For any American who comes to Taiwan, in your first time at a restaurant you will notice something odd. If you are the lucky one you won't mind, but if you are the unlucky one you will mind.
In Taiwan, the servers do not wait for all the food for a table to be done before bringing it all out. This means that if you order something quick and easy, and your friend ordered something that takes a long time, you will not only get your food first, but you may actually finish it before your friend's food ever arrives.
Thankfully Taiwan also has a policy that if your food comes first, you must eat it. It is extremely rude to not eat your food and wait for the other person's food. You will shame them greatly. I must say that at first this was very difficult to accept as I felt that I was shaming them by eating when their food hadn't arrived. But honestly it didn't take many meals where i was starving and my food was sitting right in front of me smelling so good, that i happily accepted the fact that i should dig in.
That being said it is horrible when it's the other way around and your food is the only one at the table to not come yet. Although if your food comes last you do usually get a dinner show. Since the food comes out right when it's done, it means that everybody's meal comes out solar hot. so if your food hasn't arrived yet, you get to see your friends eat food that might as well just be lava, as it burns a hole right through their mouths, dropping back onto the plate from the new hole beneath their chin.
Pictured above is my lovely tuna sandwich which arrived well before my friend's pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Unfortunately I didn't have a picture which not only showed my food but also the look of anguish on her face. however you can barely see her phone in her hand. This is her trying her best to ignore me while i sing a song about how my food has arrived and she can only eat air. I call my song "Friendship."
