Have a brunch / Served by national-level “imperial chefs” – Dazzling Sino-French cuisine

Excerpted from /Have a delicious BRUNCH!: A Taste Guide to 100+ Popular Brunch Spots Across Taiwan

The word “fusion” is almost the very spirit and guiding principle of modern restaurant cuisine. Beyond classic dishes, a highly skilled chef must explore all possibilities of culinary delicacies based on traditional cooking, but to achieve a refined blend of ingredients and cooking techniques that is both precise and artistic, diners seated at the table must judge with their discerning palates.



 

Just in Bistro＆Wine Bar is one of the few top-tier restaurants that masterfully blends Western form with Eastern essence, perfectly fusing French cuisine with Asian ingredients. The restaurant is helmed by two imperial chefs: Singapore’s nationally renowned French cuisine master Justin Quek, who has served as the banquet chef for three consecutive prime ministers – Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong, and Lee Hsien Loong – and has also catered for political and business elites such as Sony’s former chairman Akio Morita, Jiang Zemin, and Bill Gates; and James Thong, the former personal chef to Malaysia’s prime minister and Justin Quek’s protégé, who shares the same culinary lineage and has achieved an almost divine mastery in the use of French culinary ingredients.

Justin Quek’s other restaurant, Justin’s Signatures, follows a high-end French cuisine approach, whereas Just in Bistro is a more relaxed yet tasteful bistro, yet still stays true to the spirit of French cuisine. For weekend brunch, the Western style of service is adopted: appetizers, bread, soup, main courses, and desserts. Chef James Thong hopes that even on weekends, guests can enjoy the ambiance of fine dining.



 

Before the main course is served, French bread is presented along with four sauces: garlic potato, basil pesto, cinnamon honey, or butter. The appetizers include grilled watermelon with crab meat mayonnaise / chicken liver mousse / crispy mushrooms with truffle mayonnaise. The egg dish is not your usual sunny-side up or scrambled eggs, but a silky hot spring egg with salmon roe paired with a mustard sesame sauce – a creative dish inspired by Eastern sesame paste that surprises the palate. You can taste the sesame paste, yet it feels like you’re enjoying French cuisine. The sauce, blended from perilla sauce, sesame, olive oil, yuzu sauce, and Japanese soy sauce, makes the hot spring egg even richer and the texture incredibly delicate. A touch of truffle is added on top, creating an absolutely delightful flavor.

There are five main course options, including grilled seasonal vegetables with mozzarella pizza, prawn basil fettuccine, a seafood platter with cauliflower and hazelnut oil balsamic, an Asian-style braised Australian beef cheek with sautéed onions and mashed potatoes, and grilled Australian wagyu ribeye with yuzu pepper sauce. The dessert is a mango mousse cake with fresh mango cubes, and drinks include selected Australian Victoria coffee or Singaporean Kaya tea.



 

Must Try
Prawn Basil Fettuccine
An aromatic classic dish with simple ingredients. Garlic is sliced and fried until golden, then cooked slowly with white wine, basil, and butter. The S-shaped fettuccine absorbs the sauce fully, while Parmesan cheese enhances the aroma and texture of the pasta. With six solid prawns, the flavor is so delicious you’ll want to eat it again and again.

Caramel Apple Tart
Not part of the brunch menu, this tart is made with either green apples or fresh red apples. Using filo pastry as the base, it includes apple slices and almonds, topped with beautiful caramel sauce. The tart shell is crispy, while the nutty aroma of almonds dances with the melted caramel, and a hint of apple acidity can be tasted – a wonderfully delightful flavor.