Nonzero

It looks like someones big country kitchen or what someones ideal kitchen should look like. There were two long wooden tables with an assortment of kitchen chairs that look surprisingly well together. The wooden floor creaked pleasantly, but the thing that hit me was the smell of freshly cooked clams.

I was greeted, not in the usual "professional" restaurant manner, but as if I actually just dropped into someones kitchen. It was a casual "Hey, how are you?". There was a young lady in t-shirt and jeans with short cropped hair, walking around and talking to some of the guests - she's the chef. They showed me a nice red wine they found recently and I said I'd like to have some vegetables and may be a steak. They left me with some bread that they apparently imported from France and with it I tried some of their olive oil.

I was sitting at one end of the long wooden table on the right. There were clumps of people around the two long tables. I heard casual conversations and sounds of laughter here and there. It was quite apparent that everyone felt very at home. The chef walked by and said she bought some new olive oil, would I like to try it? In a flash - I was sitting with a new plate of olive oil and fresh bread. Oh, I like the wine.

This is a place where you would be tempted to kick off your shoes and sit with one leg folded on the chair under you. It's THAT comfortable.

I got a little cup of soup. Tomato soup with something - I didn't order it specifically. The chef did what she did. It's great. Then came the vegetables, green as jade and deliciously hot. Are vegetables usually this fresh in Taiwan? The steak came as well. The portion is tiny by New York standards but it has to be the best steak I have ever had. Did I tell you that the chef served up every dish with a small introduction? Everything is VERY personal here.

It was a culinary festival of sorts, fresh vegetables, steak and glasses of wine. I felt like I have known this room forever. There were a dozen people having a dinner party on the otherwise quiet side street outside. One of the ladies cleared my part of the table and gave me a mug of herbal tea and a dessert that involved a banana. I felt such a peaceful feeling sweeping over me, as if nothing else exist but only this little part of the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a restaurant experience like nothing that I have ever had before. The place is called "Nonzero". When you happen to be in Taipei, Taiwan, there's no ifs-ands-or-buts about it - GO.