JL Studio is in Taichung about an hour away from Taipei on the high speed rail, so doable as a day trip from Taipei. They prepare a ‘modern Singaporean’ tasting menu and say that they are the world’s first and only three-star Singaporean cuisine restaurant. I really enjoyed my dinner here. The food is great – bold flavors while having some fun and creative elements.
The restaurant is in a weird location – they’re on the second floor of a building with an Italian restaurant on the first floor. You check in with the front for the Italian restaurant and then someone from JL Studio escorts you through the Italian restaurant to a small elevator in the back which takes you to the second floor with JL Studio. You then walk past the kitchen and get seated in the dining room. I felt like the overall environment wasn’t that special.
Anyways, on to the food which was great with bold flavors that take on different southeast Asian cuisines and use local Taiwanese ingredients, too.
1. Amberjack with Starfruit and Jackfruit – a great starter course, looked great visually with the arrangement in a leaf and interesting taste being a little sweet and a little spicy. Really nice. 2. Sauid Ink Noodle over Langoustine and Abalone with Oyster Sauce – when this course came out it almost looked like a painting with the flowers and plants over the squid ink Taiwanese noodle. The oyster sauce was then poured over the squid ink noodle. While it looked visually stunning, the taste was just OK. The squid ink noodle didn’t work with the langoustine and abalone. Still a fun dish! 3. Porky – the first of three dishes that weren’t on the menu. This is their take on the Japanese snack Pocky. The JL Studio version uses bah-kwa which is a type of salty-sweet pork jerky that is combined with a Magao pepper and butter. You get a couple of sticks of the Porky which was great. Another fun dish! 4. Grouper with Chamomile and Ginger – this is one of JL Studio’s signature dishes and is their take on Singaporean chicken rice or as they called it ‘chicken rice without the chicken and (whole) rice’.’ It somehow did taste like chicken rice! They use bamboo shoots on top of the grouper and the sauce is also made with jasmine rice. It comes with a bit of green chili. Great dish, and shockingly tastes like chicken rice. 5. Squid with Curry Leaves and Sambai Tumi – fried squid placed on top of three types of rice. I believe they were made with coconut, curry, and turmeric with a bit of added chili. They recommended to try each of the rices separately then mix everything together and enjoy. Bold flavors, everything was great separately and interesting mixed together. 6. Bread – served with the next dish. The interior of the bread had a shrimp and chili paste, it was really good. 7. Fish Curry Ice Cream – the second dish that isn’t included on the menu. The fish curry ice cream comes with a cold coconut ‘ice cream’ with the hot fish curry underneath to bring a mix of hot and cold dishes together. Really enjoyed it.
8. Maine Lobster with Banana Blossom and Fermented Banana Curry – time to assemble and plate your own food over the pancake. Another great dish.
9. Hokkaido Rib Eye with Pistachio and Pineapple – a nice steak that worked well with the pistachio. This dish also came with a couple of small sticky rice packed in bamboo leaves to add a starch that you can dip in the sauce. Another great main dish.
10. Shrimp and Orchid with Coriander Oil – the last prepared dish that wasn’t on the menu. Interesting and refreshing dish prior to getting to the desserts
11. Tau Hay with Pandan and Peanut – this is their take on what I believe is a type of tofu dessert, there are two halves here. The front part is the traditional version and the back part is JL Studio’s alternative take on the traditional dessert. I’m not familiar with this one, but I think that the pandan was at the front and the peanut flavoring was in the back half. OK dessert, but didn’t really click for me.
12. Yaw Kun Roti Kaya – This is JL Studio’s signature dessert, their take on a Singaporean breakfast of a ‘Kaya Roti’ which seems to be a toasted bread with butter and a jam made from coconut and eggs served with a cup of coffee. This is all explained by a card given to you with this dessert. The dessert comes in a chicken ceramic with eggs and your edible egg shell and egg with toasted bread filling with coffee sprinkles is on top. Really wonderful bite. Taiwanese tea is also served a bit before this point.
13 and 14 – Sweets of Ambon and Bandung – these come in a box. The Ambon on top was OK. The Bandung is a rose water ice cream in white chocolate, very refreshing and aromatic with the rose water. It was a great last bite for dessert.
15. Fruits – I thought the meal was over, but a couple of local Taiwanese fruits are the final bites.
16. Picture of the dining room
Also, as you leave you’re given a take home box that includes some local Taiwanese tea and a Laksa cookie. Kind of an interesting cookie – almost a slightly spicy and even shrimp taste to it? Whatever it was, it was good. Total cost of the tasting menu was $5880 TWD (~$180 USD).
I highly recommend JL Studio if you want a meal with bold flavors and some creative elements. While the overall environment isn’t the greatest for a 3* restaurant, the food delivers! JL Studio is worth a detour from Taipei or just spend the day in Taichung.
Interesting-Goose568
This looks amazing, especially for the price point. Will add to my list. Thanks for the lovely write up
tychus-findlay
Looks creative
Alaska_traffic_takes
This looks like it was a super cool meal! The kind of thing I look for. Very cool dishes and playing. Love the porky. Thanks for sharing this experience in such detail.
Aztec_Mayan
Great detailed review. This is the type of review that adds a lot to the forum.
It sounds very cool and most of all sounds very “special” which is something I usually enjoy other than just technique/ingredients. I have seen this place in the lists and indeed I always thought it was super weird that the one Singaporean three star restaurant is, of all places, in Taiwan. And not even in Taipei for that matter.
Regarding the environment, it is interesting they don’t put more attention to it. However, as much as I love my Taiwanese gf and her country (and I really do), my personal perception is that elegance/class in a physical space/environment is not something Taiwan is super good at. At least not in the way other countries are.
