japanese/italian: NAGOMI PASTA

NAGOMI PASTA

No. 20, Lane 50, YiXian Road

台北市信義區逸仙路50巷20號

MRT: Taipei City Hall

hours: 1130AM-9PM:

Price: $$ (cash only)

website: Nagomi's FB page 

kid friendliness: lots of pasta dishes and some fried calamari/chicken appetizers. 

VIsit reviewed: 10/21/2015

Couldn't get seats at the pasta place I wanted to go to, so we ended up trying Nagomi Pasta, a Japanese Italian restaurant with lots of fusion dishes like duck with yuzu pepper pasta, mentaiko seaweed pasta or fried chicken soy sauce spaghetti. Turns out the owners are the same as Primo Trattoria, which serves more traditional style Italian pastas and pizzas. There are quite a few Japanese Italian pasta places in Taipei, one of the most popular being Bellini Pasta, but Nagomi has a larger variety of pastas with over 20 pastas on its menu, but doesn't offer up any pizza. 

The menu is in Chinese, Japanese and English (thankfully) sprinkled with a few photos. There are daily specials in Chinese on the board and you can make your lunch a set with a small salad and dessert by adding a small fee. Besides pastas, there are also baked pastas with cheese, Japanese hamburger, steak with teriyaki sauce-- all the sort of things that would fit in at a restuarant on Sawtelle. The menu reminds me a little of the now shuttered West LA Little Osaka restaurant Blue Marlin, except that there's no uni pasta at Nagomi.

Nagomi sits about 20 people in the front of the restaurant and there's additional section of seating in the back. 

Caesar Salad NT$160

Fresh and crisp, but nothing you couldn't put together yourself at home. Dressing was also lighter and not as creamy as the American style Caesar dressing.

Salmon Ikura pasta with butter, onions and mizuna NT$360

First reaction was that the pasta was quite buttery, the second was that some of the pasta was torched since they seemed to have seared the salmon atop the pasta. This would be nice with udon instead of spaghetti, but it's mostly pasta here, imported from Italy. 

Chicken, deep fried gobo, chili, sesame, soy sauce spaghetti NT$260

This had a kick to it, though my friend didn't seem to notice. 

Mixed mushrooms, egg, homemade meat sauce, grana padano NT$280

I saw the soft boiled egg on the menu, and I had to order this dish. This is probably the least fusion-y of the 20 or so pasta dishes on Nagomi's menu with a bolognese meat sauce and freshly grated grana padano cheese. The sauce here does taste like Bellini's version, as it is on the sweeter side. 

While I enjoyed this dish, I didn't like that the soft boiled egg was cold, especially with a hot dish. I've had bad experiences in the past with cold soft boiled eggs and since that means it was premade, you don't know how long the egg has been sitting around. From my recollection, the egg at Bellini (the first place I've ever had the soft boiled egg on bolognese pasta) is served hot.

The first time I spied Nagomi Pasta was when I went to Solo Trattoria (opened by Solo Pasta) around the corner. The next time, I think I would still prefer to go to Solo Trattoria. They have a stewed beef cheek zitoni pasta that is divine. Or come back with more people to order more dishes to try. Had a little bit carb overload with three pasta dishes and not as much protein.

CLOSED/western/drinks: i strongly recommend DIARY

 

DIARY 
53 Dong Feng Street
台北市東豐街53號
(02) 2706-3553
CLOSED

MRT: DaAn

website: Diary's FB page (hasn't been updated since 2013)

hours: 3:30PM - 1AM

$$ -$$$ (NT$600-1000+/per person with drinks)

Kid friendliness: maybe for an early dinner, but menu is probably suitable only for foodie kids

Visit reviewed: 4/27/2015

Once you see Diary's handwritten coaster notes for their drinks or its ink black bowl of "fried rocks," you won't likely forget it. Even though it had been years since my last visit to Diary, those images had made a distinct impression on me, which is not easy to do given the cluttered landscape of Taipei's restaurants (and I've had a lot of forgettable meals among them).

I hadn't planned on going to Diary when meeting up with a few new friends-- we had actually planned on meeting at a ramen shop, but it turned out to be closed on Mondays. Luckily, Diary had available seats for us at last minute's notice and I was curious about how Diary was since my last visit years ago. Diary has been doing bistronomy before it was a buzzword in Taipei, serving modern, creative food and drinks in a cozy, industrial space since 2009. Diary is easy to miss along Dong Feng Street since it doesn't have an obvious sign, but there's a lot worth exploring on this street (as well as the nearby Siwei Road).

The handwritten menu is more expansive and polished than I remember, with lots of tempting options for shared plates, like lobster soufflé, crab cakes or roasted spring chicken. We end up ordering a crab meat ravioli, a risotto, the fried rocks and lamb shank to share between three people.

Complimentary smoked rolls of turkey are brought to the table, with smoke dispersing when the glass cover is lifted. (Unfortunately I was too slow with the camera to get the cool part of the action before this shot)

Predictably, I order the mojito (NT$280). As indicated on the handwritten note under the glass, Diary's recipe for a mojito is Havana Club 7 year old rum, mint leaf, brown sugar and fresh lime juice. It's a more serious version of a mojito- not as cloyingly sweet as some other bars and a distinct brown color instead of clear when it's made with sparkling water and white rum.

The Crab Meat Ravioli (NT$320) was a hearty enough portion to share with bite size pieces bathed in cream sauce and black pepper. The ravioli dough is a bit gluey for me (maybe underdone a tad?), but we still clean the plate. I was pleasantly surprised with the portions of all the dishes at Diary that night as I remember the dishes being smaller on my last visit, and I dislike it when restaurants serve only four to five pieces of ravioli in an order, especially when it's not part of a set tasting menu.

