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PaPa Gio’s All You Can Eat Pizza!

December 25, 2012 in Food, Reviews

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It’s been more than a year since my first visit to Papa Gio’ (I remember because my wife went into labour that night, probably from eating too much there during lunch), one of the best and most underrated Italian restaurants in Taipei.

Located in the alley behind the Ming Yao Department store near the Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT station (blue line),  it doesn’t look all that fancy but oozes an authentic Italian feel with its wood-fire pizza oven and Italy-inspired artworks. The a la carte menu is pricey by Taiwan standards so I recommend the business lunch, which ranges from NT299 (AU$10) to NT$800 (AU$26.50) depending on what main course you get. At the very least, you get an appetizer, a salad, a soup and a dessert, plus three types of all you can eat pizza. The more expensive options include an additional pasta or seafood or steak dish.

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(Note: the last time I went there the lunch special was NT$390 and you get all you can eat pizza + a pasta in addition to the other extras except the appetizer, which is replaced with garlic and pizza bread.)

The bread comes with an olive oil and balsamic dip

The bread comes with an olive oil and balsamic dip

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Pumpkin soup

Pumpkin soup

But let me get back to the pizza, because PaPa Gio’ has some of the best pizzas I’ve had in Taiwan. The choices are different each day, but there are always three types and they are all delicious. The chefs specialize in simple but fantastic topping combinations, and the crust is just sublime.

On this day we had a potato pizza, another one with ricotta, roma tomatoes and spinach, and a third with mushrooms and caramelized onions. None of these are on the regular pizza menu. I was surprised that I enjoyed the spinach one the most, but all of them were excellent and I had far more slices than I should.

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We also got two pastas — a cheese risotto and a vegetarian tomato spaghetti. Both were simple but tasty, and a perfect complement to the pizzas.

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We finished off with dessert and a beverage. The dessert today was a panna cotta, and it tasted better than the photo suggests.

In all, a hugely satisfying experience. I am honestly shocked that the place is not fully packed out every weekday during lunchtime. That said, it’s probably still better to book in advance.

9/10

Details:

PaPa Gio’

Address: No. 22, Alley 6, Lane 170, Chung-hsiao East Rd. Sec. 4, Taipei (Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Exit 5)

Tel: (02) 2711-8720

Fax: (02) 2711-8721

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.papagio.com.tw/main.html

Business Hours

11:30am – 14:00pm

18:00pm – 22:00pm

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Casa Della Pasta in Taipei

December 16, 2012 in Food, Reviews

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Casa Della Pasta is one of those places in Taipei that I keep hearing rave reviews about, so I decided to check it out one night at the store on Jinshan South Road in the Da’an district.  Bear in mind, though, this visit occurred last year (shows how far behind I am in my reviews), and for some reason I can no longer find this branch on the restaurant’s official website, so it’s possible that the store may have closed down. That said, it still has at least three other locations, so this review should still be relevant from a food perspective.

Anyway, the branch that we went to was huge and beautifully decorated, giving a sense that you’re walking into some high class joint that will burn a hole in your wallet. That was supposedly the charm of Casa Della Pasta — it only looks that way but the prices are very family friendly.

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I’m not sure about the prices being super cheap, but they are very competitive for Italian food (around NT100-200 per dish). The biggest draw of the restaurant, in my opinion, is the sheer variety of dishes they have on offer. Seriously, the menu is huge and there are all kinds of appetizers, pastas and pizzas. Granted, most of them are just variations of each other — eg, pick a meat, a type of sauce and a type of pasta — but combing through the menu and deciding on what to order can be a time consuming process.

In the end, with just two people, we went with a pizza and pasta to share. The pizza was their popular pineapple with smoked chicken (see below). I’ll be frank — it was hugely disappointing. The toppings and flavour were okay but the crust tasted no better than those you get from frozen pizzas. And the size was not overwhelming either.

Pineapple and smoked chicken pizza

Pineapple and smoked chicken pizza

But hey, it was relatively cheap, and the place is called Casa Della PASTA, so I assumed the second dish, the pesto chicken spaghetti, was going to be significantly better. Well, it was better, but nothing that blew my world. The chicken pieces were a tad large for my liking and the chicken was on the chewier side. The pesto sauce was very rich and creamy, which is good for a while but I soon found myself getting sick of it.

