Le Rouge – Pizza, Pasta, Calzones in Banqiao

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

Pinch me, I must be dreaming. There is a new restaurant in Banqiao that serves very good pizza. Opened only this week they are still fine tuning things but if my first taste is any indication they should be most successful.

They specialized in pizza, pastas, calzones and salads with many selections of each. It is western owned and run by a friendly guy named Francis who is from Canada. The waitress, Crystal, speaks fluent English as well as do the rest of the staff from what I overheard. Actually I only went to this place because one of my students works there so I felt obliged to try it out. When I heard pizza in Banqiao I had big reservations, boy was I wrong.

After I was seated, Francis greeted me and offered one of their temporary menus until the rest are printed up. Everything sounded so good I had a hard time deciding but for me pizza is the acid test. They have several pizza selections or you can make your own. I asked for some ingredients that were not on the toppings selection and they were glad to accommodate. I had a grilled chicken, bell peppers and mushroom pizza. In fact, Francis offered mixed peppers when only green peppers was on the menu.

When it arrived I was most pleased. The presentation alone looked great but when I tucked into it the taste was even better. All fresh ingredients and well blended to make a very tasty pizza. It comes on a light herb crust that is thin but still chewy and tasty and not too crispy. My only wish is that the sauce was a bit tangier but it is one that will be more popular with the locals I think. The other dishes I saw on other customers plates (calzones, pastas, salads) all looked very good and were presented very nicely.

Their location is a little tricky to find but they have one big thing going for them. They are located just steps from the Hsinpu MRT stop. Just go out the number one exit, turn left and just past the 7-11 is a Dante coffee shop just behind it and Le Rouge is right next to it.

*Note: I originally said the number two exit but noticed it was number one on my way home. Sorry if anybody got lost.

Address: 1F, #419-6, Sec1, Wenhua Rd., Banqiao
Phone: 2255-2861

I took some pictures but can’t get them downloaded now so hopefully I will ad them later. For all you out here in Banqiao there is now a great addition to the restaurant scene.

2

Back to the food.

I have a couple of pictures I took on my cell phone that day I would like to post but I can’t figure out how. I click on the Img button and it registers in the text box but I can’t figure out how then to upload the image from my camera. I looked in the FAQ but I didn’t find anything about how to post pictures. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I admit I am technically challenged so that is a major factor.

3

[quote=“Dark Horse”]Back to the food.

I have a couple of pictures I took on my cell phone that day I would like to post but I can’t figure out how. I click on the Img button and it registers in the text box but I can’t figure out how then to upload the image from my camera. I looked in the FAQ but I didn’t find anything about how to post pictures. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I admit I am technically challenged so that is a major factor.[/quote]See this thread:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … ost+images

4

the food is great and the staff is friendly… can’t tell you how good it is. you got to try by yourself

5

I showed up with a friend of mine today for breakfast. I had a buffet style bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and tea for a reasonable price. It’s nice to know that someone in Banchiao is thinking about Sunday brunch! It was all good.

The location, decor, and friendly service are sure to make this one a winner. Lot’s of tables as well, so It should avoid that “reservation only” thing that foreign run places seem to get trapped in for a while.

The pizza menu looks very nice, with all the topping that i can think of. Francis told me that he would be adding gluten free flour and whole wheat choices as well. I forgot to ask him about my other allergies…I think he would be willing to accomodate us poor folks who can’t eat anything anymore…

I like it, and it’s close to my pleasure palace, so I will becoming back sometime.

6

Le Rouge now offers gluten free and wheat pizza dough in addition to our original white flour dough. Also whole wheat pasta is now available.

I hope this will fill the needs of many.

Also don’t forget our hangover brunch, every Sundays from 10am to 4pm.
All you can eat egg (scramble, sunny side up, over easy), toast, croissant, Hash brown, bacon, sausages for Only 180 nt

Our complete menu is also available all day Sunday
Le Rouge, Le Food, Le Fun

2255-2861

7

This place isn’t bad at all. Lots of space inside and light and bright. The food isn’t bad, either. Plenty of offerings on the menu.

