It wasn’t already on my radar to visit this Taipei Italian trattoria, but since I kept delaying my departure to stay longer in town, I managed to move hotels 5 times and somehow noticed this self-proclaimed Roman style eatery, and it is rated fairly highly online. Italian food to me is so diversified and personally, it is one of the most less understood cuisines to me. I blame it on the amount of fake or falsely advertised Italian foods outside of Italy. Who would have thought a Spaghetti Bolognese is not from Bologna, or that a traditional Carbonara pasta of Rigatoni or Spaghetti, doesn’t use cream and normal bacon nor Parmesan, spring onions or mushrooms? Since the Italian chef here assured me they are truly Roman styled, I succumbed and gave away one of my quotas to suss it out.
Italian Food -Bastardized all over the world.
Italian food to me is one of the most diversified cuisines and since it is super popular, restaurants all over the world decide to cherry pick only the dishes that customers will expect, but ends up losing it’s authenticity and regional spirits. It is like people arriving into Hong Kong and ordering Peking Ducks and think that is the epitome of Chinese food. But dude, go to Beijing if you want the real experience as even the duck is carved totally different!
Italian Chef -
He said to me almost in a hostile way as I bombarded him with questions, that yes he does his Carbonara in the authentic Lazio/Roman way. I TRUSTED his words…
Porchetta – Roasted Pork Belly and Loin with Herbs Stuffing
This looked ok decent and was dressed in viscous balsamico vinegar. The deft herbs input was appreciated as many porchettas are nowadays too simplified. On the minus side this was served totally cold and the skin was a little sticky to the teeth and not crisp enough. ~ 6.9/10
Spaghetti Carbonara -
Chef promised me this is the authentic Lazio recipe. When this came, it wasn’t using proper Guanciale pork jowl, and it had plenty of cream incorporated when the original versions don’t ever require any cream. At least they remembered to put copious amounts of black pepper on top. ~ 5/10
Creamy base beneath -
Not much Eggs taste either nor the Pecorino Romano cheese input. It was mostly about cream. I am happy to accept there exists many bastardized versions of Italian foods and it can be just precisely that – not authentic but mutations from the original intentions. But when I spoke to the Italian Chef beforehand and I believed his words, that this is going to be authentic Roman food, I can only say you can fool the crowd once or twice - but it definitely ain’t going to pass my Food Snob Test easily lol. Another myth busted although to be fair the food tasted alright overall.
Price: TWD $300
Food: ♕♕♕ to ♕♕♕ 1/2
Ease of Access: 2/5 (Closest to MTR Taipei Arena Station 台北小巨蛋站)
Opening Hours:
Tue - Sun: 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Address: 台北市松山區寧安街7巷7號
No. 7, Lane 7, Níng'ān Street, Sōngshān District, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ph: (02) 2570-1860
No cheap though.
ReplyDeleteYeh it isn't but anyway - hmmm
ReplyDeletebut anyway...no. Not at all. Definitely a big N-O, went there once and will never ever forever/ whatever go there again. Pizza was just terrible, it s a real surprise than someone who is italian and pretend to have a restaurant in europe serve this. I wonder how many weeks they could survive in the west with such kind of food, 5 or 6 maximum. Sadly, here some people go there. In short the pizza 1) was almost raw, all white under ( and too soft) + tomato sauce could testify it wasnt coock at all, 2) an invasion of cheap mozzarella, you know, the one you can buy at Welcome-here it was soo much that it made the whole dich super oily, and tasleless, just one big weird mashmallow kind of thing (no need to say you are full with only 2 parts but also quickly disgusted), 3)not the ingredient they had on the menu, they forgot caper (on a capricciose pizza, hello) 4)spiced oil was also a joke, olive oil with 5 poor pices of chily bathing in it. It s the worst pizza I had in Taipei for a long , long while ( and you dont have that many good pizzeria here) which is by itself a sort of accomplishement. Zocca pizzeria is so,so much better, even Maryjane outclass them by far, it is only a kind of morbid curiousity -to try the worst-ever pizza- which could drive you to La Lupa.
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