Top German chef Thomas Buhner plans to open a restaurant in Taiwan! The three Michelin star chef is working with a Taiwanese team to open a restaurant here in 2023. In the last three years he’s come to Taiwan many times, exploring the country and getting to know Taiwanese cuisine. Food experts hope his arrival will bring more elite restaurants to Taiwan.

Tender breast of duck is offset by caramelized pumpkin puree. Spanish carabinero prawns with desiccated persimmons are a many-layered treat. These are Thomas Buhner’s signature dishes. Now Buhner’s restaurant menus will move from Germany to Taiwan.

Thomas Buhner
Michelin chef
I spent, last year, two months in Taiwanese quarantine hotels. So now I am the No. 1 quarantine-hotel-knower in Taiwan. That’s the reason that gave me the chance to explore the island.

Buhner has come to Taiwan for work many times in the last three years, visiting small farmers, and finding Taiwanese flavors to incorporate into his dishes. He even went to New Taipei’s Yingge District to see the ceramics, and tasted local specialties like seafood and beef noodles. But his favorite discovery was oysters with salted black bean paste.

Thomas Buhner
Michelin chef
We visited together a street-food kitchen in Kaohsiung. We have had an oyster dish. For me it was amazing – poached oysters with a sauce based on soy.

Buhner has been a chef for more than 30 years. He received his first Michelin star in 1996, two stars in 1998, and became a three-Michelin-star chef in 2012. He retained the three stars for seven more years, becoming a legend in German culinary circles. Noticing Taiwan’s potential, he has invested his work here, but he doesn’t intend to settle here personally.

Thomas Buhner
Michelin chef
Would I move to Taiwan? No, it’s not possible. Because I have a family in Osnabruck, and my wife – but I would like to share my experience, my vision, my everything, with a young team.

Buhner says he plans to spend 200 days of the next year in Taiwan, bringing his sumptuous menus to Taiwanese diners and attracting more culinary focus to the country.