Was looking for a place to eat before the movie. Didn't feel like fast food but also had to wait for GF's sister and cousin to meet us after work so no time for a leisurely meal either. The restaurants in Mitsukoshi seemed liked a convenient choice. Went looking for a casual Japanese-style Italian place in A9 but turned out that it had been replaced by the Patio, selling an Italian-Asian fusion theme. Was a bit skeptical considering Taiwan places can barely even manage to get straight-forward Italian right, but the open kitchen had a guy hand-rolling pizza dough, and it did seem interesting, plus we were short on time. So why not.
Ordered while the GF went to get the movie tickets. Chose two pizzas plus a pasta and two sets of soup+salad for a light dinner for four people. The daily salad was a Caesar, but it was actually good Caesar. Whole leaves of romaine hearts, with a zesty creamy dressing (unsweetened!) full of cracked pepper. Okay, the bacon isn't authentic Caesar, but it was real bacon, and you can't take points away for more bacon.
The cream-of-spinach soup had more of a split-pea color and it was creamy and green but not all that interesting. Should've stuck with good-old cream-of-mushroom. The Thai-style seafood soup was a creamy-tomato broth with a big mussel, calamari ring, shrimp, and some squid-ink noodles. The Thai-ness came from the bit of sour and heat in the soup which was an interesting touch.
The pizzas were thin-crust. Could've been a bit more blistered and the crust sogged and sagged a bit under the toppings. The cheese tasted a bit cheap, but the toppings were good. The tomato+mushroom was simple but tasteful, with thick slices of bright red tomato. Mushroom was plain-old button, but I can see how fancy 'shrooms wouldn't fit in the budget. The other pizza had a Thai-style topping, some sort of chewy dried fish with a spicy crust. It certainly was different, but not sure how well it really went with the cheesy base.
I picked the squid-ink pasta with soft-shelled crab. The crab was breaded and fried and one could eat it shell-and-all as advertised. The black pasta was dressed with a simple but zesty tomato-onion-mushroom sauce. The rich flavor of the crab really put the dish over the top, with all the crabby goodness and none of the hassle.
On a weekday night the place was mostly populated by folks coming off work from the nearby office towers. Considering it's situated in a department store with a nice view the prices were reasonable enough, plus the food was actually pretty darn good. Seemed like somebody was paying attention to the ingredients and preparations. We'll see how long the good intentions stick.
PATIO Contemporary 義式料理
新光三越信義新天地A9館7F
02-8789-5008