Over the past six months, Max Tseng (
A veteran of the kitchens of Haoyang (
PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES
And with the summer weather settling in, the simple and well-ventilated dinning area is a real treat. Max's design includes a huge glass facade, which, when fully open, gives the already spacious joint an even greater sense of space.
The dining environment is a major draw, but the food certainly cannot be ignored. A combination of Italian and Spanish with a bit of French, the dishes on the menu might not be as numerous as other European-styled joints, but for presentation and taste, Forchetta outclasses many, if not all, its rivals.
Forchetta's range of tapas include Spanish-style bread (NT$100), asparagus wrapped with Parma ham and Dijon pommary (NT$150), and roasted foie gras with fig sauce (NT$380). While a bit costlier than the average starter, Forchetta's Bufalo mozzarella with tomatoes (NT$360) is well worth the extra cost, especially when you consider that Max imports the cheese especially for this dish.
At present, Forchetta's pasta dishes are somewhat limited, with most of the half-dozen choices topped with seafood. These include linguini with crab and mushroom sauce (NT$260), penne with anchovies and olives (NT$260) and linguini with clam and white wine sauce (NT$260). According to Max, the pasta menu is set to change some time in the coming weeks when he plans to add new dishes to the pasta menu.
While the tapas and pasta dishes are faultless, it's Max's mouth-watering pizzas that have tongues wagging. The secret to Max's pizza is the crust. Not greasy, not soggy, and certainly not chewy.
Forchetta's pizza combinations include the absolutely fantastic spinach, salami, gorgonzola and mozzarella (NT$380) and the equally tasty, yet saucily spicy sausage, mushroom and mozzarella (NT$320). For cheese lovers, the gorgonzola, brie, ricotta and mozzarella (NT$380) comes highly recommended.
For those out to wine as well as dine, Forchetta offers a variety of both Old and New World wines, all of which are reasonably priced at between NT$700 and NT$1,500 as well as a good choice of bottled European beers at NT$170 a pop.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
No one saw it coming. Everyone — including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — expected at least some of the recall campaigns against 24 of its lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) to succeed. Underground gamblers reportedly expected between five and eight lawmakers to lose their jobs. All of this analysis made sense, but contained a fatal flaw. The record of the recall campaigns, the collapse of the KMT-led recalls, and polling data all pointed to enthusiastic high turnout in support of the recall campaigns, and that those against the recalls were unenthusiastic and far less likely to vote. That
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
RSS