Free Williamsburg

The Williamsburg Brooklyn-based culture guide to New York and beyond.

Win Son

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Opened in 2016 as part of a successful Kickstarter campaign, Win Son is simply one of the best Taiwanese restaurants in the city. Nestled away in a small space in East Williamsburg/Bushwick, the restaurant serves a traditional blend of Taiwanese dishes including pan-griddled pork buns, sesame noodles, oyster omelette and the always polarizing stinky tofu. (Try it, you just might like it!) Expect to wait, because Win Son is popular, but you will not be disappointed. Save room for dessert because the Tian Miantuan (fried sweet dough, vanilla ice cream and sweetened condensed milk) is amazing.

Featured Reviews

  • Win Son is just an unassuming neighborhood spot that happens to serve some of the city’s most ambitious Taiwanese fare.  ne of Taiwan’s modern classics, spicy popcorn chicken, became popular in the late 1970s as an easier-to-eat analog to the bone-in variety, hawked by local KFC outposts. Win Son’s riff on that dish is spectacular. Brown coats dark-meat nuggets in a cayenne-laced sweet-potato starch, fries them to a dense crunch, and drenches the morsels in a butter-spiked persimmon hot sauce. The chicken bursts with a distinct poultry tang, offset by shards of crispy fried basil. Wendy’s stock price would go through the roof if the chain figured out a way to take these nationwide.

    Taiwanese fare, of course, is not new to New Yorkers, but what makes Win Son particularly compelling in 2018 is that it’s benefiting from a resurgent interest in the Asian nation’s cuisine, fueled by a new crop of young culinarians riffing on their ancestral fare. 

  • The menu is a mix of some of Taiwan’s greatest hits, freely tinkered with by Brown, and originals inspired by the cuisine. Take, for example, the so-called nutritious sandwich, named for the Keelung Miaokou Night Market stall that serves a very popular sandwich of fried sweet dough with Kewpie mayo, crispy hot dog, thousand-year-old egg, tomato, and cucumber. The dough is still fried, but the fillings are subbed out for a mix of pineapple, ham, and jalapeño. Other dishes only have minor changes or none at all: The fried eggplant comes with tart labneh in addition to the usual black vinegar, and pan-griddled pork buns are doused in chili vinaigrette. To wash it all down, there are a few beers, wines, and cocktails like the Auntie Leah (gin, cherry amaro, Aperol, lemon, and lime.) 

  • Brown’s dishes feel constructed for maximum fun. He serves eggplant fried piping hot and buried under chopped cashews and fresh herbs, riffing on the chilled, marinated version he enjoyed abroad. The bowl of crunchy nightshades comes drenched in black-vinegar caramel and, startlingly, labne kefir. (“One thing I learned in Taiwan: Everything’s game,” Brown says.) The dish is Win Son’s sleeper hit, a donnybrook of flavors tied together by rich, tangy yogurt.

Getting There

Zenkichi

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An insanely romantic Japanese izakaya with an eight course tasting menu of small plates. Zenkichi is our first choice in the neighborhood for best place to take a date. Diners are all treated to their own cozy, dimly-lit booths, with bamboo shades for extra privacy. Shadowy and filled with flickering candlelight and disorienting mirrors on the walls, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a 1940s film noir. The tasting menu ($75 per person) is updated seasonally — though signature dishes like Silky Tofu, Black Cod in a Miso Marinade, and an assortment of Sashima are routinely included. Vegetarian and wheat-free tastings are available as well. The food is not as rave-worthy as the ambiance, but you’ll not leave disappointed, especially if you sample the fantastic Frozen Black Sesame Mousse for dessert.

Featured Reviews

  • A curtain encases each mahogany booth: Some are cozy versions with L-shaped benches; others are more group-friendly. Dim lanterns and mirrors play up the mazelike atmospherics across three stories of walkways littered with pebbles and bamboo stalks. After an initial greeting, the waiter disappears. He reappears only when summoned by a discretionary buzzer. This tactic leaves ample time for relishing the deftly executed seasonal small plates presented on speckled ceramic dishes.

  • Though this Japanese standby might have seemed more novel a few years ago, Zenkichi still retains plenty of magic. The atmosphere is relaxed but focused, and the omakase is surprisingly well-priced for this neighborhood. Secluded booths offer a sexy vibe for date night, where couples can ring a bell for service… In addition to the à la carte and dessert menus, this kitchen also offers three variations on omakase: traditional, vegetarian, and wheat-free. But unlike the typical omakase, there’s something here for everyone, and the pre-determined dishes may unveil Saikyo miso cod or a heap of summer vegetables in Tosazu gelée.

  • The small plates and extensive sake selection may recall an izakaya, but the similarities end there. It’s not a lively setting, but a triple-decker labyrinth of a restaurant, where, upon entrance, you’ll be spirited away to a curtained-off booth, left to your dining companions.* (Let’s call it a good third-date restaurant. You’d better know you enjoy each other’s company.)

Getting There