Gradually, Taiwanese food is becoming more prominent. While a decade ago there were only a few restaurants in NYC identified with the cuisine, now there are dozens. The menus offer an eclectic mix of regional Chinese fare, plus, for geographic and historical reasons, dishes showing Japanese, Korean, American, European, and Southeast Asian influences. The traditional menu is a grab bag of culinary wonders, favoring pork chops, chicken with basil, elliptical rice cakes, crisp tempura, hearty noodle soups, oyster omelets, and pickled mustard greens in varying roles.
But Taiwanese food is being remade in the modern era. “It’s because young Taiwanese don’t always want to eat the food of their parents,” says Cathy Erway, author of The Food of Taiwan. She points to new steakhouses, bubble tea and snack parlors, vendors of newfangled ice creams, and fast food outlets concentrating on things like dumplings and popcorn chicken, as evidence of this trend. Here is a choice collection of the city’s best Taiwanese restaurants, old as well as new.
Note: Restaurants are listed based on geography
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