吃飯了嗎？

Cafe Grazie

Dad was back in Taiwan for Chinese New Year and we decided to take him and the baby out to the Shihlin Official Residence on a nice day to enjoy the gardens. Good thing we got there early enough to have some space for ourselves before the busfuls of mainland-Chinese tourists arrived. During the tranquil morning it's no problem to feed the baby from the bottle and let him take a nap, but as it got past noon-time us adults would like something to eat, too. Thankfully there are a number of chain restaurants around the tourist site that are already open after the CNY holiday and this one had seats open.

Cafe Grazie is a mid-scale Japanese-influenced (you can tell by the mintaiko dishes) Italian restaurant with branches all over Taipei. The colorful picture-menu offers a large variety of pizzas and pastas, with numerous up-sell combos to add side-dishes, appetizers, desserts, and drinks. As we usually do, we ordered a pizza a la carte, and got a couple of combo meals to share the side dishes. Typically wife takes the soup and I take the salad from the combo meal. But this time we chose a grilled vegetable side instead since wife and dad prefers their veggies cooked. The grill marks on the zucchini were cute, and made it seemed like more of an upgrade over the usual insipid iceberg lettuce salad.

Pesto-pasta is wife's default choice whenever we visit a new Italian place. The linguine is softer than al-dente for Chinese tastes, but otherwise the flavor is good and there was a fair amount of seafood. My paella is about as Spanish as I am, but there's a generous amount of goodies in the the sizzling skillet. The rice was plenty yellow, but I'm guessing that was more turmeric than saffron. Probably best to think of it as an innovative Chinese fried-rice dish rather than as an European creation. The pizza was a bit different without being over-the-top weird, except for the green peas. The hard-boiled eggs worked surprisingly well and adds a nice color contrast. It's cute that they cut the fresh-baked pie at your table, and the medium-sized pie is perfect for three to share.

The stark black & white decor with tiled floors was like an Asian take on a New York style Italian restaurant. Despite the crowd and the hard surfaces, baby was able to sleep peacefully through most of it and we could have a pleasant meal. Drank up the honey-lemon Italian soda quickly though, once he woke up and wanted attention. So Cafe Grazie isn't quite up to authentic foodie Italian standards, but it's a step up from the overly Asian-ized corner spaghetti shops, although it remains to be seen how well the different restaurants in the chain maintain consistency.

Alleycats Pizza, Huashan

Asian pizza has long been the butt of Western jokes, and even now I get slightly queasy at the sight of green peas and corn with squid on a cheesy seafood pizza. However more authentic alternatives have been popping up all over the place in Taipei. And Alleycat's Pizza has been leading the way building thick-walled brick-ovens and hand-made thin-crust pizzas with Italian-style toppings like Margherita and Quattro Stagione.

Starting from their original location near Yongkang St., Alleycat's has steadily expanded with new branches in hot spots where trendy young folks would appreciate the foreign-style pizza. The latest Alleycat outpost in the Huashan Cultral Center fits the pattern, inserting itself amidst the former warehouses that are now transformed into art galleries and performance spaces. Taking over one of the buildings on the grounds, they had plenty of space to work with, unlike their other more high-rent locations. And they took advantage of the breathing room in the decor, with rustic wood beams across the high ceiling and faux-fresco wall paintings behind an open bar and kitchen.

On a weekday lunchtime the room was fairly empty and we had our run of the place. Two pizzas would probably be too much, but one pizza plus a biz-lunch sandwich combo sounded good. Wife chose the pesto-chicken panini which was solidly competent, although Toasteria Cafe's version is a bit better (more cheese!). The side-salad was a surprisingly decent Caesar, real Romaine and all. I've been eating way too much meat and other heavy foods lately, so a thin-crusted veggie pizza seemed like a good idea for a satisfying but light lunch. Veggies were lightly cooked but still crunchy from the fast, high-heat cooking in the pizza oven. The hand-formed dough and dedicated stone oven really make Alleycat's pizza crust one of the best in Taipei. Not cheap, especially with a beer to wash it down, but good food in a good space makes it worthwhile.

