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Joanne Yau

Chef Marc Liao is not afraid to experiment at Marc L³, his restaurant in the bustling heart of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
His cooking style combines Taiwanese ingredients with contemporary European flavours and is informed by years of experience working at restaurants in Australia, Canada and Taipei.
Liao has already received recognition from the Michelin Guide and a place on The World’s 50 Best Discovery list – a curated database of expert-recommended restaurants.
Now he wants to put Taiwanese night market food on the map. “Ever since I came back to Taiwan after working in different kitchens in Canada, Australia, and more, I have been trying to find my roots,” he says.

His next stop is Hong Kong, where, for four nights from July 17 to 20, he will headline Street Food Series: Taiwan, an event at private members’ club Carlyle & Co at the Rosewood hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Instead of presenting Marc L³’s signature contemporary European dishes at the event, Liao will spotlight Taiwan’s multicultural heritage as reflected in its food.

He will not do so by cooking a single headline dish – he says it is too difficult to convey the rich diversity of Taiwanese culture in just one plate.
He will serve Taiwanese night market snacks such as crispy popcorn chicken and more substantial dishes, including three cup chicken and beef noodle soup, as well as desserts such as brown sugar pearl pancakes.
Sichuan mouth-watering chicken is another dish that will feature on Liao’s menu. It is a dish that reflects how the cuisines of mainland China have influenced Taiwanese food.
We want our food to produce the relaxing emotions you would have when you are sharing [ …] in a night market
Marc Liao
Liao will also incorporate techniques and spices from Taiwan’s aboriginal cuisine, using prickly ash, a plant found in Taiwan’s forests, and exotic verbena, or “mountain pepper” – which is also used in Malay cuisine – to marinate meat and fish.
As well as bringing his own seasonings, he will use local Hong Kong spices, which he says can be similar to those in Taiwan.
Liao has always leaned towards refined, experimental plating at Marc L³, creating vibrant colours and textures.
One of the restaurant’s speciality dishes looks like a corn dog but is actually Kaohsiung swordfish and Penghu squid in a Hong Kong-style ginger and spring onion sauce. The dish has a black coating made of concentrated chicken broth with black truffle and squid ink.

For the Hong Kong event Liao will be more casual, forgoing plating that is “super pretty with lots of herbs and garnishes” while keeping things sophisticated.
“We want our food to produce the relaxing emotions you would have when you are sharing these foods with other people in a night market,” he says.
Liao is known for not sharing the full list of ingredients on his restaurant menu, and he will continue his playful streak at the pop-up. “If I bring the street food 100 per cent as it is here, it won’t be fun,” he says.
I want to represent Taiwanese food to everyone the same way
Marc Liao
The chef has gained a reputation for elevating humble ingredients commonly found in Taiwanese food.
For example, sweet potatoes can be “made equal to caviar”, he says, by plating them in such a way as to resemble charcoal.
This is part of Liao’s mission to make fine dining more accessible, by showing it is not only high-end ingredients that can make a high-quality meal.

“For me, it’s important to not only focus on the food but also [on] the equality and the customers as well. I want to treat everyone the same way, and I want to represent Taiwanese food to everyone the same way.”
Liao, who received the invitation to collaborate with Carlyle & Co just two months ago, had to think carefully about how to distil his many ideas for dishes into a menu. He considered whether each component was truly representative of Taiwanese street food.
At the event, Liao will work with only one of his sous chefs and four to five local chefs to make around 6oo plates per night. Despite the demand, he is confident he will be able to execute his dishes with finesse.

Liao is used to working in an open kitchen at Marc L³, from where he can speak to guests. Carlyle & Co has a more closed cooking environment, but Liao says he won’t let this get in the way of interacting with diners.
“Even if the customer cannot see us, I will go out and talk to them. I have to,” he says.
The Hong Kong event will see Liao collaborate with Grace Tsai, the head bartender of Taipei bar Indulge Experimental Bistro.
Liao says he is excited about pairing Tsai’s tea-infused cocktails with his dishes, but he wants to give customers the freedom to choose their preferred pairings.
This is the first time the chef will cook in Hong Kong, and he says the positive feedback Hongkongers have given the food in Kaohsiung inspired him when planning his pop-up.
In the future, he hopes to bring more Taiwanese street food and some of the night market vibe to Hong Kong, and hints that he might collaborate with some “good friends in the neighbourhood”.


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Beef noodle soup and more at Hong Kong pop-up that sees Taiwanese chef return to his roots

Chef Marc Liao in the kitchen at his award-winning fusion restaurant Marc L³ in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He will serve dishes inspired by the food served at Taiwan’s night markets at a pop-up in Hong Kong. Photo: Marc L³

Liao says his goal is to return to his roots and introduce Taiwanese cuisine to the world. Photo: Marc L³

Salmon sushi pizza is one of the East-meets-West dishes Liao serves at Marc L³. Photo: Marc L³

Liao’s swordfish and squid “corn dog” with a coating of concentrated chicken broth with black truffle and squid ink. Photo: Marc L³

A Shaoxing pudding at Marc L³. Liao will change tack for the Hong Kong event with more casual plating. Photo: Marc L³

Duck spring rolls being plated at Marc L³. Liao’s mission is to make fine dining accessible by using ordinary ingredients to make high-quality dishes. Photo: Marc L³

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Stanley Tse in front of his Chinese supermarket See Woo, in London’s Chinatown. A green plaque has been put up there by Westminster City Council to honour the contributions he made to Asian cuisine in the UK. Photo: Lucy Mitchell

Tse’s commemorative green plaque, above the entrance of See Woo in London’s Chinatown. Photo: Instagram/@chinaexchangeuk

The Tse family outside their store in Yuen Long, Hong Kong. Photo: Lucy Mitchell

Tse (right), with chef and author Ken Hom, after receiving a founders lifetime achievement award at the Golden Chopsticks, which recognises contributions to Asian cuisine in the UK, in 2018. Photo: Golden Chopsticks Awards

See Woo staff and members of the London Chinatown community celebrate the unveiling of Tse’s green plaque, in May 2024. Photo: Lucy Mitchell

Tse (right) attends Chinese New Year celebrations in London’s Chinatown. Photo: Lucy Mitchell

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A Caesar salad. The dish is said to have been invented on July 4, 1924, by Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

A man prepares a Caesar salad in front of an image of the inventor of the salad, Caesar Cardini, at Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Caesar salad was often prepared tableside. Photo: EPA

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Around 35 per cent of US restaurants have Caesar salad on their menus. Photo: AP

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When chefs in Hong Kong want to set their dim sum apart, they have to get creative. Photo: The Chinese Library

When chefs in Hong Kong want to set their dim sum apart, they have to get creative – see the foie gras dumpling with Fuji apple at The Chinese Library. Photo: The Chinese Library

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Li has been putting his heart and soul into tempting the discerning palates of his customers at The Chinese Library. Photo: The Chinese Library

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

From three cup chicken to pancakes, chef Marc Liao of Marc L³ in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is showcasing the island’s food in Hong Kong this month


Taiwanese chef Marc Liao of Kaohsiung’s Marc L³ will serve Taiwanese night market food at a four-night pop-up in Hong Kong. It will be a far cry from his usual fine-dining fare.
