The latest addition to Taipei's large pasta market is the pop-art style Nani Nani. Its relaxing atmosphere feels more like a cafe for afternoon tea. In earthy colors, the restaurant's murals depicting children and dogs playing in a park among verdant trees puts you into a cheerful mood, helped also by the small park in front of its door.
The owners of Nani Nani, which opened last month, are not pasta novices. Four years ago, they set up a popular pasta house, Avenue, in a suburban neighborhood -- long before pasta houses became ubiquitous in Taipei. After a one-year break, during which the owners went to China, they've made a comeback. With more space, they have finally been able to carry out the interior design ideas they could not realize before and a new menu that incorporates trendy Japanese flavors.
Nani Nani, meaning "what what" in Japanese, comes from the nickname for the green monster-shaped Rikugo office building by French designer Philippe Starck in Tokyo. Being loyal fans of Starck, the four owners named the restaurant after the building, hoping that diners experience the same amazement at the dishes as Japanese marveling at the curious shape of the building.
PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES
The well-traveled owners flew to Tokyo several times to savor the genuine flavors of Japanese-style pastas and came up with over a dozen different items, some of which are rarely found in Taipei. The conventional Italian ones are also on offer. They have also made the best of their advertising background, composing some interesting prose to introduce the dishes.
Being among the first to enter the pasta market, Lily Wu, a co-proprietress, believes that the secret to making good pasta is to eat a lot of it and improve the existing recipes. The top seller at Nani Nani is linguine with roasted chicken and mustard (NT$220). The tender and juicy chicken breast is in bite-sized pieces and is made to taste smoother with the light mustard sauce. Chicken, Wu said, is the house speciality. Linguine with pan-fried salmon and creamy tomato sauce (NT$250) uses uncut steak-size salmon, briefly pan-fried to preserve its firmness.
Spaghetti with lobster (NT$230) is the most Japanese of the pastas. Slightly sweet, the shredded seaweed offsets the baby lobsters. Its "summery" sauce also makes it an ideal choice before Taipei gets into the deep of winter. For those who are more adventurous, spaghetti with squid, capers and gherkins (NT$160) will surprise with its Italian-Japanese flavor, created by the combination of pickled cucumbers, sour beans and garlic. It's pleasantly appetizing, but not as pungent as it sounds. -- vico lee
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