8

Big thanks to Francis, Crystal and the Le Rouge crew for suppying my students with nine delicious pizzas for our year end class party. We got several different styles of pizzas and the kids devoured them and all pronounced them “hen hao chi”! They say they now know what real pizza tastes like from someone who really knows how to make them. This was the perfect class party food and we’ll be doing it again. Many thanks!

9

[quote]Also don’t forget our hangover brunch, every Sundays from 10am to 4pm.
All you can eat egg (scramble, sunny side up, over easy), toast, croissant, Hash brown, bacon, sausages for Only 180 nt [/quote]

What an outstanding bargain…and these reviews are excellent!

10

Mrs Taffy and I checked out this place recently. We had the set meal for NT$880 including two starters (salad and garlic bread for us), a pasta dish and a pizza, plus two beverages (and a 10% service charge). Our thoughts:

Good

As you walk in the place feels surprisingly roomy for the crowded Banqiao streets - cool and bright, it’s a welcome refuge from the typical chaos outside. Choosing a location tucked away just off the main road may not have been the best choice from a visibility point of view, but it’s definitely a plus when it comes to actually sitting down and having a meal. The proximity to Xinpu MRT station will be very handy for many of their customers.

Location and interior were comfortable (although the primary colours-oriented decor is a bit pre-school), the place was very clean and the open kitchen is great for inspiring confidence in the standards kept by the proprietors. The pizza was tasty, a nice consistency and the ingredients were of a high quality - the set meal defeated the two of us - and the leftover pizza tasted good the next day (always the hallmark of good pizza to my mind). One tiny suggestion - the Chinese fungus would probably be better replaced with closed-cup mushrooms. Nice to see that they are offering local micro-brewed beer rather than the usual Heineken swill - the white beer was pretty decent. The foreign chef was very cheerful and engaging - although he was in the kitchen most of the time (obviously), he made us feel very welcome.

Not good

Waiting time was pretty lengthy, especially considering the place was nowhere near even half-full. The menus had English titles for the dishes but then didn’t explain any further - you need to read the Chinese to discover the toppings on their pizza. Both of these are problems that I imagine they will address as they grow in experience. The lady in charge insisted on answering in English to our Chinese; something which is not a huge issue, but neither is it particularly polite. I imagine she was simply eager to demonstrate that she could speak English, but cutting off your customers in the middle of their sentence doesn’t seem a great idea to me. The pasta was very bland and the white sauce had a strange aftertaste (slightly sour), so that dish was not well-received by Mrs T. The difficulty of attracting the attention of the staff despite the paucity of customers was also a little frustrating.

Overall

The pizza was the saving grace. The issues with timings, menus etc I put down to teething problems that will likely be sorted soon. I’ll definitely give the place a second go - it’s really nice to see places like this setting up outside Taipei City, but I left with mixed feelings about our experience. I hope to come back with a more glowing review next time!

11

Seems to me then that their specialty are pizzas, not necessarily noodle and other Italian dishes? Do they have lasagna (hint, hint)?

I agree with Taffy: to be cut off in mid-sentence because the waitress wants to practice her English would certainly piss me off a little, too. :raspberry:

Anyway, I’ll give it a try…

Regards,

Norbert

P.S. their web-page is at lerouge.com.tw/

12

Well I finally gave Le Rouge a try today, and I was left with nothing but positive impressions.
It’s easy to find being right beside the MRT as others have pointed out.
Inside is clean, properly lit and nicely air conditioned.
I like the color scheme and general flow of the place.
Lots of cool painting adorned the walls.
There’s even a second floor.
Here’s shot of one of the walls.

I ordered the hangover brunch which was 180 +10% = 195nt
Here’s a pic of what I got.

Not in the picture is a homemade muffin by Crystal, who I believe is also one of the owners, that was excellent.
I’m pretty sure the brunch was all you could eat but it was more than enough for me and I didn’t need seconds.
The owner/chef is Francis, as others have said.
He was friendly without being intrusive and made me feel quite welcome there.
I told him I hadn’t been yet because the brunch finished at 4, and I wished it ran later.
He said I could just call ahead and let him know if I wanted it and I could come by later than 4.
I also noticed a sign for all you can eat pizza on Tuesdays for only 300nt.
If you haven’t been there yet, try it out.
I’d like to hear other impressions of the place.
I’ll be back.

