Taiwan’s food culture has always embraced diversity, seamlessly blending global influences with local traditions to create a cuisine that is both deeply rooted and constantly evolving. Taiwanese chefs are known for their precision, individuality, and boundary-pushing creativity — and nowhere is this more evident than in Taiwan’s ever-evolving world of noodles.
For Chef Steven Su of One-MICHELIN-Star restaurant Ban Bo, noodles are more than just comfort food — they are a creative canvas. At Ban Bo, Su transforms observations from his surroundings — visual, emotional, and sensory — into immersive dining experiences. Through thoughtful use of color, texture, flavor, and even sound, he presents an entirely new perspective on what Taiwanese cuisine can be.
Noodles have played a special role in Su’s life since childhood. He recalls a noodle shop in Tianmu, Taipei, where his mother would order a bowl of tomato beef noodles and bring it to his elementary school at lunchtime. On family visits to his mother’s hometown of Tainan, he would also be taken to a bowl of fish noodles — a rare, time-honored dish passed through generations that’s hard to find anywhere else.
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Recently, Su invited Chef Pichaya "Pam" Soontornyanakij of Bangkok’s One-MICHELIN-Star establishment Potong to Taiwan for a culinary journey — one that explored Taiwan’s rich noodle traditions and reinterpreted them through their distinct cultural lenses.
Pam, of Thai Chinese heritage, is one of Asia’s most celebrated female chefs. At Potong, she transformed her family’s former traditional pharmacy into a cutting-edge restaurant that explores the duality of tradition and modernity through cuisine, and each dish is layered with technique, emotion, and storytelling.
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A Journey Through Taiwan’s Noodle Craft
The chefs’ noodle journey begins in Kaohsiung, at Noodle Pan, a family-run noodle workshop in Yanchaom Kaohsiung that specializes in handmade Fuzhou-style fine noodles. This painstaking craft is on the brink of disappearing in Taiwan. The second-generation owner Pan Chien-chung rises at 5:30 a.m. every day, working 12-hour shifts. Making these noodles requires rich experience — adjusting for humidity and temperature, and mastering techniques like kneading, pulling, twisting, and tossing. The result is delicate yet resilient noodles that speak volumes about tradition and patience.RELATED: Generations of Flavor: The Mothers Behind Taiwan’s Bib Gourmand Family Recipes
Their next stop was Cheng’s Noodles, an 80-year-old institution in the historic Yancheng district. Known for Tshi̍k-á-noddles,” the dish is made by boiling noodles and vegetables in a bamboo basket, then shaking them to remove excess water — a method that gives the dish its name. The soup, brewed from pork bones and seasonal vegetables, is robust yet clean. Another item that makes Cheng’s stand out is its meticulously prepared offal platters. Each day, the owner hand-selects and processes the ingredients himself, ensuring freshness and flavor that has made the shop a local favorite for decades.
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In Tainan, the chefs visited BUĒ MI . LAB, a Bib Gourmand eatery that redefines what a noodle shop can be. Its name is a clever play on the Taiwanese phrase for “selling noodles,” and it lives up to its experimental tone. Here, Chef Jimmy Chuang brings together local ingredients and personal narratives to create inventive noodle dishes. One highlight featured eco-friendly shrimp from Xuejia paired with Hong Kong-style lo mein and a house-made sambal of dried shrimp and flatfish. The chili component was a fusion of peeled Taiwanese chili and jalapeño peppers — a mix that delivered both familiarity and global flair in each bite.
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Also in Tainan, the chefs stopped at Cho’s Fish Noodles, a nostalgic spot from Su’s childhood. With over six decades of history, Cho’s produces noodles unlike any other — made without flour, entirely from fish paste. Traditionally crafted with dog mother fish, the shop had to close for over three years due to health issues and inconsistent fish supply. It reopened in 2021 with a new blend of swordfish and milkfish, using only a small amount of starch for structure. Because of the labor-intensive process and limited ingredients, the noodles are available only in small batches each day, but still, loyal customers are grateful to once again savor this rare, traditional taste.
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Their next destination was Lao Shih Kuan Noodles in Taichung another Bib Gourmand eatery. The technique here hails from the culinary traditions of Taiwan’s military villages. The dough is hand-rolled and cut irregularly, giving each noodle a rustic texture that holds onto the sauce beautifully. Tossed with sesame paste and slow-braised pork sauce, the noodles are hearty, bold, and addictive. Many regulars pay visits to the shop whenever they return to Taichung — some even flying in from abroad for a nostalgic taste of home.
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Back to the Kitchen: Creative Interpretations
After their flavorful journey, the chefs returned to Ban Bo’s kitchen, inspired by what they had seen — and tasted — across Taiwan. Each created a noodle dish that reflected their unique culinary voice.
Pam crafted hand-rolled egg noodles dressed in a Thai-inspired sauce of coconut milk, chili, galangal, and turmeric. The result was a dish that celebrated texture and balance, placing the noodle itself at the center of the stage.
Su, on the other hand, took inspiration from a familiar Taiwanese moment: enjoying instant beef noodles during a mountain hike. His reimagined version was a dry noodle dish made with spinach-infused dough, paired with slow-braised beef tendons and crisp, leaf-shaped chips. Both the flavors and the plating evoked the natural scenery of Taiwan’s mountains.
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