PINOCOCO

PINOCOCO Italian Restaurant , one of the best in terms of Italian food. And the food speak volume you get what you pay for it is quite fresh and delicious. And its my family top choice Italian Restaurant in Taiwan. Each time we come here the menu is different but some they keep the same dish. As for the decor: I love the overall design of this restaurant its very modern and spacious, it can be good for either larger groups or small romantic dinner date. We were here to set a toss to my daughter that she completed her achievement and she is admitted in any University school she registered and the results of her TOEFL score. 

For appetizer, first was the minestrone and pumpkin soup which was just the simplest soup.

As for the salad and appetizer was the melon and prosciutto drizzled with caramelized balsamic vinegar was one of my favorite starter.  

Seafood salad was a-pan seared fish  with crispy outer skin, grilled squid and large shrimp and mix fresh vegetables. It was light one with simple flavors of vinaigrette sauce.

Next is the spicy garlic shrimp absolutely delicious always our favorite tapas dish.

As for the main course: We opted to order the margherita pizza definitely has the freshest and the most purest pizza. 

I got the large shell pasta in simple tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese. I'll never get tired to order this dish each time we dine here. The ingredients are fresh, the tomato sauce is just right and so flavorful.

Spicy black pasta with langoustine or large shrimp form Argentina was a top notch.

Spaghetti alla carbonara, the lovely creamy sauce with a slight saltiness of the bacon and perfectly cooked pasta dish.

The osso buco in a bed of saffron rice. My husband share with me to try the taste. He thought it was good but not outstanding.

As for the drinks & desserts; It was a kiwi smoothie, grape juice, wild berry tea, hot milk tea. (no image)

A tower of mini strawberry tart.

Very delicious chocolate opera cake. 

Layer strawberry crepe. PINOCOCO is very good in all meanings! Great food great atmosphere great service! Definitely we always come back and recommend to everyone who is looking for a great Italian food.

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PINOCOCO
台中市南屯區公益路二段273號
273  Gongyi Road, Taichung, Taiwan
Tel No: 04-2258-1455

Papa Mio

Normally, we always re visited to dine in Cafe Grazie and Skylark for many years, my kids grown up dining in these restaurants and everything is always great! Until the main course it become a poorly average. We was looking for a great Italian food and we discovered this place during our recent visit to Tapas-1. Papa Mio is located in the Chunzhong Street beside National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung. The menu comprises a traditional Italian has country-style food cuisine. The decor of the restaurant provided by a small villa 2 storey building and patio which is filled with lush plants and flowers it looks more like a home inside.

We started simply enough with crusty bread and bread sticks a nice snack to start while we are waiting for our soups.

A nice blended pumpkin soup.

I love the texture of mushroom soup as there are some bits of chewy mushroom in it which was perfect.

Next up we ordered 2 salad for appetizer to shared was a prosciutto w/ creamy potato salad, tomato top with chopped arugula. The potato which also contributed a mellow richness against the salty lushness of the prosciutto.

Smoked salmon w/ a pile of mixed field vegetable salad, the smoke salmon was very fresh!

After a great soup and salads, we moved onto the main meals. I ordered the potato gnocchi it tasted like cheeseballs. As a gnocchi lover, this example hit the spot, handmade gnocchi with a rich creamy sauce. The sprinkling of freshly grated parmigiano helped to smooth everything out.

My husband got his Fettuccine seafood in tomato sauce it looked so comforting and wonderful.

Piedmonte hand-made spinach ravioli it was an interesting texture mix and way of tasting. But to be honest I didn't like the taste maybe I'm not a fan of ravioli with spinach on it.

Fusilli with seafood and tomatoes sauce was a similar to fettuccine. I will give this dish a little credit as it was tasty but not memorable.

And margarita pizza to share. Great crust it was a solid healthy pizza.

One was striking me the most is the panzarotti a deep fried pizza dough stuffed with cheese and tomato sauce then sprinkle with caster powder sugar. The panzerotti was really delicious and their specialty were my favorite. In fact before we check out the restaurant , we take out another 2 panzarroti for night snack. I wish we could get them mailed and deliver to us here in Hsinchu. I recommend to try this little calzone if you are planning to visit Papa Mio.

Of course, random  drinks kept coming out too. After all we had to wash it down with hot coffee. They have a great assortment of coffee and tea selection. The cafe latte was frothy, creamy and aromatic. 

I had a cappuccino which not only looked pretty but tasted good too!

My son ordered the God father was a brownie with vanilla and strawberry ice cream and whipping, cream came in large portion compare to another desserts.

My tiramisu  it was light, creamy, and not too sweet taste to balance out the richness of the coffee, liqiour and mascaporne.

Very rich, indulgent and sinfully great of French creme brulee!

An adorable creme caramel custard or Spanish leche flan, which was amazingly. Overall; The service was both gracious and efficient, they kept our glasses filled and checked on us often to be sure that our table is clean. The food was really good better than Little Italy and definitely worthwhile to visit.

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Papa Mio
No. 24, Chunzhong St, Xi District, Taichung City
台中市存中街24號電話
Tel No: 04-2376-8434
Website:
http://www.papamio.com.tw/

Tapas-1 Bar & Restaurant

Tapas -1 is definitely on the up, foodwise, apart from the buzzing street food scene. The food is wildly colourful very authentic Spanish cuisine perfect addition to any Spanish food adventurer. The restaurant offers  varieties of tapas, which are snacks or appetizers served Spanish style. We decided to plunge ahead regardless, ordering the lobster. So we choose the NT$3999 set course meal for 4. We shared 14 dishes compliments with drinks and sangria. Their sangria is tasty a little low on the wine content.

