TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Forget the white tablecloth cliches, Chef Pili Jiang (江丕禮) of Brise is inviting you to eat the earth.
Located in a quiet Taipei alley, the contemporary French restaurant Brise, led by Jiang, a talent honed at a Michelin-starred restaurant, has launched its autumn set menu titled The Bountiful Earth.
Jiang infuses his unique career trajectory, a transition from mechanical maintenance into his culinary philosophy. His innate instinct for deconstruction and assembly is transformed into an extreme demand for structural precision, subsequently imbued with the emotion and warmth of the human touch.
The latest autumn menu features premium ingredients such as Kumamoto Red Wagyu and Hokkaido king crab, integrating seasonal Taiwanese produce like Puli water bamboo shoots, Chiayi quail, and star fruit.
The meal begins with three delicate amuse-bouches, each rooted in the farmstead: The Ear of Grain captures the harvest in a smoked paprika tart with corn and quinoa, offering a gentle smoky finish. The most conceptual, Ember, is inspired by enriching the soil with burnt straw, merging a fried Jerusalem artichoke sphere with Comte cheese and savory house-made mullet roe.
Next is the appetizer, Smoky Mist features Yellowfin tuna, lightly smoked with rice straw, offering a smoky aroma layered with briny caviar. The base is a vibrant red sauce of red shiso, roselle, and Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar, balanced by the sweet and sour notes of the shiso-roselle sauce.
The seafood appetizer Clear Reflection showcases intricate technique, using a pure crab consomme to highlight the sweetness of Hokkaido King Crab and delicate crab creme brulee, finished with the herbaceous lift of prickly ash green oil.
The hot appetizer Perch depicts quail resting in golden fields. Chiayi quail breast, stuffed with chicken mousse and pistachios, is paired with a barley risotto base and black garlic mayonnaise, perfectly capturing the warm feeling of autumn. The hot seafood appetizer Shore evokes the salty air of the coast.
The main course, Wild Charm, transports the palate to a hunting ground. New Zealand venison loin, rubbed with juniper powder and slow-grilled over charcoal, is paired with sweet chestnut puree and chips. The sauce, a rich essence of mushrooms and deer bones, creates an intense blend of wildness and mellow sweetness.
For a different experience, the upcharge option, Kumamoto Red Wagyu offers a rich yet non-greasy character.
The pre-dessert Autumn Light arrives veiled in smoke. Taiwanese star fruit is transformed into a clear ice crystal, paired with four seasons spring tea panna cotta and chamomile creme anglaise, subtly releasing the fragrance of chrysanthemum. The main dessert Forest Dusk uses flavor and visual cues to depict the deep palette of an autumn forest.
The Brise autumn menu is available on weekdays for lunch as a 6-course set at NT2,680 (US$84), and for dinner and weekend lunch as a 9−course set at NT3,880.
(Taiwan News, Lyla Liu video)
