Notes on the corners
of the world
Across Taiwanese cities, the same yellow-and-red sign appears beside office buildings, schools, and ordinary shopping streets. Inside, diners order guotie one piece at a time, adding soup or soy milk according to the size of the meal they need.
At a Malaysian mamak, a cook can turn a small oiled ball of dough into a thin, layered disk with a few sharp slaps and throws. The finished bread looks almost empty on the plate, but it arrives with a whole set of motions, textures, and ways to eat it.
In a Taiwanese diner, 猪 appears on the menu beside pig’s feet, blood, and ordinary cuts of pork. To a Japanese reader, the character briefly suggests something from the mountains; what arrives is the familiar animal raised close to the kitchen.
In Malaysia, TARIK appears both on doors and on drink menus. One asks for a pull at the entrance; the other arrives as tea lifted between two cups, its surface held under a thin layer of foam.
Across Din Tai Fung locations, from Taipei to London, the same small dumpling arrives with the same pleats, spoon, ginger, and lifting ritual. Behind the glass, even the hands making it seem to follow a shared script.
At a nasi kandar counter, the food is arranged less like a menu than a brown range of curries, fried chicken, fish, and vegetables. A customer points, and the plate only takes shape when several sauces are poured over it.
At a Taiwanese night market, the oyster omelet arrives with plump oysters, soft starch, and a pink glaze already spread across its surface. Brown sauce and mayonnaise sit nearby on other foods, but this plate is left exactly as it is.
Curry has blurred the fried chicken, egg, and okra into one brown plate, but the cashier names a price almost before it reaches the counter. The judgment leaves no visible calculation—and no receipt explaining it.
Walking along Fuxing South Road without looking for a drink, I pass another small shop at nearly every turn—different colors on the signs, nearly identical spaces beneath them. At the next red light, clear cups appear in a surprising number of hands, lifted between buses, crossings, and errands.
