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Near Niaosong Junior High School in Shuilin Township, there’s an unassuming little restaurant. Bamboo slats form its façade, and a modest sign reads “Niaosong Inn.” Seven years ago, owner Huang Wen-jun came home from the north to open shop, and it has since become the locals’ word-of-mouth foodie haven. An artist at heart, Huang turned his traditional three-section compound into a 1950s-style country diner: posters of singing stars of yesteryear, turntable music, crimson lanterns, worn-out furniture, and old government placards—“Report spies, earn a reward”— all conspiring to make every visitor feel time has slipped backward. The dishes are all home cooking. To keep things fresh, Huang insists on local ingredients, keeping “food miles” within five kilometers whenever possible— eels from Kouhu, Taiwanese tilapia, native free-range chickens, loach— while the backyard plot supplies eggplants, chilies, papayas, and more, picked as needed. In Huang Wen-jun’s hands, these local ingredients break free of convention, their creativity and flavor searing memories into every gourmet’s mind.