13

I’ll take the plunge as Josefus requested further impressions. I was going to hold back until after a second visit as I didn’t take any notes after my first visit (last week) and wasn’t sure exactly what we’d ordered - so I’m regrettably short on specifics.

I have mixed feelings - agree with all the comments about location, the decor, friendly service etc. Very good. Being right near Xinpu MRT is perfect for anyone near an MRT station. I was at a Starbucks in Ximen and 20mins later I was there. Music became a bit intrusive at one point (seemed to be some kind of rap) before returning to the light jazz in the background. I don’t know if there is a non-smoking policy - but I didn’t see any ashtrays and the air was lovely and clean. A smokey atmosphere is a reason I stopped going to Alleycats and a reason I often don’t return to restaurants where otherwise the food is great. Most of the surfaces were hard - so I think it could be noisy when full. The diners I were with were a little excited and the effect did seem amplified.

I was part of a group of 8, me, a friend and her 6 colleagues - all Taiwanese except me. There was an a-la-carte menu and a “set menu for 2”. After some discussion, it was said that there was also a set menu for 4 - I think it hadn’t been printed yet - and this was doubled up for our purposes. Basically the 7 Chinese speakers in my group took control and did the ordering.

The pizza options on the menus looked a bit “samey” to me - for example I didn’t see any seafood pizzas, beef, spicy pepperoni etc. Perhaps they were there but I didn’t notice them. Personally I’d favour a single simple menu for evening meals where people choose what they want - but I suppose locals like the set menu idea and the feeling they’re getting a deal. If you go for the set menus, you still get a choice, but its restricted. Since the options represented much-of-a-muchness to me, I was happy to let the Taiwanese make the choices in consultation with the staff.

Salads, starters/side dishes were great and varied. Water was delivered and kept topped up. But I’m afraid I was disappointed with the pizzas. They seemed to suffer the same problem - skimpy on ingredients except for a pool of cheese that had accumulated in the middle. After a few slices from the different pizzas that were delivered, the cheese had left me full but I was otherwise understimulated. The bill was about NT$400 per head good value I thought - though bear in mind we drank nothing beyond what was included (coffee in my case).

Don’t let my post put you off. I would like to go back and give the place another go - I would like to think that given earlier posts, the pizzas as delivered didn’t do the talents of the kitchen justice. If I do, it won’t be for the Tuesday special - I’d be worried about a repeat performance. I’d rather have more choice and go for something more exciting - if indeed that option is available. My well-internationally-travelled friend decided she wouldn’t return - so it will be with someone else. Watching the others eat really does give Taipei zoo a run for its money. They thought it was great.

14

OK. So far, most here have reported on the brunches and pizzas they’ve had and enjoyed to various degrees.
Has anybody here tried their pasta yet? I would be very much interested in that. What do people say about LeRouge’s pasta?
What london-boy writes about the pizza, sounds a bit like the Pizza-Hut / Domino clone. Is that the case? That would be American pizza, which is fine every now and then, but most of time far from the Italian kind. On the other hand, Le Rouge doesn’t advertise itself as an Italian Restaurant but as “義法廚房”. :stuck_out_tongue:

Norbert

15

No, I think its still well ahead of Taiwan’s Pizza-Hut/Dominos.

16

I might swing by there tonight for the all-you-can-eat pizza special, but I’m not sure how late they’re open.

