Mínyólǐ (meen yo lee), named after the Chef/Owner’s childhood juàncūn neighborhood in Taipei, is a noodle restaurant that strives to represent the kind of mom n’ pop noodle s... Read more
Mínyólǐ (meen yo lee), named after the Chef/Owner’s childhood juàncūn neighborhood in Taipei, is a noodle restaurant that strives to represent the kind of mom n’ pop noodle shops that originated in Taiwan’s villages for military dependents known as “juàn cun” (眷村) (jyuwen tswin).
Hundreds of juàn cun were created across Taiwan in 1949 to house the more than one million KMT military personnel and their families who fled to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. These juàncūn were originally meant to be provisional housing for the war refugees, but as history would have it, they became permanent settlements and accounted for the majority of Taiwan’s poorest urban slums by the 90’s.
Though lacking in material resources, the juàn cun were rich with different regional cultures from all over China, resulting in a unique style of fusion Chinese cooking known as “Juàn cun Cuisine'' (眷村菜). Hearty noodles and effervescent pickling from frigid northern China. Vibrant spice and robust flavors of the lush Sichuan basin region. Focus on freshness, elegant presentation, and the homey red braised cooking method of the Shanghai river delta area come together in this uniquely delicious food tradition.
In recent years, as the walls of these old juàncūn began to come down to make way for urban renewal, thousands of small juàncūn-style eateries have been quickly disappearing. Minyoli (民有里) wants to pay homage to juàncūn culture and share the flavors and memories of Taiwan with Chicago.