I’ll be in Taiwan in Feb so I will definitely consider this.
5 Comments
JL Studio is in Taichung about an hour away from Taipei on the high speed rail, so doable as a day trip from Taipei. They prepare a ‘modern Singaporean’ tasting menu and say that they are the world’s first and only three-star Singaporean cuisine restaurant. I really enjoyed my dinner here. The food is great – bold flavors while having some fun and creative elements.
The restaurant is in a weird location – they’re on the second floor of a building with an Italian restaurant on the first floor. You check in with the front for the Italian restaurant and then someone from JL Studio escorts you through the Italian restaurant to a small elevator in the back which takes you to the second floor with JL Studio. You then walk past the kitchen and get seated in the dining room. I felt like the overall environment wasn’t that special.
Anyways, on to the food which was great with bold flavors that take on different southeast Asian cuisines and use local Taiwanese ingredients, too.
1. Amberjack with Starfruit and Jackfruit – a great starter course, looked great visually with the arrangement in a leaf and interesting taste being a little sweet and a little spicy. Really nice.
2. Sauid Ink Noodle over Langoustine and Abalone with Oyster Sauce – when this course came out it almost looked like a painting with the flowers and plants over the squid ink Taiwanese noodle. The oyster sauce was then poured over the squid ink noodle. While it looked visually stunning, the taste was just OK. The squid ink noodle didn’t work with the langoustine and abalone. Still a fun dish!
3. Porky – the first of three dishes that weren’t on the menu. This is their take on the Japanese snack Pocky. The JL Studio version uses bah-kwa which is a type of salty-sweet pork jerky that is combined with a Magao pepper and butter. You get a couple of sticks of the Porky which was great. Another fun dish!
4. Grouper with Chamomile and Ginger – this is one of JL Studio’s signature dishes and is their take on Singaporean chicken rice or as they called it ‘chicken rice without the chicken and (whole) rice’.’ It somehow did taste like chicken rice! They use bamboo shoots on top of the grouper and the sauce is also made with jasmine rice. It comes with a bit of green chili. Great dish, and shockingly tastes like chicken rice.
5. Squid with Curry Leaves and Sambai Tumi – fried squid placed on top of three types of rice. I believe they were made with coconut, curry, and turmeric with a bit of added chili. They recommended to try each of the rices separately then mix everything together and enjoy. Bold flavors, everything was great separately and interesting mixed together.
6. Bread – served with the next dish. The interior of the bread had a shrimp and chili paste, it was really good.
7. Fish Curry Ice Cream – the second dish that isn’t included on the menu. The fish curry ice cream comes with a cold coconut ‘ice cream’ with the hot fish curry underneath to bring a mix of hot and cold dishes together. Really enjoyed it.
8. Maine Lobster with Banana Blossom and Fermented Banana Curry – time to assemble and plate your own food over the pancake. Another great dish.
9. Hokkaido Rib Eye with Pistachio and Pineapple – a nice steak that worked well with the pistachio. This dish also came with a couple of small sticky rice packed in bamboo leaves to add a starch that you can dip in the sauce. Another great main dish.
10. Shrimp and Orchid with Coriander Oil – the last prepared dish that wasn’t on the menu. Interesting and refreshing dish prior to getting to the desserts
11. Tau Hay with Pandan and Peanut – this is their take on what I believe is a type of tofu dessert, there are two halves here. The front part is the traditional version and the back part is JL Studio’s alternative take on the traditional dessert. I’m not familiar with this one, but I think that the pandan was at the front and the peanut flavoring was in the back half. OK dessert, but didn’t really click for me.
12. Yaw Kun Roti Kaya – This is JL Studio’s signature dessert, their take on a Singaporean breakfast of a ‘Kaya Roti’ which seems to be a toasted bread with butter and a jam made from coconut and eggs served with a cup of coffee. This is all explained by a card given to you with this dessert. The dessert comes in a chicken ceramic with eggs and your edible egg shell and egg with toasted bread filling with coffee sprinkles is on top. Really wonderful bite. Taiwanese tea is also served a bit before this point.
13 and 14 – Sweets of Ambon and Bandung – these come in a box. The Ambon on top was OK. The Bandung is a rose water ice cream in white chocolate, very refreshing and aromatic with the rose water. It was a great last bite for dessert.
15. Fruits – I thought the meal was over, but a couple of local Taiwanese fruits are the final bites.
16. Picture of the dining room
Also, as you leave you’re given a take home box that includes some local Taiwanese tea and a Laksa cookie. Kind of an interesting cookie – almost a slightly spicy and even shrimp taste to it? Whatever it was, it was good. Total cost of the tasting menu was $5880 TWD (~$180 USD).
I highly recommend JL Studio if you want a meal with bold flavors and some creative elements. While the overall environment isn’t the greatest for a 3* restaurant, the food delivers! JL Studio is worth a detour from Taipei or just spend the day in Taichung.
This looks amazing, especially for the price point. Will add to my list. Thanks for the lovely write up
Looks creative
This looks like it was a super cool meal! The kind of thing I look for.
Very cool dishes and playing. Love the porky.
Thanks for sharing this experience in such detail.
Great detailed review. This is the type of review that adds a lot to the forum.
It sounds very cool and most of all sounds very “special” which is something I usually enjoy other than just technique/ingredients. I have seen this place in the lists and indeed I always thought it was super weird that the one Singaporean three star restaurant is, of all places, in Taiwan. And not even in Taipei for that matter.
Regarding the environment, it is interesting they don’t put more attention to it. However, as much as I love my Taiwanese gf and her country (and I really do), my personal perception is that elegance/class in a physical space/environment is not something Taiwan is super good at. At least not in the way other countries are.
I’ll be in Taiwan in Feb so I will definitely consider this.