
Today we take you to an eco-friendly restaurant in Taipei. Originally founded as a vegetarian restaurant, it has now evolved into an eco-friendly restaurant — offering organic dishes alongside carefully selected sustainable seafood. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to the restaurant’s founder and CEO to find out more about their mission.
Nearly 90% of the restaurant’s ingredients are locally sourced from Taiwan, with a strong focus on organic, small-scale, and eco-friendly farmers. It champions low food mileage, transparent sourcing, and clear labeling of dishes as vegan, vegetarian, or sustainable seafood.
Jennifer Wang
Restaurant CEO
This seafood platter features four kinds of seafood: Taiwanese mackerel, squid, mahi-mahi, and shrimp. I feel that Taiwan often overlooks many of its own wonderful ingredients. The selection also changes with the seasons. This dish includes farmed seafood as well. Many people have tried pasta with squid ink, but they worry about their mouths turning black or tasting too much artificial coloring. Our squid ink pasta is different. We use organic squid pasta, and we even extract the ink directly from the squid’s sac to make a natural squid ink sauce.
Co-founded by lawyer and environmentalist Robin J. Winkler alongside his partners, the restaurant has earned numerous awards for its commitment to sustainability and innovation. The restaurant’s mission is to support the land, empower farmers, and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Robin J. Winkler
Co-founder
My partner at the law firm and I both fully supported it. My partner, Peter, is passionate about Taiwanese fruits and vegetables. He had always wanted to start something like this. When I first met my wife, I said, “Let’s do a business that is 100% Taiwanese because this place is so productive, interesting, and diverse.” I had this idea for many years. We wanted a platform for Taiwan’s diversity, small farmers, and land issues so it was meant to be sort of an activist restaurant.
In 2018, Jennifer Wang took over leadership of the restaurant and now serves as its CEO. Under her leadership, it has rebranded as a friendly restaurant—offering plant-based dishes alongside carefully selected sustainable seafood, and deepened partnerships with local farmers and ethical suppliers.
Jennifer Wang
Restaurant CEO
Our restaurant not only uses ingredients from Taiwan. In fact, we go a step further—we hope that what we eat is not only rooted in Taiwan’s resources but also friendly to the environment. We also partner with an NGO that has long been engaged in environmental issues. For most consumers, these concepts are still vague. What does environmental change mean? What does sustainable environment mean? Actually, it is closely connected to food and agriculture. Taiwan’s agriculture and fisheries are very abundant, but our food self-sufficiency rate has been declining, and the situation with fish is even more severe. So it’s not simply about saying ‘don’t fish’ or ‘don’t catch fish.’ Rather, it’s about making the right choices in what we buy. We research whether the fishing or farming methods cause harm to the environment—or even better, whether they help the environment.
From locally sourced produce to sustainable seafood, every dish here is a celebration of Taiwan’s biodiversity.
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Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53
#greendining #sustainable #ecofriendly #sustainability
今天我們帶您去台北一間友善環境的餐廳,這家餐廳最初是一家素食餐廳,現在已經轉型為注重永續、提供有機蔬食和海鮮的友善餐廳。
餐廳的食材幾乎都來自台灣,尤其重視有機、與小農合作。餐廳提倡低食物里程、透明的食材來源,並清楚標示菜色是否為純素、素食或永續海鮮。
[[老闆 王淑珍]]
"這個海鮮盤裡面有四種海鮮,有台灣的竹筴魚,有鎖管,有鬼頭刀,還有蝦子。我覺得台灣忽略了很多台灣自己的好東西。也會隨著季節更換。這道涵蓋了養殖, 大家在市場有很多義大利麵,吃到了墨魚麵,可是很害怕嘴巴很黑或是吃到很多色素的味道,我們的墨魚麵是用有機的墨魚麵之外,還有連鎖管的囊都取出來做墨魚汁的萃取。"
這家餐廳由環保律師文魯彬與合夥人共同創立,餐廳屢獲殊榮。餐廳的使命是保護土地,並為永續貢獻力量。
[[共同創辦人 文魯彬]]
"我和律所的合夥人都全力支持這個想法。我的合夥人彼得對台灣的水果蔬菜充滿熱情,他一直想做點類似的事。我第一次見到我妻子時就說,不如我們一起開一家百分百台灣特色的餐廳,因為這裡物產豐富、充滿活力,而且文化多元。這個想法我已經醞釀多年。我們想打造一個平台,展現台灣的多元文化、支持小農,並關注土地問題,所以這家餐廳也算是帶有社會行動主義色彩。"
2018年,王淑珍接手這家餐廳。在她的引領之下,餐廳重新定位為一家友善餐廳,提供植物性菜餚以及精心挑選的永續海鮮,並深化了與當地農民和符合道德規範的供應商的合作關係。
[[老闆 王淑珍]]
"我們的餐廳不只是來自台灣,其實我們更進一步希望我們吃到肚子裡的東西,除了是台灣的食材,也是友善環境。我們另外的NGO一直做環境議題,大部分的消費者對這個是模糊的,什麼叫做環境變遷?什麼叫做永續環境?它其實跟食物息息相關、跟農業息息相關。台灣的農業、漁業非常豐饒,可是我們的糧食自給自給率是下降的,魚是更嚴重的,所以我們不是只是說不要捕魚、不要撈魚,而是正確的選擇我們才買的東西。我們會去尋找他的捕撈方式,或是養殖方式是不是對環境有破壞,甚至對環境友幫助。"
從本地食材到永續海鮮,這裡的每一道菜都代表維護台灣的生物多樣性。
更多新聞內容,請鎖定:
民視台灣台(152頻道)週一至週五晚上9:30
民視新聞台(53頻道)週二至週六凌晨1:00
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