A New Taiwanese Restaurant Spotlights Pig-Ear Chips and Tomato Granita. It's a Must-Try.
New York's destination dining scene now has Taiwanese flair: JaBä at 230 East 58th Street, between Second and Third avenues in Midtown East.
It comes from Tony Inn, a Taiwan-born Queens kid with a 25-year career, mostly in high-end Japanese restaurants like Morimoto and Masa. Had it not been for the pandemic, he'd be helping run Suzuki, the namesake restaurant of New York sushi legend — and his mentor — Toshio Suzuki. (The restaurant closed during the pandemic.)
Instead, he's fired up his own spot, which marries refined techniques with the Taiwanese dishes he grew up eating at home — cooked for him through generations by his great-grandma down to his mom. 'I want to bring Taiwanese food to a higher standard of what I think it should be from a chef perspective,' said Inn.
It plays out in the food, with techniques like a Chinese medicinal version of sachet d'épices and high-quality ingredients, such as heritage pork for the sausage he makes in the restaurant. As for decor, the 55-seat dining room is outfitted with leather chairs, ceramic plateware, and linen napkins. 'I put in half a mil in here just for decoration,' he said.
The food menu features a mix of 21 small and large shareable plates. Many dishes are excellent, so here's how to order them by occasion. Dining solo
The iconic Taiwanese beef noodle soup ($25) is a full meal: vegetables, beef, carbs, and broth. That broth — from roasted bones and herbs — contains so much collagen, any leftovers gel in the fridge so you can definitely skip your collagen powder for the day. Big chunks of tender, marbled beef are nestled inside the tangle of chewy noodles. Anyone who's usually left wanting more tendon after finishing a beef noodle soup won't here. Plus, the tendon pieces are very soft. Vegetables like bok choy, pickled mustard greens, and carrots balance things out.
JaBä is still waiting on its liquor license, but it offers refreshing beverages like sarsaparilla soda (it's like a clean, herbal Dr. Pepper) and wintermelon spritz. Dinner for two
Rich and stewy with minced fatty pork, the lo ba beng ($18) — braised pork over rice — balances well with the garlic cucumbers ($14) so this pairing is a must. Spice-infused lard slicks up the rice and adds notes of licorice and cinnamon. The fried tofu and jammy egg add savoriness while the pickled red cucumbers and yellow daikon add some fresh crunch and tanginess — along with that cold cucumber salad.
Imagine pig-ear potato chips. While the draw to pig ears is often their chewiness, Inn has dialed up the crispiness of the pig ears ($17) so much they crack into little pieces — they're so thinly sliced. The shiso-flavored cucumber provides a nice counterpoint.
For dessert, order the sweet and savory tomato granita ($14). 'Yes, tomato is a dessert,' Inn states in his menu. (Koreans look at it this way, too; I grew up on sugar-dusted tomatoes plucked from my family garden.) The taste evolves in your mouth: shreds of ginger; sweet, tangy pops of plum; light, savory soy sauce-laced broth.
Three- four- or more-tops
The sausage ($15) Inn makes at the restaurant is densely meaty, sweetly lacquered, and nicely charred. The raw garlic slices give a nice, sharp kick.
If you're a fan of mochi textures and bamboo flavors, get the bawan ($12). Known as a crystal meatball, it's served as flat slivers of jiggly, translucent starch studded with mushrooms, pork, pickled bamboo, and a sweet orange-hued chile sauce in a bowl.
Move on to the seafood portion of the menu. The cured whole mackerel ($44) is delightfully soft yet meaty, salty but not briny; he employs Japanese techniques to minimize fishy flavors. Pockets of miso mayo are subtly threaded into the mackerel. The grilled lemon is a nice touch, complementing it with a smoky tanginess.
Big, meaty, and firm with clean flavor, razor clams stand in for the clams with basil dish ($36). The cooks then do almost all of the work of separating the meat from the shell so you don't have to wrestle with it. Slices of red chiles punctuate the dish with spicy notes that build as you go through the dish.
For dessert, the Taiwanese shaved ice ($16) is very sweet and decadent, owing to the condensed milk, a quenelle of mascarpone cream, and what looks like oozing strings of dulce de leche. Grapes add pops of freshness.
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