吃飯了嗎？

新興活海鮮

Brought the baby with us down south to Pingtung County to see some relatives. Of course they took us out for a big dinner before we head back on the HSR. The road near the harbor was lined with one seafood restaurant after another, and we stopped at this one amongst the many. Figured the local relatives know what's up, and the food certainly didn't give any reason for me to quibble with their choice. The fresh seafood is presented up front for the patrons to examine, many still swimming or crawling in their tanks. The chosen specimens are simply prepared, usually a hot wok stir-fry or deep-fried, in a good quantity. The seafood soup & rice was full of good stuff and the kid loved it, too.

新興活海鮮
屏東縣林邊鄉中山路334號
08-8756033

壺同燒肉

Took the younger cousins out to a nice yaki-niku place to celebrate the end of exam season and the beginning of summer vacation. Okay, so they don't keep the meat coming like the cheaper all-you-can-eat places. But at least for the money we got thicker, tastier cuts compared to the usual paper-thin slices. The service dudes are happy to cook the meat for you over the charcoal grill, should you decide to keep your hands clean, a selling point for dainty ladies. Having an experienced hand also helps to make sure the trickier cuts like tongue were grilled for optimal tenderness. Doesn't hurt that the uniformed dudes were good looking with fashionable hair and all. They even came by to change the grill after almost every plate to prevent charcoal buildup. In fact, this was probably the most genuinely helpful restaurant service I've ever had in Taiwan. But if it were just up to me, though, I'd trade eye candy and friendly banter for another couple plates of sirloin, for the price.

胡同燒肉
台北市八德路三段12巷70弄18號1樓
02-25773738

Ari Tofu House

The kid conveniently decided to take a noon-time nap. So we were able to leave him with the nanny and sneak out for a quick lunch. Wanted to go to a reasonable sit-down place, but didn't want to spend too much time away in case he wakes up early. There's plenty of casual restaurants in the alleys near SYT Memorial Hall station that fits our criteria. And we decided to give the relative newcomer a try.

The clean, modern decor and strong air-conditioning were comfortingly cool on a hot day. The restaurant could've been serving any cuisine for all one could tell, but it turns out they specialized in the Korean spicy tofu stew or soondubu jigae (순두부찌개). With the fiery red sauce and cubes of soft tofu one could add meats or seafood. This would go perfectly with rice and they offer both white rice and a healthier multi-grain purple rice. They offer a decent variety of pan-chan side dishes, all-you-can-eat. The cold pan-chan is a nice contrast to the hot tofu stew, or more hot kimchee if it's not spicy enough yet. The extra plate of bulgogi beef was overkill, but it was a relatively cheap addition to a jigae combo meal. As part of the grand-opening special, they threw in an extra piece of salt-grilled fish. But it was kinda cold and not very good compared to how the Japanese restaurants do it, and we had so much food on the table already that we gave up on it after a few bites.

It ended up being a bit more expensive than I expected, about NT400 per person. But we got lots of hot, filling food in a comfortable environment. If I were demanding authentic Korean I probably would've liked a bit more oomph in the spicing. But it was good for a satisfying lunch without blowing the roofs off.

Ari Tofu House
台北市光復南路280巷31號
02-2721-3033

明月光 Faust Pizza

Finally got around to checking out the new pizza place that opened across the street from SYT Memorial Hall. The cooking is done right up front, open to the street, where one can watch the pizzaiolo work the dough and lay out the toppings. The dining room is in the back, closed off with air-conditioning for the comfort of the diners, simply decorated in that faux-Euro Ikea-chic style.

The 10" pizzas were a bit too much for one of us and a bit too small for both to share. But on this first visit we decided to be conservative with the order. Our Roman Pizza featured thinly sliced Italian salami, shitake mushrooms, onions, and olives on a thin-crust. Pretty good pizza and a good value for NT220. The brick kiln managed to do a good job, attractively blistering and crisping the crust, despite the slow-reacting electrical heating element. I guess having a wood-fired or even gas-fired oven just isn't possible in the heavily residential neighborhood.

The other main selling point, and indeed the namesake of the place, was their featured German beers from the Faust Brewery. A golden, slightly muddled Hefeweizen went quite nicely with the slightly spicy pizza. Plenty of other fine, tempting options were available, but for the price I might as well have had another pizza instead.

I'm not a big pizza snob. Near home I'm fine with Auntie Su's bready, stuffed-to-the-brim thick-crust all-everything pizza, and even Pizza Hut has some decent options on the menu. But it's sure nice to have a half-way authentic, quality pizza within walking distance. Next time we'll get one pizza per person and damn the leftovers.

明月光 Faust Pizza Lounge
台北市信義區仁愛路四段502號之1
02-2758-7687