Saury Issue 42: The Taiwanese Food I Want to Eat Now

What we eat is the taste of Taiwan There is an unknown Japanese restaurant in Ximending. Rather than saying it is a "Japanese restaurant", it is better to say it is a "Taiwanese stir-fry restaurant selling Japanese food." The store on the first floor sells oden. There is no menu. You have to use your hands to indicate the cooking ingredients in the pot. It is difficult for customers to see the price from the cooking table. The boss often quotes the total price after he has finished cutting it boldly. For first-timers, It's always a little scary for people who visit. Went to the restaurant on the second floor, where they had omelette rice, Oyako donburi, and Inari sushi. It looked like a Japanese restaurant, but it also had bamboo shoot plates, roasted chicken legs, and clam soup with shredded ginger. Guests were seated on red chairs and cups on the table. It's a Taiwan Beer glass, the drinks in the refrigerator are plum juice and gold medal beer, and finally, together with all the old customers in the store, this is what an unknown Japanese restaurant looks like. When I was a kid, when my dad was driving me home from school, he would always take a detour to this shop and order a bowl of fried udon noodles for me to eat in the car. That was the beginning of all my memories of "udon": adsorbing the salty soup, stir-fried with shredded pork and cabbage, sometimes the noodle was too soft and soft, and sometimes it was just right. Every time, it was like being on the winning chef's day. Mood. As far as udon noodles are concerned, this stir-fried udon is definitely not the best, but even if I later traveled to Kagawa, Akita and other Japanese udon birthplaces and ate all the best udon noodles, I My taste buds still tell me that the bowl of nameless stir-fried oolong that my father used to comfort me after school and wanted to make me happy with "Japanese food" is the most delicious dish, and this became my first taste of Japanese food. memory. Some people say that Japanese restaurants in Taiwan will make Japanese people angry. The sashimi is too thick, the sushi is filled with meat floss, and why are the miso soup filled with rice balls? Japanese cuisine that belongs to "Taiwanese style" is actually not just a change in shape and magical modification of ingredients. More often, what we eat is the obsession of the older generation: when celebrating, we should go to a Japanese restaurant to eat good food. At the same time, in order to feel satisfied on the table, the larger the meal, the better it is to add some seasonal ingredients that everyone loves to eat. Beyond the essence of Japanese cuisine, there is a layer of rich emotion that reflects Taiwanese family relationships, the heroic spirit among friends, and the love for children. Craftsmanship, ingredients, and cooking traditions are important, but Taiwanese Japanese cuisine, which has been developed here since the Japanese era, has long become the taste of Taiwanese people. The theme of this issue of "Taiwanese Food" includes Keelung, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung, three old cities with deep ties to Japan. They go on a culinary trip and invite three groups of food lovers from different eras to talk about the spirit of Japanese food in Taiwan and Japan. "It has been with Taiwanese for several generations and has long been a part of our food life." As the interviewee in this issue, writer Hong Aizhu, said, the Japanese cuisine in Taiwan has a taste that we love, the ingredients are selected locally, and the memories are Founded in this land, Taiwanese cuisine has long become a unique and proud new cuisine in Taiwan.