John Chen (
Chen was born and raised by a humble family in Hualian. His parents come from Zhejiang Province, in China. Chen learned the art of cooking when he was 14 and worked as an apprentice at the Three-Six-Nine restaurant (三六九飯館), near the back entrance of 228 Memorial Park. Chen emigrated to the US with his parents in 1980. A few years later, he opened the Garden of Plenty restaurant in Long Island and has built up his reputation ever since.
Chen is an easygoing guy and fun to talk with, which are two keys to his business success. He returned to Taiwan in 1994 and, by coincidence, bought the restaurant where he had his apprenticeship, turning it into a very classy three-story eatery. His private kitchen, named Fantasy Palace (
PHOTO COURTESY OF FANTASY GARDEN
It was here that Chen shocked the local culinary community in 2004 by being the first chef to present a banquet of marvelous dishes adapted from a very special recipe. The recipe was recorded in a classical Chinese poem that was pictured in one of grand master Chang Da-chien's (
Last year, Chen was encouraged by eminent culinary critic Chu Chen-fan (
Fantasy Garden changes its menu every two to three months and its new dishes are quickly copied by many restaurants all over Taiwan.
"Shanghai cuisine is like a big ocean which takes in different traditions of the Jiang-Zhe cuisine (
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
Oct. 7 to Oct. 13 The Great Dragon Flags were so lavish and intricate that it’s said to have exhausted the supplies of three embroidery shops. Others say that the material cost was so high that three shops quit during production and it was finished by a fourth. Using threads with pure gold, the final price to create the twin banners was enough to buy three houses in the 1920s. Weighing 30kg each and measuring 454cm by 535cm by 673cm, the triangular flags were the pride of the Flying Dragons (飛龍團), a dragon dance troupe that performed for Chaotian
RSS