The restaurant décor is modern was relaxing, pleasant, casual wide open space featuring wooden tables and chairs, with a bar and a semi-open kitchen and surprisingly quiet despite the close proximity to the main road.

For the tapas or starters, a fried fish with olives, peppers and relish, an egg yolk shaped mango mousse, it pop up in the center and melt in the mouth.

I believe this is a menudo tripas that made of cow or pork intestine it was thick and tender tripe and tastes like caldereta, very delicious and my kind of comfort food.

Spicy paprika chicken with mushrooms, I thought this tapas was so fantastic and very tasty dish.

We were served a gambas al ajillo or shrimp in garlic was an epicurean delight, savory and satisfying.

The assortment of dry cured meats, comprised 4 slices each of spicy chorizo sausages, ham, salami, prosciutto and melon balls.

Tapas crostini was a lightly toasted bread topped with fried eggs, roasted bacon, cucumber with olive pate as garnish on the plate.

Tapas pimiento asado's, these sweet, tangy and slighty spicy was a good side dish. I wish had more garlic and olive oil.

Breaking the rules of tapas menu. We had a baked escargot with crostini, arrived at our table with great promise.

 Next up we were served each cup of pumpkin soup and cream soup. By this time we had asked  the staff stop the food coming every minute. Until we told them don't serve our main course so soon! So we were able to finish our appetizers. 

And a riot of a vegetables salad or caesar salad.

For the main course was a arroz caldo bogavante serve for four is a restaurant specialty was a slightly soupy rice dish with Boston lobster mixed through the rice. This is undoubtedly one of the most delicious rice dishes we ever had. It was fresh and delicious, the rice was properly al tende each grain separate from the other and redolent with the colour and had so much of saffron flavor.

An extra order of paella to share , again! The paella we chose was enjoyable had some fresh seafood loaded with shrimps, mussels, clams and small lobster and lots of flavour. The portion could probably stretch to accommodate pour people. Nevertheless the best paella dish we ever had and better than my paella.

They offered us dessert on the house which was a panna cotta I guess compliments with drinks of your choice. It wasn't spectacular. Overall the service was prompt, attentive and knowledgeable of all menu. The food was delicious, I definitely recommend Tapas-1.

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Tapas-1西班牙料理餐廳
No.273-1, Sec. 2, Gongyi Rd., Nantun District, Taichung City.
台中市南屯區公益路二段273-1號
Tel No:04-2259-9829
Website:
http://www.tapasone.com.tw/index.html

Chia Lin

Chia Lin Hong Kong Cuisine is located on the 16th floor of the Sogo Department store in Taichung City. The restaurant serves contemporary Cantonese Chinese cuisine with views overlooking the Taichung downtown. We came for lunch after visiting the flower farm in Taichung County. Since it was Chinese New Year and we do not know an alternate place for dim sum, we decided to eat here. We attempted to sample items of dim sum list to their standard menu.

Vibe; The decor itself is classy just upon you entered the restaurant not to mention the well decorated Chinese decorations. Inside the main dining area is typical Cantonese-Chinese style with lots of families and group of people eating together. When we were seated at our table, we were given a tea of your choice.

The staff comes around with trolley and pushing from table to table and you pick the ones that you want. But it seems everything was over steamed. I pick up my favorite barbecue pork bun and steamed chicken feet.

The steamed bbq pork bun is one of favorite dim sum dishes. I always couldn’t resist ordering cha shao bao from restaurants since their were always so good.

The barbecue pork bun filling was sweet, porky and let say delicious.

The flavors of steamed chicken feet are subtle and exquisite, well cooked and not overdone or overly seasoned.

Another classic to test the quality of steamed rice noodle rolls with shrimp arrived filled with large prawns was okay there is nothing too shout about.

We also ordered some pan-fried noodles to accompany the meal. It had lots of nice big juicy beef lean meat. Despite being an appetising golden brown colour, I am quite impressed with this because in most places, there are lots of bean sprouts and very little ingredients. These were exactly what I was expecting for fried noodles  being cooked in al dente.  They were terrific though it was the winner on the table.

Fried shrimp and pineapple coated with a mayonnaise-based sauce. It appears on the menu but it's supposed to be a Taiwanese favorite dish. This dish was okay we finished off those pineapple pieces.

The pan seared turnip cake was a decidedly average dish and nothing special to it.

We also got some spring roll with soy sauce loaded a chopped vegetables, meat, and other ingredients. Beneath the crusty wrapper was actually very moist but we found out it was a bit salty. Even more weak than Sen He Yuan.

We also tried the pan fried calamari pancake, they were absolutely steaming hot underneath the skin wrapper. They looked a little old and not freshly made, we don't finish them either.

Pan fried mock cod fish it looks so fragrant and tastes almost there.

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Overall the service was promptly and efficient, the food quality was quite a disappointment. The food it was not too bad, but it’s the kind of quality that we would not interested to visit the restaurant again. Honestly....In my experience the food is just average, compared to any other Hong Kong or Cantonese restaurant we have eaten in.

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Chia Lin 嘉麟樓
台中市中港路一段299號16樓
16/F, No. 299, Section 1, Chungkang Road,
West District,Taichung City
Contact No: Phone: 04-23283168
Website:

http://chialin-cht.bysocity.enjoy.hinet.net/