Studio Notes 10: Milkfish Belly
where to eat in tainan
Hi, it’s Lisa Cheng Smith, founder of Yun Hai. I write Taiwan Stories, a free newsletter about Taiwanese food and culture. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, sign up here.
This is Studio Notes, a paid series within that newsletter. It’s an informal exploration of the things on my desk—cultural references, first-hand research, and archival material—all in relation to how we tell stories, create spaces, and design products at Yun Hai. Your paid subscription supports the free newsletter and our cooking show, Cooking With Steam.
One day, I dream of opening a small Taiwanese eatery, in a rural area upstate, supplied by its own garden, the farms of friends, and the exquisite foods we bring in from hardworking craftspeople in Taiwan.
This idea, an overwhelming desire, is absolutely a romanticization of a quiet life, and an underestimation of the business of running a restaurant, but I still believe, under some set of magical circumstances, it might be attainable. I would love for it to flourish financially, but would be equally happy with a retirement-style endeavor in humble environs for a very few people, more an invitation to an on-and-off project for friends rather than a sustaining business. On-and-off projects are all worth doing if you love them enough.
Last week (it feels like forever ago), I went to a magical place in Tainan that will be my forever model eatery. Almost every rule of conventional American hospitality was broken to create the most hospitable place I’ve been in recent memory.
