Taiwan Dining Archives | Talking Taiwan Podcast

Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry: Our Talk with Founder Lisa Cheng Smith Ep 135

Felicia Lin — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 13:51:25 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan, Lisa Cheng Smith, has channeled her love of Taiwanese food, cooking and premium ingredients into creating Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry. Yun Hai sources premium ingredients for Taiwanese cooking, directly from artisans, farms, and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan.

In this interview Lisa not only talks about how and why she started Yun Hai, and her vision for the business, but she shares her favorite Taiwanese restaurants, cookbooks, and some great resources for tips on Taiwanese cooking.

Taiwanese food lovers, this episode is definitely for you!

I initially spoke with Lisa earlier this year but so much has happened with Yun Hai since then, so a week or so ago we spoke again to get some updates. Be sure to listen to the end of the interview to hear about all of the exciting developments.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

What inspired Lisa to start Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry
Where Lisa’s love of Taiwanese food comes from
The chili sauce that inspired her to start Yun Hai
The slow food movement
What Lisa loves about the food in Taiwan
How long it took Lisa to set up Yun Hai
The story behind the name Yun Hai
The challenges of running a small online business
How Lisa met her business partner
Yun Hai’s collaboration with Rose Bakery for the Lunar New Year
Lisa’s favorite Taiwanese holidays and festivals
Lisa’s Taiwanese cookbook recommendations
Other sources recommended by Lisa for Taiwanese recipes (blogs, YouTube)
Products offered by Yun Hai
New products
How Lisa choses products for Yun Hai
Yun Hai’s connection to Win Son
Lisa’s Taiwanese restaurant recommendations
Future plans for Yun Hai
The short documentary that Yun Hai produced about soy sauce makers in Taiwan
The newest developments with Yun Hai since the initial interview with Lisa earlier this year
Yun Hai’s Kickstarter campaign for Yun Hai Selection Dried Fruit Line (pineapple, mango, guava)
New products that Yun Hai is introducing
How Yun Hai has been growing
Yun Hai’s plans to open a store in East Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
The Yun Hai Stories newsletter

Elena Liao Founder of Te Company: Running a Tea Room in the West Village Ep 111

Felicia Lin — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:55:16 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

When I first interviewed Elena in 2013, she had just won the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition. She was launching her Taiwanese tea business Té online. Since then, I’ve wondered how she was doing and a couple of years later, I learned that Elena had opened a tearoom in the West Village.

I’ve visited the tearoom and it is a place of pure zen where tea drinking becomes a ritual. A true ambassador of tea, Elena sees the tearoom as a way to connect with others, to experience tea, and to demonstrate how it is brewed. Many of her customers are dedicated tea drinkers who first cultivate their tea drinking habits there. In this space, tea drinking is an activity of tranquil introspection.

In October of 2017 I invited Elena back on to Talking Taiwan for an update.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

What’s happened since the last time Elena was interviewed on Talking Taiwan in 2013
What it was like opening and running the tea shop
The tea education and tea tastings that Té offers
How Elena was able to get press for Té
Advice for people who want to open a brick and mortar store like Té
What’s next, her future plans for Té

Trigg Brown and Josh Ku of Win Son: Taiwanese Restaurant in NYC Ep 60

Felicia Lin — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:51:51 +0000

A Note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

When I sat down to interview Trigg Brown and Josh Ku about their Taiwanese American restaurant, Win Son, they talked about their shared a love of food, and how they used to trek all the way out to Flushing just to get good Taiwanese food. They used to get into discussions about what makes food uniquely Taiwanese vs. Chinese or Chinese American, and somewhere along the way they started tossing around the idea of opening up a restaurant together.

At first it seemed like just talk, but then Trigg inherited a commercial stove which they decided to keep- initially in the lobby of Josh’s building. The funny thing is that once this stove showed up, talk of Josh and Trigg’s restaurant idea seemed more and more real. Later the stove was moved into a former restaurant space that Josh was dealing with as a property manager. As fate and a Kickstarter campaign would have it, that former restaurant space ended up being where they opened Win Son.

The two spoke to me about how the challenges of dealing with a cuisine that most have never heard of before, and how the research they did in Taiwan before opening Win Son was less about replicating Taiwanese dishes exactly, but more about understanding Taiwan’s history, culture and food. Both Josh and Trigg understand the subtext they are dealing with by running a Taiwanese American restaurant. Sometimes, loaded political implications can come with the label of being “Taiwanese.” In recreating Taiwanese dishes at Win Son, Trigg and Josh have taken care to pay homage to Taiwan’s culture and cuisine.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

How they met and bonded over their common love of food
How a stove that Trigg inherited led to the idea of opening a Taiwanese American restaurant concept to becoming a reality
Where the name Win Son came from
How Taiwan’s complex history influences Trigg’s understanding of how Taiwanese dishes are prepared
The research they did in Taiwan before opening up Win Son
What it means to be a Taiwanese restaurant in New York and how it’s hard not to be political
How they interpret and pay homage to Taiwan’s history and culture through food
The challenges of being in the restaurant industry
Recommendations for people interested in opening up a restaurant

Elena Liao about Te Company Ep 31

Felicia Lin — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 12:10:27 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Our guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Elena Liao, the owner of Té Company. She won last year’s Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition (ECC). To learn more about the ECC listen to the previous episode about the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition. The name of her company, comes from the word “Té,” for “tea” in Taiwanese Hokkien.

Elena, founder of Té Company, is an avid tea drinker and a dedicated food enthusiast living in New York City. She was born and raised in Taiwan, then moved to the US in her early teens. Like most Taiwanese families, drinking oolong tea was part of her daily ritual growing up. Living in the food mecca of New York City, Elena was surrounded by foodies alike celebrating hand crafted espresso and the complex bouquet of artisanal wine. As her appreciation and knowledge for fine culinary craft blossomed, she found herself increasingly drawn to the delicate flavors of oolong teas. The childhood tea drinking tradition became more than a pastime. It became a culinary exploration, which led her to study oolong tea’s history and artistic craftsmanship.

Elena’s love of tea was first nurtured by her family and her passion for it shines through in this interview. Our conversation turned out to be a deep dive into the world of tea. She spoke to me about artisanal teas, how tea can be aged like wine, and even used in cooking and baking.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What the name of her company Te comes from
Her participation in the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition (ECC), which is organized by TAP-NY and the Taiwanese Merchants Association
How she prepared her proposal for the ECC
What advice she would give to anyone preparing to go through a competition like the ECC
What she things is the one thing you need to succeed in participating in a competition like the ECC
What she did with the money she won from the ECC
How she got on the path to starting Te Company
The research she’s done about tea to prepare herself to be a tea merchant
Her visits with tea framers in Taiwan tea leaves are picked in Taiwan
How white, green, yellow, oolong and black tea can all be made from a single plant
How tea is similar to wine or whiskey
How tea ceremony can affect the taste of tea
What is espresso tea
The difference between drinking tea from a tea bag vs. loose leaf tea
How tea can be aged
How Elena comes up with new tea blends
The difference between ice tea and hot tea
How she uses oolong tea in cooking and baking
What’s next for Te Company

Taiwan Dining Archives | Talking Taiwan Podcast

Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry: Our Talk with Founder Lisa Cheng Smith Ep 135

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

Elena Liao Founder of Te Company: Running a Tea Room in the West Village Ep 111

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

Trigg Brown and Josh Ku of Win Son: Taiwanese Restaurant in NYC Ep 60

A Note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

Elena Liao about Te Company Ep 31

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links: