Head Chef Ko Kang-fei is taking the menu at The Sherwood’s Yi Yuan Chinese Restaurant south to Sichuan and Southeast Asia to deliver bold, sweet and spicy, and tart flavors. Fusing ingredients and cooking techniques from both East and West, Cantonese, Sichuan, and Thai cuisines, Chef Ko hopes that you will enjoy these daring flavors with friends and family as you while away the hot summer months. Yi Yuan also offers a sophisticated private dining venue for exclusive networking, with a menu tailored for business and leisure entertaining.

Here is just a sampling of the dishes that Chef Ko has prepared for you:

Spicy Lamb: Chuan-flavored Lamb Chops

Featuring a thick lamb chop rarely seen in Chinese cuisine, bathed in a spicy sauce of Shaoxing wine and red and green peppers, this dish embodies the adventurous new direction of the menu. The lamb chops are slowly pan fried and then baked while drenched in Chef Ko’s special wine and pepper sauce. You’ll need a knife and fork to eat these tender, medium-rare chops, but the peppery sensation that lingers on the palate is unmistakably Sichuan.

Citrus Crispy Chicken

Chef Ko’s Citrus Crispy Chicken fuses Cantonese cooking techniques with Taiwanese and Thai seasonings and spices for tender meat and crispy skin that is delectably light, fresh, and tart. The chicken is first bathed in salt, garlic, spring onions, and ginger seasoning, and then soaked in vinegar before being air-dried for 24 hours. It is then fried and dressed in a Thai-themed citrus sauce made from pepper, tomato, grapefruit, lemon, and either grapefruit, pomelo, or currently orange, depending on the season.

Soy Sauce Calamari

Chef Ko’s Soy Sauce Calamari is a night-market favorite with a Sichuan twist. Crisp slices of calamari are drenched in a rich, savory, and sweet sauce with just a hint of spiciness to wake up the taste buds. Green chilies imported from Sichuan are added to a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine (similar to Cantonese gongbao sauce). The combination is then reduced to a dark, flavorful topping that makes this appetizer a sure winner.

Temple Portal Porridge

After this much dining excitement, you might feel the need to slow down, and the Temple Portal Porridge offers the perfect respite. Yet this light and savory porridge is no boring congee, but rather a wonderful soup that offers a complex range of flavors combining dried sole, pork silk, squid, shrimp, dried cabbage, celery, and many other ingredients served in a savory chicken broth that has been simmered for four hours. With this much flavor, you won’t be able to stop at just one bowl.

Dream Flower

To round off your culinary adventure, Chef Ko has created a dish that exquisitely expresses the ideals of “borderless cuisine” embraced by The Sherwood: the Dream Flower. Made from purple yam dough that has been fashioned into the shape of a flower, this cute purple dish could easily be mistaken for a dessert. But take a bite and you’ll find a savory and chewy dim sum stuffed with a combination of shrimp and cheese!

To encourage AmCham Taipei members to give their taste buds a treat, The Sherwood is offering a special deal – two free kaiweitsai (appetizers) for every dining couple. This offer is good from now until December 30, 2017.