Since Fred Smith, et al. have been so kind to introduce such wonderful restaurants to me and others, namely Muma’s, I thought I’d return the favor.
In addition to finding little gems like Ali Lai’s Salsa Bistro, Moga’s (which unfortunately is gone… the new one is in name only, don’t be fooled), and this great night xiaoye place on Tunghua St., I would like to suggest
Ala Dente
1F, No.7, Lane 112, Section 1, Anhe Rd, Taipei
2702-2903
The chef/owner is a friendly, humourous(dry), engaging person named Ken who can whip you up some fantastic dessert. He makes a great coffee too with real cream. His ingredients are always fresh and delicious. You really can tell the difference in quality. eg. his soups aren’t watery.
I have only tried the lunch set which I think is a pretty good deal: includes a main course, soup, dessert, bread, and coffee/tea. (280NTD). The regular menu has a variety of food, and looks quite good.
not too cheap, but not too pricey, but I think you get great value for the quality.
It’s hidden behind some buildings on the corner of Anhe and Xinyi (kinda behind the Yahoo shabu shabu and the MOS burger thereabouts).
Ken also speaks very good English in case you need to ask questions/directions, etc.
Dente is a masculine noun (il dente) - “alla dente” is just plain wrong. It’s like those places that call themselves “caf’e” with an apostrophe . If you do a Google search for “al dente” (with quotes) and confine the results to Italian web pages, you get 39,500 results. If you do the same for “alla dente” you only get three. If this restaurant “Alla Dente” wants to appear authentic, it could start by having a name that makes sense in Italian.
Just to clarify, I believe that this is the “Business Set” lunch and it is available only from Monday through Friday.
I had a peek at the menu, and it looked good. I’ll probably give the set lunch a try if I am in the area.
Thanks to Jack Burton for pointing this place out. I think Giorgio’s may be in the same neck of the woods. Never been there but heard some good things about it.
I had dinner at Ala Dente this evening - two persons - salad, which we shared, fettucine with anchovies, risotto with shrimp, and tea - for the princely sum of $1500+. I thought the food was quite good and nicely presented. The salad and entrees came in between NT$200-NT$350. What jacked up the price of the meal was the the tea in the form of Lipton tea bags at the end of the meal (NT$200 for each cup) and when I examined the tab further the NT$160 charge for the bread and breadsticks at the beginning of the meal (NT$80*2). Of course there was a 10% service charge tacked on as well. There were no other customers except the two of us. Too bad this place feels that it’s okay to make the customer feel robbed at the end of meal when the food itself was really quite nicely done.
. If you do a Google search for “al dente” (with quotes) and confine the results to Italian web pages, you get 39,500 results. If you do the same for “alla dente” you only get three. If this restaurant “Alla Dente” wants to appear authentic, it could start by having a name that makes sense in Italian.