Yingtao Brings MICHELIN-Starred Chinese Cuisine to New York

Why did you open Yingtao?

I wanted to showcase Chinese cuisine and culture, but also be true to myself. I only spent seven years in China. I grew up in New Zealand, then California, and finally New York City [to go to] NYU for Food Studies. I used to make hip hop music, creating beats for rappers. I like streetwear. I wanted to combine all those experiences and my memory of my grandma to bring Yingtao to life.

I fell in love with the fine dining scene in New York, so I tried almost every single MICHELIN Star restaurant more than three times. I saw there was a lack of Chinese-inspired restaurants. I created this restaurant not to elevate, but innovate, Chinese cuisine from my and Chef Jakub’s perspective.

What cuisines do you spotlight in your food?

Bolun Yao
I grew up in Xi'an, and we make a lot of lamb, beef, and noodles. If we only focused on Northern China, there's a lack of seafood.

When I created the menu, I tried combining different regions. My grandma lived in Shanghai for more than 10 years, so her cooking is a combination of Cantonese, Shanghainese, and Xi’an cuisine.

A lot of inspiration comes from American Chinese cuisine too, which I love a lot. When I grew up in California for nine years, my favorite was American Chinese takeout restaurants.

French [influence] is a heavy part of our menu. There’s a little bit of Japanese techniques. Also, a tiny bit of Korean and even Polish.

Jakub Baster
In Poland, where I grew up, there's a lot of pickling, fermentation, and the use of cabbages. I tried to combine those worlds.

Also, I spent some time in Peru, and I've noticed there's chifa and all those amazing dishes inspired by Chinese cuisine. For City Harvest, we're going to be making a chifa dish – a stir-fried wok and a seafood dish.

You’ve lived all over the globe, cooking at places like Daniel, Château de Montcaud, and La Dame de Pic. What did you learn?

Jakub Baster
I've been associated with MICHELIN restaurants for almost a decade now, starting at Daniel. Originally, I'm from Poland. I spent 10 years in Florida, then New York, then Chicago.

The most recent one was working with Anne-Sophie Pic. I was helping her open a restaurant in [Three MICHELIN Key Four Seasons Megève] in the French Alps. Her use of Asian ingredients and citrus was exciting. The Chef de Cuisine was a Japanese lady, and her approach was really amazing.

The last three years, I also spent in Spain working on a biodynamic farm, so freshness and sustainability became really important to me.

Could you discuss your sustainable practices?

Jakub Baster
We work with purveyors and local farms. Seasonal and sustainable seafood out of Montauk. Right now, we have koushuiji gamba, which are royal red shrimp that are so incredible. Super sweet, salty, briny, and very sustainable.

What are your personal favorites on the menu?

Also, the kampachi that we did with soubise. Buttermilk, cilantro, scallion, prickly ash, peppercorn oil.

Bolun Yao
For that dish, I got inspired by the hot dish, green peppercorn fish in broth, but we made it into a cold dish. You can still taste the green peppercorn in the dish, but in the form of the sashimi. It’s a combination of French, Japanese, and Chinese.

For me personally, I love our duck the most. Chef Jacob makes the most amazing duck. We blend in Chinese elements a little bit more, like a Cantonese roasted duck, but the sauce is made by hawthorn and pomegranate with notes of mandarin.

How do you decide when to keep an element traditional or put a contemporary spin on it?

Bolun Yao
At the very beginning, it was very hard, because we're trying to balance how authentic [we should go]. For our gamba (shrimp) dish, we got inspired by the flavor of koushuiji (spicy mouth-watering chicken). In the beginning, we made it very spicy. Authentic. But with the wine pairing, it was too spicy. We’re always trying to find the sweet spot.

Which dish most resembles something in traditional Chinese cuisine?

Bolun Yao
The snapper dish. My grandma used to make carp with broth, tofu, and cabbage at home in the winter. Inspired by the carp broth, we made a snapper dish. And then we added caviar on top. It reminds Chef of something from Polish culture too.

And our abalone. We got inspired by the traditional Hong Kong and Cantonese way of making abalone with rice.

Jakub Baster
Yes, this is our newest dish, stepping into Lunar New Year. We braise the abalone in a mushroom cooked for many hours very traditionally with fish maw, shiitakes, chives, garlic, and chicken. We braise it for 12 hours. Serve it with sticky rice. Dim sum combination of two different worlds.

How does being in New York shape your Chinese restaurant?

Bolun Yao
New York is the reason why I want to open restaurants. It’s a big melting pot of culture and all the amazing people. People are very open minded and welcoming. This restaurant is very experimental, but New York's a perfect place for Yingtao.

Hell's Kitchen is not a perfect spot for fine dining, but it is a very young neighborhood, a lively culture, and with a lot of Asian restaurants. It was close to Central Park and the Theater District. For Broadway show crowds, it's a perfect spot for date nights.

Which restaurants inspired you along the way?

Bolun Yao
In New York, we have access to all the most amazing hospitality industry people in the world. I got my biggest inspirations from the contemporary Korean fine dining restaurants. Jungsik, Cote, Jua, and Kochi.

Simon Kim from Cote, he's like my big brother. Along the way, he supported me a lot. Last time he was dining at Yingtao, we talked for three hours. I learned a lot from him: business, hospitality, giving back to the community working with City Harvest, how to improve this industry, and elevating the whole dining scene in New York City.

Hero image: Max Burkhalter / Yingtao 
Thumb image: Evan Sung / Gamba Roja