I sit at the bar counter staring at half an apple sliced beautifully in dark purple vinegar.  It’s my free dessert from the chef who is busy making many different kinds of sandwiches and talking to other staff in English, Chinese, and another language I don’t understand.  He is in a plain white T-shirt and a pair of worn-out jeans; his black and shiny hair casually falls besides his cheeks.  He looks like an actor from some Japanese soap opera, I say to myself, taking one slice of apple and put it into my mouth.  “Did you see the menu? It’s two hundred dollars,” the chef smiles and points the apple by his chin.  I look at the apple in the little plate with my eyes wide open, trying to say something in response to express my surprise and not being rude.  “Nah, just kidding,” he says before I find the appropriate words.  It’s half past two in the afternoon and I am having a meal at Toasteria, which is located on Yun-He Street, in the area of Shida Night Market.  Almost everything in this place is wooden, tables, chairs, stools, and big trunks of trees put in the gray concrete flooring.  A few vines hang from the roof and some green plants sitting in their flowerpots.  It is like a tree house growing from the ground.  The chef says something to his partner in his mother tongue and winks at me.  When I ask him where he is from, he smiles and waves his hands and he talks about something else.

A big clock in black and white is one the wall and it says the time is 11:27.  It is not going and I cannot feel the time moving forward.  Tomer, the owner of Toasteria, says he wants to build a place where people can stop thinking and eat.  Tomer is from Israel and he worked as a chef in New York for twelve years before he came to Taiwan.  He went to New York because he wanted to pursue his dream of making music, and he came to Taiwan to make the dream of making a family with his girlfriend (who is now his wife), Jun, come true.  His hair is very short and it is all grey, so is his beard.  But he doesn’t look old at all.  In fact he looks kind of young because he is tanned and his dark eyes shine when he talks.  He is wearing a plain grey T-shirt and a pair of dark grey shorts, and he is in his white flip-flops.  He looks very serious when he talks and he speaks English with a slight accent which sounds natural.  You can tell that he did not grow up speaking the language but it is like he is speaking in his mother tongue.  I think it is because that Tomer talks in a tone that is serious but soothing at the same time.  I have a feeling that he never wastes time talking about nothing, and when he speaks he always knows what he is going to say.

Tomer says they have rich culture in Mediterranean countries because people always have to trade things with neighboring countries to make a living.  Israel is composed of different cultures and races and languages, and those are the things people usually cannot share with one another.  But people share food, no one resists good food.  And Tomer wants to make sure people get good food in his restaurant.  He wants his restaurant make people feel like eating and drinking.  I think I can do that with the sandwich in my dish.  This place is actually making me hungry because I really don’t see what else I could do here.  I could read a book or browse some websites if I were in a café but here in Toasteria I can’t see myself doing such things, and I don’t see anyone doing so.  I look around the place and see the pillars and door frames are painted in the mixture of brown and cinnamon red.  The air is warm as it is on the streets, I don’t feel any air-conditioning.  I move my fingers on the bar counter and feel the roughness of the wood and I see a girl with curly brown hair took a bite of her sandwich and look outside the restaurant.  Sitting in Toasteria I can hear people talking in regular volume and only when I listen with my ears strained can I notice Jazz and blues alternate in the air.  I don’t see any white plates but they are in blackish green or blue so they fit into the dusky illumination without catching too much attention.  Many decorations are vantage, most of them look old and used.  The big brightly colored cupboard belongs to Tomer’s grandma and also the different kinds of old wallpapers with classic flower patterns in the cracks of the cream colored column standing in the middle of the place.  It’s a way to make his family being involved.

A picture of a little girl is hanging on the wall.  It is Tomer’s daughter and Tomer says that she sometimes spends time in the restaurant, learning to bartend for fun.  “Toasteria serves al age,” says Tomer is his usual tone, calm and peace.  Toasteria is part of Tomer’s family.  His wife runs the place together with him and he has so many things from his original family.  Tomer met Jun when he was in New York.  They had so much passion for music, they were there away from home to see the world, and they fell in love.  Jun was from Malaysia and she and Tomer were planning to stay in New York together.  Tomer had become a chef in an Italian restaurant at that time and was thinking about opening his own restaurant some day.  But Jun didn’t know that she could not go back to New York when she went back to Malaysia on a trip visiting her family.  And Tomer could not go meet her in her home country because of his race.  So they came to Taiwan, a total new and strange place for both of them, to be with each other.  Tomer opened Toasteria and started a band named Neon with Jun and one Taiwanese guy and another guy from Singapore.  Jun sings and Tomer plays bass.  He plays guitars sometimes with his friends and he teaches people how to play it.  Tomer and his band got a contract with a Taiwan company and they go out performing in some musical occasions like the famous Spring Live Concert in Kenting (a musical event held in spring where rock bands perform at the beach, usually three days in a row) Tomer finds a perfect job to combine his passion and job and he says things get easier when you just enjoy.

Tomer doesn’t seem to think it is a big deal moving to a country he had never been to and stay there to make a life.  He talks about his home country as a country that is open to different people and cultures.  In fact, Israel is the most open country comparing to its neighbors.  It has two main groups of people, Jew and Arabian, and both of their languages are considered the official language of the country.  Also, Israel holds an open mind about homosexuality while the neighboring countries in Mediterranean area and Middle East area are strongly against it.  But I think it is a big deal for everyone to leave where his culture is and go to a different society, even for Tomer.  I don’t think that Tomer shipped those big pieces of furniture just because he missed his grandmother.  I think he wants to see that Israel is always in his home, wherever his home is.  I have never seen his musical performance or listened to any of the songs of his band, and I wonder if he adds some elements of Middle East music into his songs just like he did in his restaurant.

I take a bite of my sandwich and the melting cheese is coming out from the side like the lava coming out from a volcano.  The sandwich is hot and every taste mixing together in my mouth, tomato, basil, and tastes of many ingredients that I cannot identify.  The chicken in the sandwich is nicely match with the sauce, and the olives and pickles on the side can just in time give you a break from eating a big sandwich of the same flavor.  I am not sure which one is supposed to be Mediterranean and which is not, but it is a sandwich that makes me want to take a second bite immediately.  It is strange to give a sandwich a very good compliment but I think Tomer’s food is just like him, it looks simple but it is definitely not plain.  And usually you cannot tell what’s exactly inside sandwich when you look from the outside.  You can know what is like when you take a bite, but you have to eat the whole thing to know what it really has.

The chef in a plain whit T-shirt is still busy making food and giving free food to people.  I know from the Internet that he does give free food often and so does Tomer. I see the customers here seem happy with their food.  There are about 30 different kinds of sandwiches on the menu but they all look alike, whole wheat bread with brawn crossed lines from the Panini machine.  And a small dish with pickles and black olives aside the sandwich.  Pretty much every one is getting a meal of this kind.  There are also alcohols and sweet deserts on the menu and the place becomes a bar when it’s late at night.  But no one is drinking at this time in the afternoon.  People are having their food and they really are focusing on the food and nothing else.  He wants the place to remind people how they can enjoy their lives.  “Don’t have to count calories,” he says with enthusiasm, pointing the banner on the cover of the menu which says “No Diet coke, no skim milk, no low fat cheese, no credit card.  ONLY THE GOOD STUFF.”   Tomer has some good stuff for himself, too.  He had the name “Toasteria” twelve years ago and he actually designed and made almost everything from scratch.  He draws the blueprints with a pencil and be finds all the special items which he thinks would fit the place.  And he saves some space in the basement in Toasteria where he wants to make a music studio there some day.  So he could do both of his work, music and food, at one place. “So we can have fun,” he says with his eyes shined.  Now Tomer is making his family, his passion, and his work altogether.  He seems to love what he is doing and he wants to share it with people.    And he could have both of his fun at the same time.