, the best item of the evening was the Stewed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables, which was ordered despite the waitress’s recommendation not to. The dish would easily be a main course big enough for two to share without another entrée needed. It consisted of a very large amount of sliced pork belly in a brown sauce that was served with some Taiwanese veggies that included a leafy green vegetable. While the sauce and the veggies were really nicely done, the pork belly itself was the star of the show – the meat was juicy, full of great pork flavor, and its wonderful strips of fat had perfect texture. Each bite was delicious and though there was plenty, I could have eaten even more of it.
The Great – The Homemade Noodles with chili sauce was a Biang Biang noodle dish. What was interesting about the presentation of the homemade noodles was that the plain noodles came out in an average sized bowl which was accompanied by four smaller bowls with ingredients for you to mix in: marinated pork, green onions with garlic, vinegar, and chili sauce. The nice part about that is that you can set the dish to your specifically desired spice level but it was a bit surprising that most of the ingredients weren’t already mixed in. Once prepared, it was very enjoyable; the noodles were very good and the pork was definitely a step up from the pork that would normally accompany them at a casual, local Chinese restaurant, but it wasn’t elevated enough to justify the price or the fact that it was being served at a 2 Michelin starred restaurant. I’ve had better Biang Biang noodle dishes at far less expensive places.
The other dish that earned our Great rating was the Shredded Hundred Layer Bean Curd, also referred to as millefeuille tofu. This was a creative appetizer which consisted of a long rectangular piece of bean curd made up of a very large number of thinly shredded pieces of tofu. Looking at the dish was a mind blowing experience as I wondered how they got so many tiny shreds to fit together to form that rectangular log. The bean curd was served with a soy-based sauce with some scallions on top and while it was a perfectly fine tasting tofu dish, it is the creativity and the technique that win this dish praise.
The Good – What has been described by some as a must-order, the Black Sesame Oil Chicken is not a dish I would order again, especially given the size of the menu at The Guest House. The signature menu item was served in a pot that contained rice on the bottom with pieces of ginger and chicken on top. The moist rice had a subtle savory flavor to it that was very nice and the ginger pieces, which looked like dried leaves, gave the dish some zest and zing. The disappointment came from the chicken itself; while the chunks of chicken were good, they were nothing special and it really made the dish fall flat. This one just didn’t live up to the hype.
The Verdict – The meal at The Guest House was enjoyable but aside from the stewed pork belly, no dish reached a level of taste that was far superior to the same dish prepared at a really good Chinese restaurant. The Guest House should not be a 2 Michelin starred restaurant and it is quite surprising that it has received that honor once, let alone each year since 2018. It may be one of the least, if not the least, expensive 2 Michelin starred restaurant in the world but that doesn’t mean that every dish on the menu is worth the price.
The Guest House
100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District, Section 1, Zhongxiao E Rd, 12號17樓