April 03, 2011
Pizza Olmo
Hidden in a little community in Sanchih, the sprawling restaurant (converted from an abandoned vacation home) serves up wood-baked pizzas and a variety of pastas. The oven and the pizza station is located front and center right behind the entrance, the centerpiece of the restaurant. Each room of the converted house was decorated with bold, distinctive colors. We were stuck in a dim, blue-painted room at first but when we saw another party leave we moved to a window-side table and that was much better. We brought some strawberries from home which went nicely with the chocolate cake dessert.
The wood-fired pizza oven also gets put to good slow-roasting the German-style pig knuckles, slowly rendering out the fat but retaining the juices. Plenty of pickles, sauerkraut, and sausages came alongside. Good thing we had a big group to share.
Straightforward pastas, a pesto sauce with lots of shrimps, calamari rings, etc. Now we always order a red-sauce pasta for the kid, too, and he always enjoys the change of pace from the home-cooking. It was nice to see the pizzas being made and cooked right there, but the pies themselves were pretty average.
So the food was good enough, but it's really the location in the sea-side artist village that is the main draw. Reservations would be strongly recommended since it's quite a drive to get out there from Taipei. It would be amazing in good weather, unfortunately it was cold and drizzling so we couldn't really take the time to explore the other galleries and cafes. Instead we headed down the coast-side highway to 三芝小豬 for some of their famous cheesecakes instead. The kid approved of our itinerary.
Pizza Olmo
新北市三芝區芝柏路46號
02-26366758