Location: Taipei, Longma Hejiu (Ryoma Wajiu)
Travel Notes: Had lunch with Wic at Youshou Sushi - Zhongshan branch in Taipei's Zhongshan District. He wanted my opinion on his team's new product nearing completion. Thanks for the treat, Wic! He and Xiaomin even gifted me a bottle of red wine. After the meal, since the Taipei Fine Arts Museum was nearby, I dropped by to check out the new exhibition again (my third visit). Around 4 PM, I went to Longma Hejiu, a place FB has been pushing on my feed lately. They had a promotion from 3–6 PM: 9 glasses for 999 TWD. At that price, I expected mid-to-upper-tier sake at best, but surprisingly, all 9 were Junmai Ginjo or Daiginjo grade with a rice polishing ratio of 45–60%. Completely unexpected! I planned to have just one round but ended up going for two rounds of the 999 deal. The owner, Xiaobao, holds a Japanese sake sommelier license. His profound knowledge, extensive experience, and eloquence regarding Japanese sake were truly impressive, and I learned a lot of rare facts. For instance, I learned about sake aged over 500 meters underwater, with barnacles clinging to the bottle. There was also Juyondai, a sake that gained popularity in Fran…
