Intentional hospitality
When you walk-in into our restaurant, you will immediately notice that we have a unique way to approach dining hospitality. Our decisions are guided by our intention to be true to ourselves. What we love about food is that it can makes us feel cared for. More than once in our lives we have felt seen, understood, and cared for by someone who has cooked for us. Isn't it beautiful and special? This is what we constantly keep in mind when designing your experience at our restaurant. It's the genuineness, the human warmth and desire to care.
We do not believe that servers and line-cooks should be hidden in plain sight. That dining rooms should be dark, that everyone should speak quietly, and that your surrounding tables should all remain strangers. Again, we have been touched by the magical power of food. Its soul-healing warmth, its nostalgia, its ability to make whole when emptiness resides, and its ability to make friends where there were none. We do not want our restaurant to be a place that embodies anonymity. On the contrary, we want our restaurant to be a place of belonging, of community, and humanity. We, as the staff of GTE, are all in agreement to make your dining experience one that is above and beyond one of being fed, but one of connection and care in a flamboyant way of being us.
If food is a testament of our humanity’s journey. It tells the stories of our ancestors' journeys, their social movements through history that influenced each other’s cultures.
We are dedicating ourselves to offer these stories as part of your meal experience at GTE.
taiwanese culinary approach: delicate, light, and flavourful
One simple and precious ingredient that is central to our cooking philosophy, and dear to our Taiwanese culinary legacy is: Time.
The flavors we get out of taking our time prepping, cooking, fermenting, and pickling our dishes is what pushes us forward in constantly making no compromises on quality, adapting to environment and seasons, and follow old wisdoms into caring every day for every dishes we plate. Taiwanese sensibility is all about the process and efforts to not be tempted by the quick-workaround offered, often times, by the modern conveniences.
Taiwanese culinary tradition has been influenced
People from different cultural background have been arriving at this beautiful island for centuries. From Portuguese who gave its name Formosa (which ****means the “Beautiful Isle.”) in 1542.
Taiwan is situated between water and mountain. We eat from the land and the geography allows us to have combinations
Every day we are dedicating ourselves to caring for each dishes as if they were the most important dish we’d cook that day.
To some, Taiwanese food is about iconic dishes like fermented tofu, oyster omelette, stinky tofu, and beef noodle soup. To others, it is about essential ingredients such as sesame oil, maqaw peppercorn, and pork belly. For us, it is a poetic expression of the Taiwanese people, a mirror that reflects their collective history and journeys in the ways they made food, in the ways we make food.
People from different cultural background have been arriving at this beautiful island for centuries. From Portuguese who gave its name Formosa (which ****means the “Beautiful Isle.”) in 1542.
Taiwan is situated between water and mountain. We eat from the land and the geography allows us to have combinations
Taiwan has been home to many culture and
why they work here, why we work together, why work here is awesome (only specific people will feel it's awesome, that's why we need this website)
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Have a section for Tony
Humanizing food and food service
Let's take it from the beginning. At its core, the social function of food is one of identities. Food tells you something about others. It can also cement bonds with others, conjure memories, and carry stories. Food can tell a story of belonging. Sure, food can be a divider and an excluder. However, in opening this restaurant we hold the narrative. We want to create an inclusive space, a shared space to share belonging together.
If food is a testament of our humanity’s journey. It tells the stories of our ancestors' journeys, their social movements through history that influenced each other’s cultures.
We are dedicating ourselves to offer these stories as part of your meal experience at GTE.
The pandemic made visible deep issues in the restaurant industry. Low wages, hierarchy, part time "gig" culture, and burnout all came to light. But we can guarantee you, us from food industry, are all craft makers and passionate about bringing good into people's lives. When we were planning to open this restaurant at the height of the pandemic, we knew that if we were going to do this, it had to be different. We are working hard to create a space to enable both BOH and FOH to share each other's passion with each other and break the boundaries between our stations so we can all together create a fair and inclusive maker's space for us all. This way, we can all collaborate in creating a restaurant that resonates with both employees and guests.