"Grandpas Over Flowers" Effect Continues: Yuanshan Hotel Sees 40% Surge in Bookings

▲ The Grand Hotel Taipei is one of the popular destinations for international visitors traveling to Taiwan. (Photo / Reporter Chen Mingren)

By Chen Tzu-yin / Staff Writer

Taiwan’s representative to South Korea recently hosted a "Taiwan Gastronomy Feast" event at the Lotte Hotel in Myeongdong, Seoul, to promote Taiwanese cuisine to the local community, and held a congressional dinner on the evening of the 2nd for Korean political, business, and media figures as well as the Asian Games athletes led by Olympic Committee Chairman Lin Hung-tao. The chef team from the Grand Hotel Taipei was also invited to showcase their culinary skills. Li Jianrong, chairman of the Grand Hotel Taipei, stated during the banquet that after the Korean TV show "Grandpas Over Flowers" visited Taiwan and filmed at the hotel, the overall occupancy rate has increased by 40%.

At the banquet prepared by the Grand Hotel Taipei team, dishes included Taiwanese Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Taiwanese stir-fried rice noodles, Taiwanese seafood rolls, Dongpo pork, beef noodle soup, red bean sponge cake, and pineapple cakes. A spokesperson for the Grand Hotel Taipei said that the most popular "Yuanshan Beef Noodles," originally prepared for 150 servings, were increased to 300 servings "upon guests’ requests." Chairman Li Jianrong added that Taiwan’s representative to Korea, Shi Ding, had invited the Grand Hotel Taipei’s chef team to help promote Taiwan, with the hotel specifically assigning Chef Wang Quanyi, fruit carving expert Lai Chongping, beef noodle master Lin Jincun, and Zhan Ganming to lead the mission.Li Jianrong further pointed out that in 1966, when South Korean President Park Chung-hee and his wife visited China and stayed at the Grand Hotel Taipei, the state banquet hosted by former President Chiang Kai-shek was prepared by the hotel’s staff. Recently, after the production crew of the Korean travel show "Grandpas Over Flowers" filmed at the Grand Hotel Taipei, it has attracted even more Korean tourists to stay and visit. In terms of occupancy rates, there has been a 40% increase from January to August this year compared to the same period last year.



▲ Chefs from the Grand Hotel Taipei were invited to Korea to promote Taiwanese cuisine. (Photo / Provided by the Grand Hotel Taipei)

During the event, the chef team presented over ten dishes including mango salad with squid, five-spice abalone, Shaoxing wine chicken, Taiwanese stir-fried rice noodles, Taiwanese seafood rolls, garlic sprout sea urchin roe, tree fungus steamed fish, Yuanshan beef noodles, red glutinous rice cake, Dongpo pork, money prawns, red bean sponge cake, and Taiwanese pineapple cakes (Fengli Su). Leading chef Wang Quanyi mentioned that although most ingredients were restricted for import and had to be sourced locally in Korea, many seasonings were brought over from Taiwan as much as possible, ensuring that guests could enjoy authentic Taiwanese cuisine.