Opened in February in a nondescript building near the entrance to Linjiang Street Night Market (臨江街觀光夜市) off Anhe Road (安和路) Section 2, Zoca Pizzeria Caffetteria has quickly earned a devoted following among lovers of thin-crust pizza. The interior is simple, warm and inviting — made more so by the fragrant smell of baking dough wafting out of the stone oven where Italian national Federico Zocatelli bakes up one of the best pizzas this reviewer has eaten in Taipei.
Zoca’s big draw is its 43 varieties of pizza. In fact, aside from one kind of lasagna (NT$220), a daily soup (NT$50) a house salad (NT$50) and dessert, there is little else on the menu. All pizzas are 10-inch, but as each is rolled to order, they often come to the table slightly larger.
We ordered the Pugliese (NT$350), a robust and savory combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy sausage, red onion, whole pitted black olives, capers and oregano, and the lighter Italia (NT$350), a vegetarian combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, fresh tomato and spinach. The bottoms of the pizzas were thin and charred to crispy perfection in the middle, and puffy and chewy at the crust. Both arrived piping hot less than 10 minutes after ordering, and were gobbled down in even less time.
Photo: Noah Buchan, Taipei Times
Some may balk at the amount of toppings on Zoca’s pizzas because they tend towards the minimal. For those who do want a thicker crust or more veggies, just add NT$50. Double cheese boosts the bill by NT$80, while extra ham or salami is NT$100. In this reviewer’s opinion, though, patrons will do well to leave their pizza in Zocatelli’s capable hands.
For more adventurous diners, my chatty and attentive server recommended the dolce vita (NT$400), a sweet and savory combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella, mascarpone, ham, nuts and honey. The menu also features competitively priced standards such as the marinara (NT$180) and Margherita (NT$250), as well as rich concoctions such as the mari e monti (NT$600), which is topped with mozzarella, ricotta, porcini mushrooms, bacon, parsley and seafood.
Vegetarian options include the vegetariana (NT$350), which is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, grilled eggplant, zucchini, sweet pepper, spinach and potato and the estate (NT$300), a combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh tomato and pesto sauce.
Photo: Noah Buchan, Taipei Times
Pizza is not the only thing Zoca does from scratch. Be sure to weave to the back of the tastefully done menu where there are desserts such as tiramisu (NT$140), panna cotta (NT$100) and ricotta cheese cake (NT$130). I tried the tortina di ciocolato (NT$140), a devilishly delicious molten chocolate cake served with whipped cream.
As Zoca’s popularity continues to soar, reservations are strongly advised, especially if your party exceeds two persons.
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatized soldiers. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, exhausted troops are the main clientele of the Flash Dancers club in the center of the northeastern city, just 20 kilometers from Russian forces. For some customers, it provides an “escape” from the war, said Valerya Zavatska — a 25-year-old law graduate who runs the club with her mother, an ex-dancer. But many are not there just for the show. They “want to talk about what hurts,” she
RSS