56 TRAVEL+LEISURE | SEPTEMBER 2019
EXPERIENCES
Clockwise from top
left: White-chocolate
bread pudding with
liquid-nitrogen-
infused foie gras at
Impromptu by Paul
Lee; Taipei’s Daan
neighborhood; the
marinated-crab
dish at Ephernité;
Binjiang Market.
Kai Ho. At Taïrroir, his elegant,
Michelin-starred, three-year-old
restaurant in the capital, Taipei, Ho
serves a dish called Memory of a
Highway Rest Area. The congee is lush;
the yolky, yielding, Pu’er-tea-marinated
IN
Taiwan, the highway rest stops are
destinations in their own right, thanks
to the unusually elaborate snacks they
serve. Those snacks—congee, tea eggs, roasted
sweet potatoes, and other humble, nourishing,
everyday delights—have lodged in the brain of chef
TAIPEI’S FOOD SCENE HEATS UP
With a group of young, wildly creative chefs leading the way, the Taiwanese
capital is emerging as Asia’s buzziest culinary destination. BY MATT GROSS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SEAN MARC LEE