The Best Taiwanese American Food in New York City

Taiwanese American Food New York City: Win Son, Flushing, and Beyond

Win Son — Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The best Taiwanese American food in New York City — from Win Son’s braised pork rice in Williamsburg to the scallion pancake breakfast sandwich that defined a Brooklyn generation.

Win Son Bakery — Williamsburg and East Village

Win Son Bakery began as an extension of the restaurant and became its own fully realized thing. The Williamsburg location on Graham Avenue serves the neighborhood with an all-day menu that runs from Taiwanese American pastries in the morning to scallion pancake sandwiches at any hour. The scallion pancake breakfast sandwich — egg, cheese, scallion pancake instead of bread — became one of the most talked-about breakfast items in Brooklyn and the queue it generates on weekend mornings has not shortened since the day it opened. The East Village location on Second Avenue brought the bakery to Manhattan. The coffee is taken seriously. The baked goods include pineapple buns, taro pastries, and rotating specials that reflect the season and the kitchen’s ongoing interest in Taiwanese pastry tradition as a living form rather than a fixed one.

Flushing, Queens — The Original Register

Flushing’s Taiwanese food scene is not a single restaurant but an entire ecosystem that has been growing since the 1980s. The Golden Mall on Main Street has stalls serving hand-pulled noodles, stinky tofu, and beef roll that have been operating for decades. New World Mall Food Court is one of the best places to eat in the five boroughs — its Taiwanese vendors are among the most essential. The distinction between Taiwanese and Taiwanese American in Flushing is complicated — many of the cooks are immigrants, many of the customers are second and third generation, and the food is best understood as a living tradition. What Flushing offers that no other part of New York can replicate is the density: the ability to eat through regional variation and generational interpretation in the space of a few city blocks.

White Bear — Flushing

White Bear on Prince Street in Flushing is a tiny, cash-only restaurant that has been serving its signature wontons — pork wontons in chili oil, the kind of dish that justifies a trip from anywhere in the city — for decades. The menu is minimal, the prices are low, the tables turn fast, and the wontons are among the best dumplings you can eat in New York. White Bear is the kind of restaurant that Flushing regulars name when they want to show someone what the neighborhood is actually about beyond its reputation. The history of Taiwanese immigration and community-building in New York is documented by the Museum of Chinese in America, whose archives trace the arc of settlement across the city’s boroughs. Read more: Museum of Chinese in America.