Fast food is wonderful. Time was when the simple act of eating required hours of preparation and perspiration, and ran the risk of tasting bad at that. Now we can simply line up and say "No. 1, please" and be eating three minutes later. Best of all, you know before you order it that it will taste exactly the same as it did last time you ordered it. It's not so much like dining as getting gas (no pun intended), but it has fueled a generation nonetheless; 700-plus calories in 15 minutes for under US$3 then back to work.
Pizza Hot is not the most inventive name for the new eatery along Shida Road, but the classrooms of co-eds lining up beneath its bright orange and white banner couldn't care less what it's called. They're there for one of the cheapest, quickest and tastiest meals to be found in the Taipei Normal University neighborhood.
Here's the drill: Grab a menu and a pen or pencil and fill in the circle next to the pizza you want (students will instantly recognize the standardized test format). Be sure to indicate thin or thick crust by filling in the correct circle and whether or not you want to add extra cheese. There's also a wide selection of pastas for the pizza-unappreciative, as well as teas, coffee and desserts.
Pizza Hot's proprietors sympathize with their cash-strapped clientele and a sign atop the open-fronted restaurant proclaims in huge characters that you can eat for just NT$50. For NT$50 more, you can add a soft drink, soup and fries. After you've ordered, grab a chair and a wait for you number to be called. You might want to sit near the back of the room as a pressurized water-misting system is busy pumping way at the front of the joint. It'll be great come June, but on a chilly November evening it only gets you wet and makes your fries limp. The fries alone, by the way, are worth the extra NT$50 -- until the water-mister makes them soggy.
Be warned: If you think you're going to get a slice of pizza like those shown in the giant photos covering the walls, think again. You get a full pizza -- albeit 12cm in diameter -- cut into near bite-sized slices. How does it taste? Like the name of the place, there's an obvious lack of innovation, but that's not going to keep the students away.
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