Chicken pesto pasta

Chicken pesto pasta

Lastly, the dessert — a layered cake, the kind you’d find at most cake stores in Taiwan. Again, it was OK, but nothing spectacular.

Dessert

Dessert

On other thing I remembered about this place was that the service was excruciatingly slow. In all it turned out to be a fairly average experience. Not horrible for the price, and I can imagine with its ambiance and variety it would be a nice place to hold a group gathering or family outing, but as far as taste goes it didn’t get the job done for me.

6.5/10

Details

Casa Della Pasta

Website: www.capasta.com.tw/

Lunch: 12pm-2:40pm; Dinner: 6pm-9:40pm

Stores:

Banqiao — No. 136, Section 1, Zhongshan Road (02-29546133)

Zhongxiao Dunhua — No. 23, Lane 233, Section 1, Dunhua South Road (02-27717869)

Zhongshan — No. 7-1, Lane 11, Section 2, Zhongshan North Road (02-25678769)

Bade — No. 1, Section 1, Bade Road (02-23957117)

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Toasteria Cafe (Taipei)

December 17, 2011 in Best Of, Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel

I love a good toasted sandwich or panini, and Toasteria Cafe reportedly has the best there is to offer in Taipei.

Owned by an Israeli dude who lived in New York then married a Malaysian woman then moved to Taiwan, Toasteria is a mix of all those cultures — Middle-Eastern (Mediterranean), American, Malaysian and Taiwanese.  It’s quite an unusual blend of flavours but undoubtedly a spectacular one.  They offer a range of more than 40 sandwiches and paninis and many other delights, including grilled cheese toasted sandwiches, teppanyaki grills, fish and chips (!) and salads, as well as an all-day breakfast selection.

Here’s a grab of their more unique samples from their Facebook page: Grilled Salmon Filet in Miso Sake Sauce, Mediterranean Style Grilled Salmon Fillet, Grilled Sirloin Steak Teriyaki, new decadent Red Wine Butter sauce with grilled Sirloin Steak, Philly Steak Toast, Sichuan Style Sesame Chicken Toast, two kinds of Lamb Burger Toasts, Mediterranean Eggplant Toast, and Apple Brie Cheese Toast.

Don’t expect the meals to be particularly healthy at Toasteria, but expect them to be good.  Their proud motto is: No Diet coke, no skim milk, no low fat cheese, no credit cards..ONLY THE GOOD STUFF!

And it is indeed good stuff.  Great stuff.  Some of the  best toasted sandwiches and paninis I’ve ever had.  It was extraordinarily difficult to choose (as is usually the case with a new restaurant), but in the end we went with the Cubano on toasted ciabatta bread (slow roasted pork, ham, caramelized onion, house pickles and good mustard, with grilled Swiss cheese) for NT$210 and the Kalifornia Chicken on toast (chicken, lettuce, onion, tomato and honey mustard).

The Cubano

They also have a lot of drinks and sides, and we naturally went with the fries (how can you not?) at NT$60 a pop.

Both orders were phenomenal.  I loved the ciabatta that came with the Cubano, and the roasted pork was so juicy and tender, and when you mix it with the caramelized onions, pickles and mustard, it’s like a salty explosion in your mouth, balanced by the silky textures of the melted Swiss cheese.

The Kalifornia Chicken

The Kalifornia Chicken was also very good, more traditional but you just can’t go wrong with honey mustard sauce.  It was more sweet and sour, a nice complement to the saltiness of the Cubano.  And the fries was unexpectedly awesome, extremely crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.  Simply amazing.

Sadly, I forgot my camera and the photos were taken with a phone.  They look enticing enough.  I feel like going back already.

9 out of 10!

Details

Toasteria Cafe

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58670231236

Opening Hours:  Daily, 11am-11pm (midnight on weekends)

Price: approx NT$200-$350 a head

Contact:

Shida Store — No. 1, Lane 72, Yun-He Street, Taipei; Nearest MRT: Taipower Building; (02) 2365 3051

Zhongxiao Store — No. 2, Lane 248, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Road, Taipei; Nearest MRT: Zhongxiao Dunhua (02) 2731 8004

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