While Italian restaurants are now a dime a dozen in nearly all of Taiwan's larger metropolises, finding one that is consistently up to par can prove a somewhat tiresome chore. And finding one that offers diners authentic Italian fare, as opposed to the all too common sauce-heavy pseudo-Italian slop can prove an even more tedious task.
At Taipei's cozy Mediterranean-styled Guangfu branch of Osteria Rialto, though, patrons need not fear. As one the city's first and foremost Italian joints with a steadfast reputation for authenticity to uphold, head chef and Verona native Flavio Fochesato sets out to impress with his culinary creations in every way. Patrons will -- and this is not an overstatement -- savor every morsel of Fochesato's fare.
From appetizers that loosen the taste buds to sturdy entrees, diners will be hard pushed to find fault with any of the joint's dishes, none of which will break the bank and all of which will have patrons coming back for more.
PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES
Some of Osteria Rialto's mouthwatering appetizers include the filling black pepper mackerel with olive and lemon sauce (NT$220), a tasty veal in tuna sauce (NT$280), capaccio (NT$280) and the light and fluffy flaked cod with garlic and basil sauce (NT$120).
Being an Italian joint, pastas and pizzas make up a large portion of the menu. Pastas cost from NT$260 to NT$720, while 10 inch to 12 inch pizzas cost from NT$260 to NT$580.
A couple of dishes that come highly recommended are the carrot ravioli stuffed with asparagus, which is one of the tastiest to be found in Taipei, and the seafood squid ink gnocchi, a dish that turns the often dry and bland potato-based pasta alternative into a mouthwatering treat. For fish lovers, the lobster spaghetti is, while a wee bit more expensive than most at NT$720, a must-try.
The joint's crispy set pizzas include the popular diavola (salami) at NT$370 and the valtellina, which is topped with a selection of specially imported Italian hams at NT$580, to name but a couple of the 10 flavors.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would