Gastro Monkey // 美食家

I am having serious Taiwan withdrawals, so I guess that means it's time for me to finally catch up on my posts that I should have been doing for the past year. Lately, I have been feeling a bit uninspired by just blogging about one location at a time. The travelogues have been more interesting to me because there's usually a story involved. I suppose I will figure it out eventually. For the few who have been following me, thanks for bearing with me! If you have watched any Zimmern or Bourdain specials, or even any YouTube videos dealing with Taipei, I'm sure you've heard of YongKang Street. It has some great stuff on this street/in this vicinity (See also Tianjin Onion Pancakes/ 天津蔥抓餅 , Din Tai Fung/鼎泰豐, Du Xiao Yue Danzi Noodle/度小月擔仔麵 (great if you don't have time to go to Tainan to get it from the original location), Kao Chi/高記, and a bun cart that is there until they sell out for the day (go early - I've always had luck when I go for breakfast... ju...

The first thing you see after stepping inside RAW (most likely after standing outside and thinking, this is it, it's finally happening - because those reservations are not  easy to come by), is this - a big wall that has the definition of "kitchen." The second thing is most likely all of the wood. The wood is Hinoki, a prized wood that is super fragrant. The smell evokes childhood memories of summers in Taiwan in our old house in 岡山, the last stop on the new-ish KMRT. From there, your exceptionally friendly waiter will seat you and your party. Then, you think, hm, I don't have any utensils. When am I going to get them? Have no fear friend, check the table. There's a drawer that should just be to the right of you that has all of that. Now, can I get one of those at home?  Next comes the menu. It changes seasonally, and doesn't have very much information listed. In fact, it looks like a game of BINGO: We were seated fairly close to t...