Transcontinental Fusion:

Memories in the kitchen

The idea of opening a restaurant began to germinate in their minds when a friend invited them to run a market stall. But what would they sell? Faeth’s creamy mushroom pasta, which won everyone’s admiration, made for an encouraging start. It was the couple’s success at the market, as well as their participation in the Slow Food Festival, which gave them confidence and led to the birth of Chubby Rabbit.

Faeth, who is responsible for the cooking at Chubby Rabbit, remembers moments spent in the kitchen with his mother when he was a child. While his mother was cooking, he would sit at the kitchen table to do his homework, immersed in the delicious smells of food. These memories of quiet companionship continue to give him pleasure.

Pretzels are a type of bread from Bavaria. Chubby Rabbit gives this European classic a Taiwanese inflection by combining it with ailanthus prickly ash butter.

Local connections

“Slow food” used to be a foreign concept to both Huang and Faeth. “I always thought slow food meant eating slowly to enjoy the flavors of food,” Huang says. As they became more involved, they obtained deeper insights into the principles of “good, clean, and fair.” With regard to food ingredients, they also learned that food miles and farming methods have a tremendous impact on both the environment and human beings.

Inside Chubby Rabbit, a blackboard on the wall shows the day’s menu, complete with details of where the ingredients come from: milk from Chulu Ranch, free-range eggs from Luye, billfish from Chenggong Township, mahi-­mahi (dolphinfish) from the Pacific Ocean, pineapples from Slow Grass Natural Farming, and vegetables from Luye’s Tianyuan Eco-Friendly Farm—all of which are local. “Whatever you’re eating now, I can tell you who grew it, who I bought it from, and how it was grown. I think people who come here to dine may be interested to know about these connections.” There is palpable excitement in Huang’s voice as she explains where she sources her foods.

The rich flavors of Chubby Rabbit’s Magao Smoked Billfish Pizza carry the weight of time. The locally sourced billfish is cold-smoked for over ten hours.

Fusion cuisine

From the single-dish market stall to their seven-­course restaurant menu, the couple have achieved a symphony of Taiwanese, German, and Italian cultures on the dining table.

Huang brings out a pretzel freshly baked in-house this morning, from a yeast dough made only yesterday. “This is a classic variety of German bread from Bavaria.” The spread is ailanthus prickly ash butter. “Originally it was rosemary butter, but we wanted to put in more local flavors, so we opted for ailanthus prickly ash, a spice often used in indigenous cooking.”

The next course is Magao Smoked Billfish Pizza, inspired by pizza al salmone. Huang and Faeth have replaced the salmon with billfish caught by longliners from Chenggong Port. The fish is smoked for over eight hours at a temperature of 25°C, and homemade quark is substituted for yoghurt, giving the pizza a German charm. Powdered magao (aromatic litsea), which both Huang and Faeth love, further serves to enhance the fragrance. Rocket (arugula) provides a finishing green touch for this popular dish.

The main course is Handmade Chocolate Pasta with Fried Mahi-Mahi, which brings Taitung’s earthy flavors into dialogue with the adjacent sea. Caught in the Pacific Ocean, the mahi-mahi is in perfect harmony with the local pineapple in this dish. The chocolate pasta arose from a whim of Faeth’s: could chocolate be turned into something savory? The dark-colored tagliatelle are drizzled with creamy king oyster mushroom sauce, another of Chubby Rabbit’s signature creations. Replacing ordinary small mushrooms with king oyster mushrooms has turned out to be a wonderful move; the couple have never looked back.

Handmade Chocolate Pasta with Fried Mahi-Mahi brings Taitung’s earthy flavors into dialogue with the adjacent sea.

Attuned to the seasons

Slow Food Taitung is a big family. Joining the Slow Food Festival helps Huang and Faeth forge connections with eco-friendly farmers based in the Huadong Valley. Having gained access to a greater variety of local produce, their palates are becoming increasingly discerning. Huang says that when potatoes are ready for harvest in spring, they put potato gnocchi on their menu. While the main course in summer is chocolate tagliatelle, in autumn, when local tomatoes are ripe, they make Tuscan-style tomato sauce and sun-dried tomatoes in oil.

“We’re not formally trained chefs. Developing new menus is something that requires a certain degree of expertise. So we just cook what we like, using good ingredients. This is our defining trait,” Huang says. For them, the three stars proudly displayed on the wall—awarded this year by the Taitung Slow Food Report—betoken the greatest honor they could wish for.