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Japanese cuisine is probably the most frequently eaten and best-accepted foreign food among Taiwanese, yet the Japanese dishes that Taiwanese are accustomed to have seen little change. Daring to serve creative kaiseki in Taiwan is already no small feat, let alone doing it in Yunlin, which most people still regard as the countryside. Owner Zhang of Matsuya has been devoted to developing Japanese cuisine ever since he started a tiny Japanese stall on Donghua Road in Douliu more than twenty years ago, insisting on the path of innovative Japanese cooking. Along the way, he partnered with friends to open a large Japanese banquet restaurant, but in the end he returned to the creative path that is closest to his heart. Cuisine is an art, and you can feel it completely in Matsuya’s dishes. Every week the owner introduces new items, inventing dishes based on seasonal, locally sourced fresh ingredients—truly a feast for the eyes, the aesthetic sense, and the palate. There is sashimi of botan shrimp and red amberjack—premium seafood imported from Japan—as an appetizer; a surprising sea-urchin tomato aspic; salmon-roe romaine rolls with vinegared rice wrapped in Japanese roasted nori; needlefish deep-fried à la tempura; a steamed egg custard made only with egg whites, leaving out the yolks for health-conscious guests concerned about the “three highs”; a main course of French lamb chop topped with pan-seared foie gras; yam and clam soup; and for dessert, an ice-cream-cone salad of avocado, mango, sweet-potato purée, and sakura shrimp—every dish is a delight to behold, refined and delicious. Owner Zhang stresses that here you “eat smart and leave full,” with portions that are absolutely satisfying.