Restaurant: Sabrina's

By Gavin Phipps
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 14, 2005, Page 15

Italian restaurants are not hard to find. But good ones are. PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES

While there's certainly no shortage of Italian eateries in Taipei, finding one in which a genuine, qualified, Italian chef plies his trade is difficult. Thankfully the recently opened Sabrina's is one of the few such joints to have found itself such a chef in the form of Davide Spighi.

Hailing from the northern Italian town of Udine, Spighi has run kitchens both at home and abroad for several years. Along with his able kitchen partner, Bobby Ho (何漢明), the pair cook up a storm.

The place's interior design is worth a mention. In fact, along with the food it's one of the restaurant's greatest assets. Sabrina's gives new meaning to the term "open plan," thanks to the way in which the designers have done away with all dividing walls.

With only a low bar dividing the cozy dining area from the kitchen, dining out at Sabrina's is an up-close experience. Diners can watch Spighi and Ho prepare the food in front of their eyes and can chat, joke or even share a glass or two of wine with the chefs.

There are no pizzas at Sabrina's and, according to one of the joint's proprietors, there probably never will be. Those with a whim for baked bread with tomatoes on top may find this line of thinking rather inane, but Sabrina's is not a pizza joint, it's a classy Italian eatery. And, as one of the owners wisely said, "Why spoil a good thing when you have such a great chef in the kitchen ... anybody can make pizza."

It might be pizza-less, but the menu is chockablock with a wondrous array of fine fare. From standard appetizers like caprese (NT$280) and Parma ham with melon (NT$350) to more specialized dishes like the fantastic mixed seafood stuffed calamari (NT$270), to main courses like the knockout seafood risotto (NT$380) and the fettucine with pesto and prawns (NT$360), every meal at Sabrina's is freshly prepared and awash with authentic Italian spices and flavors.

If diners fancy something that's not on the menu, then they shouldn't be afraid to ask, as Spighi and Ho will happily prepare it -- providing they have the ingredients in stock. Alternatively, and this is recommended, the cooks will surprise diners with one of their own creations, such as lamb chops in red wine sauce, or a fantastic salmon with farfalle in orange sauce.