Banbo | Cheng Lee & Steven Su on culinary memories and the story of taiwan
published in enya Fashion Queen issue #196, find the original interview in Chinese here
As soon as we step into the restaurant, we are welcomed by familiar street elements such as cement walls and metal roofing materials. While the tea area serves as a moment of relief for hurried diners, the enclosed room draws the gaze towards the stones. As the flowing water washes over them, another hidden door opens to our surprise, like a still frame before a scene changes in a movie. An accumulation of experience, humanity and culture, ideas and creativity, Banbo is writing a new chapter on the different flavors of Taiwan and how they can bring unexpected delights by surprising our taste buds.
Scenes from a Movie
The colorful rust that marks the footprints of time is what inspired the name Banbo, meaning “mottled” in Mandarin. Creating meaning with depth, the convergence and berthing of rivers capture how time flows, a reflection of how Cheng Lee and Steven Su share a common goal as their lives intersected like a watershed. “Mottled itself means the sedimentation of time. It looks beautiful from a different perspective, which is also the main concept we want to tell with the story of Taiwan.” Both graduated from culinary schools, they each acquired broad experiences working at renowned restaurants abroad and admits that they used to have rather high self-esteem just because of the fact that they studied western culinary. However, returning to Taiwan ten years later, they began to ponder what they could bring to this land and started asking themselves endless questions. Perhaps the phrase Banbo actually symbolizes the shift in their mentality. “By building a fine dining restaurant that belongs to Taiwan, one that is simple but beautiful, we hope that our customers will leave our restaurant with new ideas in their head and recognize that Taiwan has so much variety in it, things that lie outside of the framework they used to see.” For Su, to build an ideal restaurant, one has to maintain curiosity and doubts. On the other hand, Lee believes it is about facing the process of creation, as it entails the message, emotions and ideas one hopes to deliver. “An ideal restaurant is really like a movie.” By setting the beginning and ending in advance, the scenes in between are left for the viewers of different ages to find the connection and savor the unique plot twists that may differ from person to person.
Tastes of Taiwan
Setting eyes on the dining table, the menu resembling the paper fortune teller will definitely bring a smile to your face, and if you take a closer look, you will notice the map of Taipei during the Showa era. Through these montages, Su hopes to lead his guests into the world of Banbo, an attempt inspired by a conversation he had with film director Khan Lee, who is also Lee’s father. “It reminds you of your childhood memories. For example, we’ve all had cotton candy before, but we may have forgotten the sensation of trying it for the first time. That is what we are aiming to recreate, the feeling of being moved by something for the first time.” When it comes to the menu, Su focuses on the overall balance of flavors. By incorporating the essence of Tainan, the dishes come with a sweet aftertaste, which is his unique way of blending flavors. “What Banbo offers is a new dining experience or choice that works with familiar flavors like braised pork over rice or salted egg yolk squids. The dishes are more like the ones you see at stir-fry restaurants or home-cooked meals.” Especially emphasizing on the aroma, Su uses ingredients such as shallots and garlic intuitively and points out that Chinese medicine and dried goods are local flavors worth exploring, something that he will be using more in the future. When asked about his favorite childhood dish, he immediately chooses his grandmother’s braised pork over rice, while popcorn chicken has always been his go-to choice whenever he gets off the plane. As for Lee, it is his father’s cooking. Once, his father made a dish using eel and Chinese medicine, a unique combination that evokes certain emotions whenever he catches a whiff of the herbal scent. Smiling gently, Lee says this is exactly the warm resonance shared between food and memories.
Artisanal Ardor
From stone, wood, metal, bamboo, to rush, the tranquil dining space is filled with clever illusions of Taiwanese alleys, all made possible by Radius Interior Design. Of all the corners in the restaurant, Lee chuckles and says the entrance and its metal roofing details are his personal favorite. Resonating with creators, the newer metal reflects the younger self, while the rusty and mottled texture echoes with all the years that have passed, an ingenious metaphor that is full of charm. Meanwhile, the utensils used at Banbo are carefully selected from the works of local craftsmen, such as the Dancing Dall Orchid chopsticks holder by Bomb Metal & Fry Jewelry or the exquisite steak knives from Chai Quan Knives and Xian Cheng Qiu’s Shilin Knives. Everything showcases these creator’s district affection for this land by transforming their abstract emotions into tangible beauty. Right at this moment, the marks of the new era are merging here, while different stories are overlapping with one another to create endless possibilities for Banbo. “Our goal is to let more people hear and feel what we want to say. Perhaps when they leave the restaurant, they will understand concepts they didn’t notice before and pass it on,” conclude Lee and Su with a steadfast and determined tone, making us look forward to the future they have in mind.