Cuisine
Taiwanese food: braised master stocks, night-market frying and rice bowls built on soy, five spice and rock sugar. Comfort with real technique behind it.
Taiwanese food: braised master stocks, night-market frying and rice bowls built on soy, five spice and rock sugar. Comfort with real technique behind it.
7:07Discover how Taipei bridges the gap between three-star MICHELIN elegance and bustling night markets, offering professional chefs a masterclass in culinary heritage and modern menu development.
13:48Discover how Michelin-starred pastry chef Arvin Wan of MINIMAL partners with Tokyo's Mineko Kato to redefine sweetness and lift frozen desserts through Taiwanese botany.
18:32Explore the culinary spectrum of Taipei and New Taipei, from the high-volume precision of traditional breakfast buns to the story-driven terroir at the Michelin-starred Hosu.
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Questions from the pass
The base for Taiwanese red braising (Hong Shao) relies on a ratio of light to dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and rock sugar—typically 4:1:2:2. Infuse this with star anise, cassia, fennel, Sichuan peppercorn, and clove, alongside smashed ginger, garlic, and scallions. Simmer meats like pork belly gently at 85°C to 90°C for two hours until gelatinous.
Avoid minced pork; hand-cut skin-on pork belly into small strips, about 1cm by 3cm. Render the fat slowly, then braise with fried shallots, soy sauce, five-spice powder, and rock sugar. The collagen from the pork skin melts during a low two-hour simmer, creating a thick, sticky gravy that coats the lips without needing cornflour thickeners.
The crunch comes from coarse sweet potato starch rather than wheat flour. Marinate chicken breast or thigh in soy, five-spice, garlic, and rice wine. Dredge in the coarse starch and let it hydrate for five minutes before deep-frying at 180°C. Finish with a heavy dusting of white pepper, salt, and chilli powder.
Use beef shin with high connective tissue, or a mix of shin and tendon. Sear the meat, then braise for three to four hours in a broth of beef bones, fermented spicy bean paste (doubanjiang), soy sauce, rock sugar, and aromatics. The collagen breaks down, giving the broth its signature body and rich mouthfeel.
A classic gua bao features slow-braised pork belly sandwiched in a steamed lotus-leaf bun. The richness is balanced by three specific toppings: sour pickled mustard greens sautéed with chilli, a generous dusting of sweetened peanut powder (roasted peanuts ground with caster sugar), and fresh coriander leaves to cut through the fat.
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