What to know | August dining recap: Yuan Ji’s guest-chef dinners, Kaneko Hannosuke’s Taipei plans and Pam’s 2027 Australian expansion

This recap covers Taiwan and Asian restaurant news announced between August 10 and 16, 2026, including overseas restaurant plans and limited-time collaborations.

Yuan Ji Taiwanese Cuisine and Torien Yakitori guest-chef dinner plan?

Taichung one-Michelin-starred restaurant Yuan Ji Taiwanese Cuisine announced at that time that it would host a three-day guest-chef dinner called "Xunxiang Seating" in cooperation with Taichung Yakitori Torien Yakitori and Tea Flavor Laboratory Astēa from September 10th to 12th. A total of five events are planned. There will be only dinner on September 10, and lunch and dinner on September 11 and 12. Each event is limited to 40 seats, and each person will be charged NT$4,800 plus 10% service charge. Reservation is required at that time. The menu is jointly designed by Yuan Ji chef Li Yanqi, Torien Yakitori chef Tang Zhonghong and Astēa founder Huang Xinhao. There are 10 dishes in total, including Yuan Ji’s Shaoxing-wine jelly with duck tongue, milkfish with a sweet-and-sour vegetable garnish and eight-treasure stuffing, Torien Yakitori’s mouth-watering chicken, oven-roasted silky chicken, and a dessert made with Taichung jute leaves. The food served with the meal is designed by Huang Xinhao. Wenshan Baozhong tea tonic is used as the welcome drink. The three cups of tea paired with the meal are made from Guifei Oolong, Nantou Dongding Oolong and Sun Moon Lake Ruby White Tea, with non-alcoholic and alcoholic versions available.

Kaneko Hannosuke Tempura’s plan to plant flags in Taipei

Nihonbashi Tempurameshi Kaneko Hannosuke announced plans for its first location outside Japan on basement level 2 of Far Eastern Garden City in Taipei’s Xinyi District. Jin Yu Shang, part of J&G Group, which obtained the Taiwan agency rights in 2015, was to operate it. It shares founder Shinya Kaneko with the familiar Kaneko Hannosuke tendon brand but follows a different format: rather than placing all the fried items on a rice bowl at once, chefs serve freshly fried tempura in stages to guests seated at a counter. The Taipei plan followed the original Nihonbashi restaurant’s natural wood palette and provided 20 counter seats. The sequence began with seasonal vegetables and chicken with shiso, followed by shrimp, white fish and conger eel approximately 30 centimetres long.

Thai celebrity chef Pam’s plan to enter Australia

Pichaya "Pam" Soontornyanakij, the chef of Bangkok's one-Michelin-starred restaurant Potong, announced that she will open a restaurant each in Crown Perth and Crown Sydney, both owned by the Australian Crown Group, in 2027. This will be her first time opening a new restaurant outside of Thailand. The Perth store follows the name and recipe of its sister restaurant Khao San Sek in Bangkok. The menu breaks away from the common classification of Thai dishes and instead presents five ingredients: rice, chili, coconut, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Local fisheries from Western Australia will be used, including blue swimmer crab, Fremantle octopus, and rock lobster. The Sydney store is a brand-new brand Sek. It is located on the third floor of Crown Sydney, in the space formerly occupied by 88 Noodle. It has only 40 seats planned. It adopts a single chef's set menu and is equipped with an open kitchen and dessert trolley. Australian media reports that it is expected to open in mid-2027. Pam and her husband Tor Boonpiti, who is also a partner, will dispatch a team from Thailand to support the initial opening.

MMHG’s new brand Mirei planning

MMHG, founded by Richie Lin, announced the new brand Mirei through its official social media at that time. It is expected to open in Taipei in September 2026 and is positioned as a contemporary East Asian cuisine based on seasonal ingredients. Chef Kenta Iizuka is a Japanese chef who once worked at Crony, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Tokyo. The restaurant is also one of the few Green Star restaurants in Tokyo and entered Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list for the first time in 2025.

Other food and beverage news worth noting

Other announcements included YEN at W Taipei’s finale programme, looking back on 15 years before the restaurant’s planned closure. STARLUX Airlines’ collaboration with Yuan Ji had been available in first and business class on long-haul flights since January 2026, with a second-season menu update in late April focusing on pre-sleep meals on US routes departing Taipei. Tainan bar Kohaku announced an August 27 guest-chef event by Tokyo’s The SG Club beverage director Yuya Nagamine, featuring 4 original cocktails. Further news included a new La Copa wine shop in Linkou, Niu Xi hotpot at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13, Hard Coffee’s Osamu Goods drip-bag coffee gift box, Kowloon Shangri-La’s oversized mentaiko baguette and Pierre Hermé Paris’s seasonal Glace Aura ice cream.