Simplicity comes first at Faust Pizza Lounge (明月光). Opened last month on Renai Road (仁愛路), across from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), the pizzeria sells only two things: pizza and beer. The restaurant’s laid-back, charming ambiance and its reasonable prices stand in stark contrast to its competition in the upscale Xinyi neighborhood, where ritzy shopping complexes loom nearby.
Between an indoor dining area and outdoor seating lies an open kitchen where the chef tosses circles of dough up in the air and into the large brick oven, allowing the aroma of baking pies to emanate throughout the establishment.
The interior design is casual and minimalist. Who needs fancy cutlery and hip design with unpretentious, hearty fare that’s this good?
At Faust Pizza Lounge, meals come in the form of nine types of thin-crust, 12 inch pizzas and four flavors of German brew Faust.
My dining group has already visited the establishment a few times and tried almost every available option on the menu.
“Light” and “grease-free” are the words that pop up in conversations about the restaurant’s pizza. Those hoping for a heart-attack inducing
grease-pit of a pizza may be disappointed.
But fans of stone-oven baked pizza will be pleased to know that the thin crust of the pizza is always done just right — satisfyingly crispy on the sides and slightly charred on the bottom.
Diners looking for something more savory can try the Roma (salami, onion, mushroom and olives, NT$220) or the Frankfurter Sausage (sausage, bacon and basil, NT$220). Pizza staples such as the Margarita (NT$180) and Hawaiian (NT$220) are popular items
as well, while vegetarian
options include the Funghi
(king oyster mushrooms, tomato, Italian capers and chilies, NT$260) and the Veggie (tomato, mushroom, olives and green pepper, NT$220).
The three fresh-out-of-college proprietors act as the restaurant’s chefs and handle their business with aplomb.
Any review of Faust Pizza Lounge would be remiss not to mention the public relation work carried out by the owners’ five-year-old poodle, impeccably groomed and well-mannered, who never fails to elicit remarks of admiration from patrons.
Faust offers takeaway but no delivery service. Make sure to give the chef plenty of time to make your pies since the pizzeria is usually packed on both weekends and weekday evenings.
Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 Over a breakfast of soymilk and fried dough costing less than NT$400, seven officials and engineers agreed on a NT$400 million plan — unaware that it would mark the beginning of Taiwan’s semiconductor empire. It was a cold February morning in 1974. Gathered at the unassuming shop were Economics minister Sun Yun-hsuan (孫運璿), director-general of Transportation and Communications Kao Yu-shu (高玉樹), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) president Wang Chao-chen (王兆振), Telecommunications Laboratories director Kang Pao-huang (康寶煌), Executive Yuan secretary-general Fei Hua (費驊), director-general of Telecommunications Fang Hsien-chi (方賢齊) and Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Laboratories director Pan
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