Opportunity and a longing for home are the origin story of Amore Eats, a Taiwanese restaurant located in a Rockville Exxon station. Co-owner Pei Hsieh was working in real estate when a friend asked for her assistance finding a restaurant location in November 2021. Hsieh found the space in the Exxon station, but by then her friend had found another location for her restaurant.

Hsieh, who emigrated from Taiwan in 2004, spoke to her longtime collaborator in real estate, Max Mo, about what she saw as an interesting opportunity. Mo had worked for 20 years in the restaurant industry in Ohio in the '80s when he emigrated, also from Taiwan. So she asked Mo if he was interested in opening a restaurant.

She was thinking of a restaurant dedicated to the food of her motherland, Hsieh explains, "because at that time, you know with the pandemic, I cannot go home." (Even in late 2021, Taiwan still had strict COVID travel and quarantine restrictions.) "I thought Taiwan, Taiwan. I felt a little homesick. I kept thinking about food, Taiwanese food. That's why I told him, you know, maybe we can open a restaurant," she adds.

Mo was on board. So after going through all the necessary buildout, certifications, permits, and a search for their chef, Amei Lo, Amore Eats opened in May 2022. This name may seem unusual for a Taiwanese restaurant, but word play is common in Chinese, where homonyms often have multiple meanings, depending on the tone. "It's named Amore Eats in part because of my business partner Mo, in part because amore means love in Italian and French, and because I always want to eat more of the food I love," Hsieh says.

Taiwan has a number of culinary influences in its history: the cuisines of the people indigenous to the island, elements of Japanese cuisine from when it was under Japanese rule, and finally from the Chinese who fled to Taiwan after the Communist Revolution.

When the Chiang Kai-shek [Guomindang] government came to Taiwan in 1949, " a lot of the military followed into Taiwan [from all over China]. So we have a lot of different foods on a small island," explains Hsieh. "So it's a combination of all different cultures from the mainland using the resources to recreate the culture we [the Taiwanese] have."

Amore Eats' menu is broken down into three sections. The first section, where all the item numbers start with the letter A, are "xiao chi," small eats that would be found at the famous Taiwanese night markets, such as popcorn chicken, night market steak, stinky tofu, and Taiwan burger (gua bao).

Section B is all bento boxes, which is considered a specialty of Hsieh's home region of Taitung. (The area is known for the quality of its rice, and even has a bento museum.) Each bento always features bits of braised pork, sweet Taiwanese sausage, pickled dried radish, mustard greens on a bed of rice, and two sections filled with an additional veg and side of the day. These can include homestyle dishes like Taiwanese-style curry, tomato stir fried with egg, or mapo tofu.

Sections T and S are a variety of items including soups, hotpot, stir fried noodles, and veggies. There is also the night market and restaurant classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup.

Amore Eats sees a steady flow of customers who come by to pick up takeout orders due to the limited counter and communal table seating; it occupies the same room as the gas station cashier and convenience store.

For those who are visiting for the first time, Hsieh recommends trying the Taiwanese meatballs, which are ground pork, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms wrapped in a translucent rice dough in a pool of sweet chili tomato sauce. "It's unique to offer it in a restaurant, and it's not easy to make," she says. "I also recommend the Taiwan sticky rice with eel, bacon, or dried baby shrimp. They're all good."

Don't sleep on the popcorn chicken, which features dark meat morsels that get their unique flavor from a soak in fermented tofu, and a batter seasoned with five spice. Bits of crisp salty basil make a fragrant topper. And be sure to get the Taiwanese sausage in a sticky rice bun, which gains balance via pickled mustard and dried radish condiments. The drinks cooler is filled with classic Taiwanese sodas and juice, including Hey Song sarsaparilla, Apple Sidra, and bottled mulberry juice.

For those who would like to try stinky tofu, a dish that defeated Bizarre Eats' Andrew Zimmern, a word of warning: Hsieh rates it as an 8 on a smelly scale of 1-10. (It has an odor often compared to aged soft cheese.)

"Someone brought their friend to have stinky tofu because he had been missing it and hadn't had it in so long," she says. "He had to order it for takeout, so he ate in his car and he stunk up his whole car!" There is also a fried rendition served with pickled cabbage, and a hot pot rendition served up with cubes of pig's blood, fish balls, glass noodles, mushrooms, intestines, and cabbage.

Hsieh and Mo, who help determine the menu, are not done adding to it. Though they are limited by their small kitchen, they would love to offer Taiwanese diner items, as well as fan tuan, a sticky rice roll that can be stuffed with fillings like pork floss, kimchi, and long cruller-like youtiao. And they are most excited about offering mi tai mu, a chewy, udon-shaped noodle, made with rice and tapioca flour, served in a soup or stir fried. Also, keep an eye out for specials starting around May; Mo has a fishing hobby and brings his catch in for the restaurant.

Amore Eats is located at 1900 Rockville Pike in Rockville and open Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

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