Meifu Revival Restaurant’s gourmet offerings: Seven Fairies cold platter, squid and snail garlic dish available

▲ Seven Fairies cold platter.

Reported and photographed by Huang Shiyuan / Taipei

How can food be combined with paintings? Young illustrator Liang Gen collaborated with Chef Dong Qingqin of Mi Xiang, the Taiwanese cuisine restaurant at Meifu Hotel, to launch the “Painting Out Nostalgic Flavors” Cantonese-style restaurant cuisine event from April 15 to June 15, transforming the deliciousness and warmth of Taiwanese cuisine into hand-drawn creations. Chef Dong Qingqin’s Cantonese-style dishes start at 320 yuan per dish, including the Seven Fairies cold platter, braised turtle with chestnuts, jade bamboo shoot eel, and squid and snail garlic—all classic representative dishes of Cantonese-style cuisine. The venue also displays several original artworks by painter Liang Gen themed around Taiwan.


▲ Braised turtle with chestnuts.

The exquisitely prepared traditional cold platter “Seven Fairies cold platter,” as its name suggests, consists of seven types of cold dishes, featuring ingredients such as snail meat, drunken chicken, braised beef, ice rolls, or braised pork liver. The selection is adjusted according to the daily recommended dishes and can also be customized based on customer preferences. The labor-intensive “Rose Prawns” feature an appearance resembling flowers, but are actually made by the chef layering lard slices, salted egg yolk, ham, seaweed, vegetables, and freshly shelled king prawns from the inside out. Chef Dong Qingqin says this is the most time-consuming dish.



▲ Jade bamboo shoot eel.

“Braised turtle with chestnuts” involves cutting live turtle into pieces, frying them, and then layering them in a pot with fried scallions, garlic, pork ribs, and chestnuts, which are steamed for about 40 minutes before being inverted onto a plate. Chef Dong follows traditional methods in both ingredients and plating—the pork ribs are tender, the chestnuts are soft, and the turtle is rich and gelatinous, offering a deliciously fragrant taste. “Jade Bamboo Shoot Eel” is a classic dish in Taiwanese cuisine. The chef debones the fresh eel, stuffs it with bamboo shoots and Jinhua ham, seasons it with black dragon soy sauce, and simmers it until flavorful. It is then arranged with fried pork belly and green bamboo shoots in a bowl, steamed, and served inverted with decorative touches.


▲ Rose prawns.

The delicately garnished “Phoenix Eye Abalone Slices” is another traditional hand-prepared Taiwanese dish. The chef slices the whole abalone, spreads shrimp paste over it, dots it with salted egg yolk in the center, and surrounds it with shredded mushrooms. After steaming, it is drizzled with a gravy made from old hen broth. Each slice, resembling a phoenix eye, is named accordingly. Chef Dong Qingqin also noted that this dish is very labor-intensive.


▲ Phoenix Eye Abalone Slices.

Aside from numerous classic dishes, the most essential aspect of Cantonese-style cuisine is the soup-based hotpot dishes. Chef Dong Qingqin recreates the once-popular “Squid, Snail, and Garlic Hotpot.” The broth uses Japanese-imported snail meat, paired with fried squid strips and pork belly, and finally simmered with an eight-hour-plus old hen broth. The resulting soup is rich, sweet, and fragrant, with the snail meat and squid strips chewy and springy, and the pork belly tender, offering a rich texture and layered flavors.

The “Painting Out Nostalgic Flavors” Cantonese-style cuisine event features a total of 26 dishes, priced between 320 yuan and 3,800 yuan.


▲ Squid, snail, and garlic hotpot.