I was raised on Cereal and Pop-Tarts. This was the mid-’90s on Long Island, New York. My mom brought us up on her own, so she didn’t always have time to prepare the Taiwanese food she grew up with and liked to cook, much less persuade my sisters and me to eat these unfamiliar foods.
It wasn’t until college that I became obsessed with Taiwanese food.
It was summer, I was living in Flushing, and I often went to a small Taiwanese restaurant called Bei Gan (sometimes called Main Street Imperial Gourmet). During this time I discovered my favorite dish, Fly’s Head, a funky but well-balanced chive and pork dish. The bites of pungent, garlicky chives transported me back to Taiwan, living with my dad’s mom in Taipei. I really got lost in that memory. It made me think about the food my ancestors probably ate and how good and right it tasted. I’d never felt that way about a dish before. I was instantly hooked.
Several years later, in 2014, my friend Trigg Brown, a chef from Virginia, and I started talking about opening a Taiwanese-American restaurant in Brooklyn.
We decided to go to Taiwan and focus mainly in Tainan—one of the oldest cities in Taiwan—so he could see where my mom is from and experience the food there. While Taipei is the most metropolitan city, Tainan is well known for its variety of small plates and street food. Taiwanese food is extremely varied. It’s been influenced by Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese cuisine through occupation and mass migration. Even the Dutch and Portuguese colonizers who occupied the island left their mark.
I’d gone there several times but never with an agenda besides spending time with my family. Trigg and I explored the food stalls and restaurants across the city with my cousin as our tour guide, comparing which vendor had the best lu rou fan (rice and pork belly) or niu rou mian (beef noodle). We hung out with family, watched baseball, and visited the National Museum.
Our trip framed what we wanted to do with our restaurant, Win Son, and our food. We wanted to introduce Taiwanese food to folks who haven’t tried it before, while surprising those who have with new flavors and techniques.
It may not be the exact same food you’d find in Taiwan, but we’ve stayed true to the spirit and flavors. Go to Taiwan. But until you do, visit us at Win Son or try our recipes.
Taiwan’s Culinary Capital
Travelers flock to Taipei, but Tainan, a short flight from Hong Kong, is home to the best street food. Brown and Ku share their top spots
Six Thousand Beef Soup: Line up for breakfast to grab a fragrant bowl of beef soup poached to order.
Sheng Li Breakfast: Locals start the day with layered egg crepes and steamy vats of soy milk at this tiny café.
Du Hsiao Yueh: This is the ultimate spot to slurp danzai noodles: brothy vermicelli with minced pork and a single shrimp.
Jin de Spring Rolls: Fill up the soft, lacy rice wrapper with cabbage, shrimp, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs.
3Q Chicken: The chain’s iconic fried chicken cutlet is bigger than your face (really, it’s huge) and it’s incredibly crispy.
Ku's Taiwanese Menu
Fly's Head: Pictured above, this is a must-order at Taiwanese places; our take gets the balance of fiery chiles, chives, and rich pork just right.
Marinated Cucumbers with Fried Shallots: Think of these garlic cukes as the new potato chip: They’re salty, super easy to snack on, and go with everything.
Fried Eggplants with Labneh and Spiced Cashews: We ate a lot of simple steamed eggplant in Tainan. Trigg wanted to fry it so it’d be crispy with a soft, custardy inside.
Lu Rou Fan: Usually this dish is rice with a little braised pork, but we like a larger portion, with chile vinaigrette to cut through the fattiness.
Scallion Pancakes with Black Vinegar Dipping Sauce: Food stalls in Taiwan serve these for breakfast. We treat them as a bar snack with a tall boy of Taiwanese beer.
Lamb Noodles with Crunchy Vegetables and Cilantro: Our menu is full of pork, so Trigg changed things up by adding lamb—its grassy flavor goes well with the fresh herbs.
Five-Spice Fried Chicken Sandwich: This fried chicken sandwich is a crispy, salty, spicy vehicle for some fermented bean curd mayo.
Salted Spicy Peanut Brittle with Ice Cream: This brittle is a take on a candy that you’ll find in many shops. The black vinegar in ours counters the sweetness.