【Monday Foodie】The Lab of Meat Aroma: Donkey Restaurant L’IDIOT RESTAURANT

By TRAVELER Liao Hongxin

“Can you smell that strong cheese aroma?” said Fudy, owner and head chef of Donkey Restaurant. It’s currently 4 degrees Celsius, though it usually hovers near zero. We’re inside Donkey’s dry-aging room, a space that looks like a freezer container. Shelves are neatly lined with large cuts of beef labeled by different cuts and aging days, their dry textures and vivid crimson hues exposed. Aside from the cold, as Fudy mentioned, the air is indeed filled with a rich cheese-like fragrance.

It’s the natural cheesy flavor released by fat during the aging process — the beef is “breathing.” Nowadays, many restaurants serve dry-aged steaks, but most actually purchase pre-aged meat and simply cook it. Even if they have aging cabinets, some are used more for storage than aging. Chefs often rush to take the meat out of the cabinet or serve it vacuum-packed. Had we not visited Fudy’s “aging container” today, who would’ve known that after the beef “breathes,” it could produce such a marvelous cheesy, salty aroma?

Handcrafted Aging, Pure Flavor
This is what Fudy means by true artisanal flavor. The original Donkey Restaurant championed a philosophy of authenticity. Now, in its second generation, located on the former site of the Fontaine Hall on the first floor of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, the new Donkey has significantly increased the proportion of handmade items. Vegetables and spices are grown by Fudy himself on Yangmingshan, bread is made by the in-house bakery team, and there’s extensive experimentation with aging ingredients like beef, pork, and duck. Beyond building a truly breathable aging room, Fudy also created a live-culture drying cabinet, maintaining an environment of around 16°C and 76% humidity. By leveraging microbial fermentation, he enhances the flavor of dried meats — turning cherry duck breast into prosciutto, barley-fed pork belly into pancetta, and more. The pursuit of richer, deeper flavors marks the next evolution of Donkey Restaurant. The more “mature” Donkey plays with aging, driven by the experimental spirit that handmade cuisine embodies.

“I was looking for a ‘fire-type’ grill from the start,” Fudy said, pointing to what looked more like a hotel dishwasher than a grill. Indeed, its appearance is a far cry from the imposing presence of top chefs’ favorite Wood Stone grills. But this is what Fudy calls his “magic” secret weapon. “Most grills rely on gas, or like the Wood Stone, use open-flame charcoal. I wanted to emphasize the smoky flavor from charcoal grilling, especially after talking with a Finnish chef about the natural flavors achieved through wood and charcoal smoking there — it convinced me that this is what I was after.” Eventually, Fudy sourced this Spanish Josper charcoal oven, which combines both “charcoal grilling” and “smoke roasting,” through overseas contacts. He even became particular about the type of wood used. “In Taiwan, people usually burn longan or acacia wood, while abroad it’s apple or cherry wood. But I love bourbon for its complex character, so I bought white oak barrels from Jack Daniel’s bourbon to use as firewood — I wanted to infuse that bourbon flavor into the food,” Fudy explained.