Name: Faye Chen
Origin: Taoyuan, Taiwan
Current Base: New York City
Current Role: Co Founder and Co Creative Lead at Double Chicken Please, Lower East Side, NYC
Notable Recognition: Double Chicken Please ranked among North America’s and the world’s top bars
Specialisation: Culinary inspired cocktails created through dish to drink transformation
Instagram: @fayechen_dcp
Previous Experience: Speak Low, Shanghai
Known For: Technique driven flavour architecture, playful reimagining of comfort food, emotional and nostalgic drink storytelling

Early Beginnings in Taoyuan

The story of Faye Chen does not begin in a world-famous bar. It begins in Taoyuan, Taiwan, where she grew up in a traditional environment that valued stability. Bartending was not considered a career path. It was viewed with uncertainty, sometimes even disapproval.

Yet everything changed during her time working at a small bar in Taoyuan. One night, during the bar’s anniversary celebration, she watched a flair-bartending performance that left her completely spellbound. Bottles flew. Lights shifted. The room pulsed with energy. She asked the performer where he trained, and that simple question led to her signing up for bartending classes.

Her family was unsure. Bartending felt too far from the life they imagined for her. But she held on. Her passion was clearer to her than any external expectation. Over the years, their hesitation softened into acceptance.

Finding Her Footing in Shanghai

Becoming Part of Speak Low

In 2014, Faye moved to Shanghai after being introduced to Shingo Gokan. He was building a new bar called Speak Low, and when she first walked in, the place was still a construction site. There was dust on the floors, tools everywhere, and none of the polish that would later attract global attention.

She joined the opening team and helped shape the bar from the ground up. Shanghai’s cocktail culture was blooming. Speak Low became one of the city’s most influential bars, and Faye was part of the heartbeat that built its reputation.

The work was demanding. Long nights, constant service pressure, and an environment where health, rest, and personal life often came second. A fellow bartender once gave her a card that read “Don’t die.” It was meant as humour, but it reflected the relentless pace of the bar world.

Still, those years were foundational. She learned discipline, flavour balance, and how to stay calm inside chaos. She also learned what hospitality felt like when it came from the heart.

A Cross-Country Journey in Search of Flavour

The Yellow Volkswagen Minibus

After Shanghai, Faye and her partner, GN Chan, set off on a road trip across the United States. They travelled in a yellow Volkswagen minibus and hosted cocktail pop-ups in different cities. Their intention was simple. They wanted to understand how Americans drank, what flavours resonated, and how different communities experienced cocktails.

This journey planted the seed for what would become Double Chicken Please in New York.

Building Double Chicken Please in New York City

In late 2020, during one of the most challenging times for hospitality, Faye and GN opened Double Chicken Please on the Lower East Side. Many businesses were shutting down, but she chose to move forward.

The bar had two distinct spaces. The front served fast, fun, creative on-tap drinks. The back room was the creative core, where Faye translated food into cocktails. A Cold Pizza cocktail with tomato tang and comfort. A Thai Curry Highball with spice and citrus. Dishes became drinks. Memories became flavours.

Double Chicken Please climbed the rankings quickly. It earned recognition as one of the top bars in North America and later as one of the top bars globally.

Faye’s flavours were not just clever. They were emotional. They felt familiar. They felt human.

Her Creative Philosophy

Cocktails as Memory

Faye often begins with a dish. Something comforting. Something nostalgic. She breaks down its components and rebuilds them as a drink. Many of her cocktails take days to prepare, with elements cooked, clarified, infused, or reimagined like a chef composing a plate.

Her drinks tell stories. They carry her Taiwanese roots, her Shanghai experiences, her New York creativity. They allow guests to feel something personal, something unexpected.

To Faye, a cocktail is not just a beverage. It is a translation of identity and experience.

What Faye Represents

Faye’s journey feels personal because it mirrors the dreams of so many who begin in unlikely places. She came from a small city, entered an industry that was misunderstood, and built a career that spans continents.

She represents: