Mr. Onion is Hilarious
We all know The Onion. It is a satirical online newspaper, and it is really funny. Their stories often get mistaken for real news. If you hear a story that sounds unbelievable, you might exclaim, "That has to be The Onion!"
Now it seems that The Onion has gone into the restaurant business. I stumbled upon their eatery in the far-away island country of Taiwan. I tried it. The food is very good, but it is not so funny.
The restaurant is called "Mr. Onion" and it is in the northern part of Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. From all outward appearances, it seems legit. You can go inside, order food, and eat. It even tastes good, but I expected something satirical to happen. I was waiting for a punch line that never arrived.
I had a steak cooked Taiwan-style: medium rare on top of a sizzling metal plate. Unless you tell them not to, they will cover the steak in a spicy black pepper sauce. It is really hot. You had better tell them to use the mushroom sauce. I can imagine the cooks laughing their heads off in the kitchen. That's not funny.
If you don't speak Chinese, you will be lucky if you can get them to pretend to understand what you say. The wait staff speak Chinese and they don't like to hear anything else. I think they know some English, but they are afraid of embarrassing themselves. That was something else that I didn't think was funny.
It is not too expensive, but they try to act like a fancy restaurant. Meals are served in courses: salad, soup, meal, and dessert. I kept expecting a hilarious curveball. The soup was kind of funny, but not 'ha ha' funny. It had a pastry covering. It was corn soup. I told the waiter that the soup wasn't as corny as I expected, but he didn't even smile at that.
My bill came to hundreds of dollars. "This is outrageous," I cried, but after the manager said it was in Taiwan dollars, not US dollars. I said, "Don't scare me like that." That wasn't funny.