17

I’ve just come back from Le Rouge and I have to say that the food was amazing again! I always bring a lot of people form many walks of life and whomever I bring there, they are all overjoyed. They can’t believe that Italian food could be so good. I esecially enjoy bringing Taiwanese friends into Le Rouge because they are all used toeating at the “Italian restaurants” in taiwan.Translated directly from chinese it’s Yi - Da - Li - Mien. (Italian noodles) which is exactly what the other places serve, Italian … well…Noodles. But Le Rouge has Great Pasta dishes whether you like creamy alfredo style or carbonara or whatever! However, I believe that the best part of Le Rouge is the hand Made thin crust pizza… When I say hand made and thin crust I mean just that. To compare Le Rouge to Domino’s or Pizza Hut frankly is a joke. Its the same as comparing Chili’s or Friday’s to McDonalds. Really this is not a fair comparison because on one hand we have Francis who is up early in the morning shopping and preparing fresh dough and fresh sauce with with fresh ingredients daily. On the other hand we got some delivery guy dropping off frozen ingredients that comes from who knows where. And when he finally drops off the food some student or staff member just whips the stuff together however he/she sees fit. I hate to sound corny but where is the luv? Anyways This is not a bash on anybody or anyplace its basically a compliment to Francis, Crystal and the staff of Le Rouge because they are doing what they do and they are doing it well. I havent even mentioned the Calzones… I could be here alllday talking about the Calzones but I’ll just say this. Best I’ve had hands down. Mushroom lovers I recommend ordering a dish with mushrooms on it because I know that these are bought fresh daily and it shows I like the super mario. You know what they say " The proof is in the pudding" But in this case the proof is in the pizza (And the calzones)" One more thing worth mentioning is the service. The service is in a word… excellent! The waitresses are frindly kind and eager to help, Crystals smile lights up the place and Francis always tries to make his rounds asking people how everything was. Now thats service. To make a long story short I go there all the time and I live in Danshui…

Keep doing what you do Le Rouge!

18

When first-time posters with no earned reputation/credibility post such a glowing, enthusiastic review with so many superlatives, it raises eyebrows. Sometimes I wonder if they aren’t doing a disservice to the establishments they are trying to promote, as everyone who reads such posts will be skeptical.

19

There seems to be some of that going around recently, and oddly enough for restaurants only in Banqiao.

20

[quote=“LatinoHeat”]I’ve just come back from Le Rouge and I have to say that the food was amazing again! I always bring a lot of people form many walks of life and whomever I bring there, they are all overjoyed. They can’t believe that Italian food could be so good. I esecially enjoy bringing Taiwanese friends into Le Rouge because they are all used toeating at the “Italian restaurants” in Taiwan.Translated directly from Chinese it’s Yi - Da - Li - Mien. (Italian noodles) which is exactly what the other places serve, Italian … well…Noodles. But Le Rouge has Great Pasta dishes whether you like creamy alfredo style or carbonara or whatever! However, I believe that the best part of Le Rouge is the hand Made thin crust pizza… When I say hand made and thin crust I mean just that. To compare Le Rouge to Domino’s or Pizza Hut frankly is a joke. Its the same as comparing Chili’s or Friday’s to McDonalds. Really this is not a fair comparison because on one hand we have Francis who is up early in the morning shopping and preparing fresh dough and fresh sauce with with fresh ingredients daily. On the other hand we got some delivery guy dropping off frozen ingredients that comes from who knows where. And when he finally drops off the food some student or staff member just whips the stuff together however he/she sees fit. I hate to sound corny but where is the luv? Anyways This is not a bash on anybody or anyplace its basically a compliment to Francis, Crystal and the staff of Le Rouge because they are doing what they do and they are doing it well. I havent even mentioned the Calzones… I could be here alllday talking about the Calzones but I’ll just say this. Best I’ve had hands down. Mushroom lovers I recommend ordering a dish with mushrooms on it because I know that these are bought fresh daily and it shows I like the super mario. You know what they say " The proof is in the pudding" But in this case the proof is in the pizza (And the calzones)" One more thing worth mentioning is the service. The service is in a word… excellent! The waitresses are frindly kind and eager to help, Crystals smile lights up the place and Francis always tries to make his rounds asking people how everything was. Now thats service. To make a long story short I go there all the time and I live in Danshui…

Keep doing what you do Le Rouge![/quote]
Other restauranteurs (and their friends) have found that its much more effective to be up-front when they post about their establishments and don’t pretend to be an unrelated happy customer. This site has been running for years and this kind of post is embarrassingly easy to spot.
If you’re a friend of the owners, please check with them before making puff-piece posts like this. I’m sure you don’t want to embarrass them and I’m sure you like the food, too, but posts like this, which simply sound like advertising, do a great disservice to the restaurant.