Shen Yen Restaurant Taipei

Inside the Foie Gras Wrapped in Prosciutto

An hour and half away from Taipei city by bus, Shen Yen is located in the suburb of Yilan. It is a quaint little restaurant across from an elevated bike path with a gorgeous view of the lush green mountains. The owners of Shen Yen are dedicated to bringing their customers the freshest ingredients and the best food – this becomes quite obvious from the moment you even get a glimpse of the front of the restaurant as they have dozens of large pots full of fermenting soya beans so that they can make their own soya sauce. The garden out back is full of home grown fruits, vegetables and herbs.

We ordered a set menu – every time you go to Shen Yen, the menu changes, depending on what’s in season. This time, we had a variety of different items – I will only briefly mention some of the most outstanding dishes as there were too many to count! The lobster with sea urchin on top was especially delicious as it was super tender and flavorful. The flesh was still in its shell so you had to pry it out carefully and if you did it right, it came out beautifully. The foie gras wrapped in prosciutto was very fatty but also very delicious. The chef put two smallish circular pieces of foie gras on the heat, sprinkled some Peruvian salt on a slice of raw prosciutto and when the meat was almost cooked, he quickly put the foie gras on the meat and wrapped it up into a bite-sized piece. Amazing. For dessert, we had a plate of fruit with mangoes, litchi and papaya as well as a chocolate cake was served warm, fresh out of the oven. I couldn’t get enough!

For a proper visual of everything we had for lunch that day, flip through the photos below.

Inside the Foie Gras Wrapped in Prosciutto

Fruit Plate (Papaya, Mango and Litchi)

Chocolate Cake