May 12, 2007
Bellini Pasta
According to people who'd know, Mother's Day the busiest day for restaurants around here. So there we were on the day before before mother's day, and all the restaurants were swamped with lines out the door. Our lost wanderings took us over to the Vieshow movie theater, formerly known as the XinYi Warner Village. Typically the Bellini's inside the theater is one of the busiest places in the area as it's ideally placed for a decent meal before the show if you wanted something a step up from the food court. But I guess moms don't go for Italian and there was a lull anyway as we were there just after the 8pm showings started, so there were plenty of good seats available.
Bellini is a mid-priced chain out of Japan, serving Nippon-ified Italian food, probably with a further bit of Taiwan-ification thrown into the local incarnation. The salads looked interesting, with dressing drizzled over an entire heart of romaine, but we didn't feel like a big meal, so we just ordered soup and pasta. The cream of mushroom soup was fairly tasty without being too salty.
The place is known for its large portions, so we decided to order the two-pasta combo of two half-portions instead. Decided to go with the distinctly Japanese-influenced choice of Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce over Tonkatsu, and Spaghetti with Yuzu Mentaiko and Calamari, with a light mound of nori strips on top for that final Oriental touch. The tonkatsu was nice and juicy and let's face it breaded-and-fried meat will go with just about anything. The marinara was a bit sweet for my tastes but that's how the Japanese/Taiwanese like it. The calamari was tender and the cream sauce wasn't bad. I found the mentaiko made the sauce a bit too fishy for me. Although the addition of preserved fish roe into pasta is actually not inauthentic, being similar to the Sardinian bottarga.
Wanted a light meal so no desserts or anything like that, but did splurge for the refillable lemonade. The lemonade tasted fresh and lemony, but for some reason they decided to color it blue. Why mess with fresh lemonade? Unless it wasn't that fresh? Regardless, the citric acid provided a zing to keep the pasta from getting cloying.
Bellini Pasta Pasta (Vieshow Theaters)
110台北市信義區松壽路16號2樓
(other locations)
02-27586096