竹東魷魚羹

Both my and my wife's mothers' families are of Hakka descent in the Hsinchu area. Although most have moved to Taipei, wife's family still returns to their old homestead on a regular basis, and we don't mind bringing the baby along to get him out of the lousy Taipei air once in a while. So it's no surprise that they know where all the best local 小吃 food stands are, and we stopped in at their favorite squid soup place on our way back to Taipei.

The spot is in an anonymous street near the Zhudong train station extended out into the street from the building behind it, built by corrugated siding. It is about as non-descript a hole-in-the-wall as you can get. A big pot of meatball soup is kept warm on a portable station powered by big gas canisters. Upon ordering, the lady running the place quickly scooped up bowls of the thickened soup, then throw in a few pieces of tender cuttlefish, and sprinkle a handful fish-fry chips on top for crunch. A lot of white pepper to add some spice to the rich, hearty soup.

肉圓 pork dumplings is another classic Hakka staple. The thick and chewy skin is translucent, made with yam flour, stuffed with small chunks of tough pork leg meat. The dumplings are par-cooked by steaming and if we get them to-go we'd finish steaming them at home. But out in restaurants they're finished with an oil-bath instead. Then they're smothered with a slightly sweet, nuclear-red sauce, with a sprig of cilantro on top for color. The oil-braising leaves the rice-flour skin softer and chewier compared to steaming, and most of the oil runs off the smooth skin anyway.

Boy that sure did hit the spot. Family and friends often bring us foods from Hsinchu when they visit, but it's still nothing like fresh-made at the source. Made sure to take a few more orders away with us back to Taipei for wife's grandpa and uncles.

瑠玖心料理

Baby's getting big enough to sit in a high chair by himself now. But let's not test that at a fancy restaurant yet. Auntie recommended this unassuming little family restaurant in Xindian. Packed with local families, they efficiently served up a tasty selection of homey dishes.

A big hot-pot is always a good way to feed a table-ful of people on a winter day. They lightly fry the fish head before putting it into the hot-pot to remove the fishy smell. Love the spicy-garlic eggplant 魚香茄子. The photo shows exactly how you're suppose to do it, with a *lot* of oil to infuse the flavors from the garlic and green onions, then cook down the eggplants to a silky softness while maintaining the purple color in the skin. It all goes great with a big bowl of white rice. Even the pork liver, with a tender texture and no funk.

Gordon Biersch Brewery & Restaurant

The first time we visited they were still ramping up, and wife was pregnant and afflicted with morning-sickness with no appetite at the time. So we decided to give it another try now that they've settled into the local scene. Gordon Biersch has done surprisingly well in Taiwan since opening, staying busy even when we've passed by on weekdays. Good place to entertain overseas customers staying at the Hyatt, or for an after-work get-together for all the office-workers nearby. Glad to see them managing to keep most of the items on the menu, even the more obscure items like Cobb Salad. Blue cheese is a dicey proposition for Asian folks, and I wouldn't eat it straight up, but a little bit in a Cobb really makes it.

The pizza was slightly disappointing, though. Not impressed with the crust at all. There are lots of pizza places in Taipei now with fancy brick ovens doing legitimate Italian-style blistered crusts, so the bar has been raised and American-chain quality doesn't quite cut it anymore. On the other hand, it's nice to just have an American style mushroom-pepperoni pizza without fuss. The garlic fries were fantastic, much better than the last time we visited. Definitely a must-have at GB. Thankfully the wife is fairly tolerant to garlic-breath.

Oh yeah, there's the beer, too. They import the recipes and materials to brew in Taiwan. A nice amber ale with a heck of a lot more flavor than the sex-in-a-canoe-style Taiwan Beer.