Mushroom Risotto (NT$300) also delectable and fragrant with mushroom and cheese flavors.

Paired with the bright yellow saffron mayo, the Fried Rocks (NT$320) is the most striking dish at the table. I couldn't stop eating the crispy, squid ink battered, fried fish, squid and shrimp. Perfect amount of coating and crispiness and the seafood inside was still moist and sweet. Darth Vader of fritto misto. If you try one thing at Diary, you must order this signature dish.

The only other restaurant I had seen do black battered calamari in Taipei was the Spanish tapas restaurant Cocina de Jackie, who took the theme one step further and served it in a faux plant pot with a flower. 

Braised lamb shank with fennel (NT$1380) - I was getting quite full by the time the lamb shank and mashed potatoes came to the table, but it was still a happy addition to our stomaches. Some parts were fork tender, and some parts were a little bit tougher, but again, a good sized portion to share. I might try other dishes next time rather than reorder this again.

Reservations recommended for Diary, as the space and seating is limited. 

CLOSED! western/pizzas: i recommend LMNT (ELEMENT) EAT

closed a/o spring 2015 

LMNT (ELEMENT) EAT
at Neo 19
No. 28, Song Shou Rd.
粉絲團 台北市信義區松壽路28號
(02)2723-0068

MRT: XiangShan or Taipei 101 stations

website: LMNT Drink and Eat's FB Page

hours: 11AM- 2AM

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available, room for strollers. casual vibe during day

Visit reviewed: 6/12/2014

Neo 19, like the rest of Taipei's restaurant scene, has changed a lot since I first moved back to Taipei almost 10 years ago. Gone are Macaroni Grill, Just In Bistro, Dazzling Champagne Lounge Bar, Watami, Azabu Sabo (that's for you really old school readers), Jogoya buffet, Happy Hong Kong (sad face)-- Now currently replaced by Lighthouse Cafe, Warugaki Ramen, LMNT Drink and Eat, Nike's 2F, Very Thai, Hutong, Shanghai Tea House... So when I saw construction at LMNT Eat, my first thought was damn, I didn't get to write up my post from when I went last year in December and my second thought was another bites the dust. But I was wrong- LMNT was just getting a facelift and remodel. And luckily I was invited to the soft opening event for food bloggers to try out their new menu.

Inside, the front area is more lounge-y to transform from day to night and LMNT Eat can be sectioned off into two areas.

It was definitely more roomy and the tables had more breathing room between groups.

LMNT Eat's new menu is focused on their pizzas and pastas, but still has a selection of tempting appetizers and dishes that reflect a trendy fusion spirit that we saw on their previous menu. So instead of ramen burgers, there are now kimchi fried wontons, peanut butter pineapple burgers, or loco moco. I was happy to see they also kept their red velvet waffles and cake as desserts on their new menu, but bummed to see the huge gooey mac and cheese was gone.

Parma ham with melon and homemade figs (NT$280)

I liked the Kimchi Spam Fried Wontons (NT$280) and found them slightly addicting with the thin crispy wonton skin and the spicy sour filling inside. I didn't get spam in the first one, but I did in the second with chopped up pieces of kimchi cabbage.  There's also pulled pork nachos, chicken wings and fries with truffle sauce on the appetizer menu.

Grapefruit Summer (NT$180) Italian Soda was refreshing and fun. 

I really enjoyed the homemade squid ink spaghetti (NT$320)- the portion was huge, the al dente pasta was surprisingly flavorful for appearing to not have a lot of sauce and the squid was fresh and large enough to cut up and share. I couldn't finish this and took it home and it actually kept well the next day after reheating. I'd definitely order this again.

Always check yourself after eating squid ink pasta though! It's going to be messy.

We got a cool little packet from LMNT to make squid ink risotto at home. Still haven't had a chance to try it though...

The fun thing about going to blogger events is seeing some of the chefs that you usually can't spy on in the kitchen and seeing how they prepare their special dishes. LMNT had one chef prep a pizza from pizza dough scratch and their dessert chef make both desserts we were given to taste.

I liked the Truffle Mushroom Pizza (NT$300) too- the thin crust was not too crispy and the toppings were generous with four kinds of mushrooms- oyster, button, shiitake and porcino. You get a bit of the truffle aroma with the truffle oil and truffle bits, but at this price you aren't going to get shaved truffle atop (and you might not miss it).

And while you have to admire LMNT for being adventurous in trying to make UFO deep dish pizza with Hungarian beef (NT$320) or seafood fillings, it's more a pizza "bowl" than the Chicago style deep dish pizza that I'd love to see make its way to Taipei. I'd say stick to the regular pizzas as I didn't love the cheese atop or the doughier version of the pizza bowl crust.

As for the desserts, they let us sample lychee berry mousse (NT$220)...

and chestnut berry shell eclair (NT$250), I unfortunately am not personally a huge fan of mousse or chestnuts, so I can't say accurately how the desserts were. I would recommend the red velvet waffles or give the caramel banana shell eclair a try next time though.

All in all, LMNT Eat did a great job with their revamp- besides the dishes they highlighted during the event, I saw a number of things that I'd like to come back and try myself (vodka pasta, truffle mushroom risotto). There's also omelette and two egg options for all day breakfast or a weekend brunch menu available. Thanks to LMNT for inviting me to the event!