MUME

MUME, which opened around the same time as RAW and shares its capital-letters-only naming approach (mume is the botanical name for the plum blossom, Taiwan’s national flower), channels a Nordic sensibility, with a cozy dining room gently lit by the glow of a marble bar and Scandinavian-style bentwood chairs flanking tables lit by low-hanging pendant lights. “Modern European casual fine dining,” in the words of Richie Lin, an owner and one of three chefs, captures the spirit of the place — elegant and suitable for a special night out, welcoming and wallet-friendly enough to be your neighborhood hangout.

After Mr. Lin experienced some frustration with the scarcity of local ingredients in Hong Kong, where he was born and had worked (he grew up in Canada), Taiwan appealed as fertile ground on which to pursue his goal of cooking with the seasons, alongside two other expat chefs: Kai Ward (Australian) and Long Xiong (American). MUME is “a chance to discover what is unique and special about Taiwan,” he said, “and to showcase it to the world.”

Nordic influence is on the menu, too, in a starter of warm country sourdough with beer butter and smoked beef fat butter, modeled after a popular bread course at Noma. After that, the menu divides into Snack, Smaller, Bigger, Sweeter. I would return in a heartbeat for baby potatoes, which are thickly dusted with dried shiitake crumbles. The mushroom crumbs bear a whiff of the forest floor and notes of coffee and bitter chocolate that deepen when mixed with the accompanying cultured butter.

The Taiwan salad is a stunner: 30 ingredients that change by the day (I identified nasturtium leaves, flower petals, tiny broccoli florets, pickled cherry tomatoes and roasted carrots), dressed not with vinegar or citrus but umami, in the form of salted black beans. There’s plenty of showmanship in crisp-tender blush prawns bathed in coral sauce made with prawn head fat and layered with jicama batons and wisps of fresh dill; frozen ricotta is dusted over the bowl, releasing a dry ice cloud. Each mouthful is a shock of brine and milk and grassiness, amplified by crunch and cold.

MUME, No. 28 Siwei Road; 886-2-2700-0901. Average dinner for two is 2,900 dollars, plus 10 percent service charge.