GF noticed the place getting good reviews in the Taipei foodie blogosphere. It's an intimate place tucked into an alley near the Far Eastern area. Decided to go with something simple and got a Pizza Magherita. After a good experience with the dish the last time I convinced the GF to go with the mushroom risotto special. The spinach salad featuring fresh baby spinach in a Japanese-style dressing to better fit the local taste, but in a good way. The pizza is legitate Italian style, thin with a blistered crust. I was expecting fresh basil leaves on the pizza but there was only a sprinkle of dried basil, which took away a bit from the flavor. The pizza slice itself was a bit limp near the tip due to a bit more sauce than standard. So I had to take a big bite right as I picked it up, still points for a good try, though. Went well with the glass of Sangiovese. The mushroom-asparagus risotto was good, rich but still light, although the 'shrooms weren't as fancy as the Eos version.
Desserts were good. A well-done and tasty creme brulee always goes well with the cup of coffee. GF had the signature dessert which was the almond-crunch semifreddo. It was interesting and good in its own way with good almond flavor without being too sweet. But it's a bit less sweet, a bit less creamy, and a bit less cold than what I prefer in a dessert (e.g. a creme brulee). The service had been prompt and courteous all the way 'til the end, when we were waiting for our check. The first sitting were leaving, including a couple of big groups and the second sitting were eager to order. Us in the small two-person table near the door felt a bit neglected. I bet we could've snuck out with one of the big groups and they wouldn't have noticed. Still, the food and service were more than a few notches up from the typical Taipei spaghetti joint and we'll make a note to be back to try some of the other good-looking pastas and mains on the menu.
Luna d'Italia
月之義大利
台北市大安區敦化南路2段265巷3號
02-27339635
Got together with the GF after work but she didn't want to go too far out of the way, so we were looking for a place near the Taipei Train Station. Taiwan Storyland is in the basement of the KMall across the street from the train station. GF and her sister had wanted to check it out, and it wasn't as if we had any better ideas.
The place attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the Taiwan of the '50s. Recreated posters are plastered on the walls: wanted ads, advertising, and some good old propaganda. The storefronts had display cases filled with artifacts from the period mixed with recreations. There wasn't as many people there early on a weekday evening, which made the empty alleys a bit seem a bit creepy, but it picked up once the dinner crowd started to filter in. The movie theater was cool, showing old movies, albeit on a modern digital projector rather than the old-school film projector displayed in the lobby.
Of course, the right thing to do was to eat at the street-food place. Except here we had a gleaming stainless steel kitchen rather than a propane burner on a cart. They serve up specialties from various places, and they make sure to include Japanese on the menu for the tourists. A bit expensive for street-food, but the entry ticket cost can count toward the food so it ended up being okay. The fried tofu-skin meat roll was good, my soup noodles and GF's sticky rice cake were okay. The food's probably not worth a special trip for, but if you're there on a visit there's no need to run out for real food, either.
台灣故事館 (Taiwan Storyland)
台北忠孝西路一段50號B2 (K Mall地下)
02-2383-0368
The Taipei Idee department store is near GF's workplace and it's along the same MRT line I take from work, so it makes for a convenient place to get together on a weekday. It's convenient for lots of other people, too, especially on a Friday night. Didn't do my research beforehand so we wandered about for a while but nothing caught the eye, so we ended up back inside Idee. Of course, all the restaurants were full, but the GF's been to Turandot before for lunch with co-workers and liked it okay, so we we left a cell phone number and had some time to wander around the store before they called us in.
A mirrored wall on one side makes the space seems larger than it is, dark red curtains adds a dramatic element. Nevertheless the entire side is open to the store so the noise filters in, plus I had my back up against a cosmetics counter. An open kitchen helps to assure that everything is on the up-and-up.
GF's green salad was the typical goop-on-iceberg, but my calamari salad was actually very interesting. Thick chunks of squid on real greens (albeit a bit limp), with a warm bacon-onion dressing. Pig fat always makes things tasty. Cream-of-mushroom soup had plenty of mushroom chunks in it but not quite the amount of flavor that would imply. Liked the bacon theme so much that I got the spicy bacon-and-shrimp angel hair. GF had the salmon-cream pasta. A few Thai red chilis gave the spicy pasta some serious heat. The bacon is rich enough to stand up to the heat, but the shrimps kinda get overwhelmed by the other ingredients. The salmon seems to be smoked which was an interesting twist to that dish. Both pastas would've been quite good except they were way too dry, such that the noodles were sticking in lumps. The problem could've easily been fixed with a couple of tablespoons of pasta-cooking water. The fact it wasn't showed that the people in the kitchen were drones cooking to a formula and not real chefs. Which wasn't a surprise, really, but the formula would've been good if they'd just followed through.
Split a desert which was a mutant fruit tart where the tart shell was filled with sponge cake instead of pastry cream, plus a cream puff on top. It was okay, but at least it was a different kind of okay.
So it ended up about average, but with potential to be better. GF said lunch was less crowded which would help. There must be better alternatives nearby, though, and we'll be better prepared next time.
杜蘭朵 (Turandot Pasta)
104台北市中山區南京西路15號B1樓 (衣蝶S館地下室)
02-25675225
Had to take the BMW out for a drive anyway after having to get a jump from AAA to revive a dead battery, so it was as good an excuse as any to go get lunch. Was in a pizza mood and almost turned toward the Cheeseboard, but decided I wanted some meat on my pizza so I turned toward Westbrae instead to Giola's instead. They have four prepared flavors, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and random, which on that day was goat cheese and baby broccoli. Was going to get three slices, but dad wanted that fourth slice, so we got a taste of all four. They take the cooked slices and warm it up in the oven when ordered, which we shouldn't have bothered with since the slices had cooled by the time we got home and I didn't want to reheat them again. But there was still a bit of warmth left, and cold pizza is good in its own way.
The pizza was thin but not cracker-thin, and the generous crust was just a bit charred on the outside and chewy inside. The slice seems in danger of drooping over when you pick it up, which just encourages you to take a big bite right away. The slice is big enough to easily cut in two for dad and I to have a good taste of each one. You wouldn't think broccoli would make much of a pizza topping, but the hint of bitterness in the young florets was a nice contrast to the richness of the cheeses. But as I said, I was in the mood for meat, and Giola uses the best pepperoni on their pizza. Big slices of tasty, all-natural cured meat, so unlike the mystery-meat-product in the chain pizzas. The sauce and cheese are similar quality and compliments the topping, without any one element overwhelming. The sausage meat is also good in its own way. No bland buttons for the mushroom pizza, Giola uses creminis cooked down to the tasty fungus essence. All goes great with a glass of wine or a can of Coke.
Gioia Pizzeria
1586 Hopkins St
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 528-4692
