Jiufen Shimizu Restaurant Introduction
At this restaurant, you can always hear the powerful songs of the singer Wu Bai while enjoying steaming stinky tofu. You might suddenly ask, "Boss! Why is your restaurant called 'Food Riddle Shop'?" The Jiufen Food Riddle Shop is the first stinky tofu shop in Jiufen. The walls of the restaurant are adorned with dozens of Taiwanese proverbs, allowing customers to appreciate the wisdom of the Taiwanese people. The wooden couplet on the wall, "Taste the world's delicacies and solve Taiwan's wisdom," reflects the owner's motivation for naming the shop "Food Riddle Shop." The owner, who has been interested in riddles and proverbs since childhood, often shares popular sayings and even bought books to study proverbs dictionaries; he eventually decided to decorate his shop as a "riddle classroom." Besides proverbs, the owner is also a great storyteller, often passionately sharing various tales with customers, and is well-versed in the unique proverbs of the Jiufen area. The owner stated that modern people live in a technological and commercial society, which gives them little opportunity to engage with Taiwan's culture and wisdom—namely, Taiwanese proverbs—so he wants everyone to know the sayings left by their ancestors and appreciate their meanings. Another objective is to encourage dining customers to guess or discuss these meanings, creating topics of conversation and reminiscing about the Taiwanese proverbs that their grandparents used to say.
