Primo Trattoria

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

Primo Trattoria opened in mid-October 2008. They specialize in cheese, pasta, and pizza. There are four dining areas (possibly 5 as it looks like they have a private room in back). As you walk in through the gate there are a couple of tables on either side, to the right front tables, to the right back tables, and with a fishhook left more tables. To the left of the kitchen before you get to the left tables is a deli counter.

The kitchen is an open kitchen which is nice and they pull it off as everyone in the kitchen appears confident while being quiet. The owner is also the head chef who lived and worked in Italy.

The restaurant is cleanly decorated and could be considered trendy but with a total lack of pretention. The service was excellent and Morris was very knowledgeable about the wine and dishes.

The wine list is made up of groups $650, $850, and $1200 per bottle. Upon recommendation we ordered the 2007 Fontana Candida Togale Merlot. Nice color and nice legs but needs to breathe a while. Call ahead and have them open it about half an hour before you get there. Note it is in the $1200 group. Overpriced, but still cheaper than Canoviano charges ($1500).

We ordered the beef Carpaccio ($320) which was very good. In addition to the standard Carpaccio at other places the dish came topped with fresh arugula and the grated cheese is superior.

We also ordered the prosciutto pizza ($380 – 10 inch) and the linguini with balsamic ($320). The pizza had prosciutto (ed. Really?), mixed cheese, fresh arugula, and fresh tomato. I was concerned when I saw the menu said cherry tomato thinking it would be another Bellini experience. However, it worked out fine. The chewy pizza crust is unusually addictive. I’m not going to attempt to describe it. The pizza, as most of the other pizzas on the menu, was very light and refreshing. Somewhat like a salad with a nice piece of bread.

The linguini with balsamic (Linguine al Balasmico) was also very interesting and delicious. The tang of the vinegar and the creamy mascarpone with the perfectly cooked pasta will have you satisfied while curious as the different flavors arrive.

Since everything was so good we ordered the beef steak ($680). We were already full but… The sirloin is grilled and served with a gorgonzola based sauce. Very rich, but so, oh so, fulfilling.

For dessert they have 6-7 on the dessert tray ($100-120). We tried the mascarpone raison dessert and the tiramisu. The mascarpone dessert was well done but it would be nice for some people in your party if a syrup or melted sugar glaze could be added to sweeten it up. The tiramisu was ok. Not very cheese flavored but the bitter chocolate was good. More brandy also needed.

Primo Trattoria is also an importer. At the deli counter you will see an abundance of various cheese that you can buy to take home. As you enter the restaurant you will also see a glassed cooler where they keep cheese and desserts.

If you order the Caesar salad they will come to your table to personally grate the cheese from a wheel of cheese.

Overall a restaurant to watch out for. I haven’t been this pleasantly surprised since Herbs got their young chef.

Recommended.

Primo Trattoria
1Fl, No. 14, Lane 107, Fuxing South Road, Section 1
02-2711-1726

Directions:
From ChungShiao Fuxing MRT exit 5 walk north about 5 minutes until Lane 107 (Skylark California restaurant). Turn right into the lane and walk just past the first small intersection and it is on your right.

2

Thanks for the heads up, googled the place and found some pictures and it actually looks pretty decent for Taiwan. Going to have to check it out in the near future.

3

:laughing:

Yes. Let us know what you think about it. Maybe you should try more of the cheese oriented dishes or the cheese platters. They specialize in cheese and I would have liked to try the all cheese but I was outvoted.

4

I guess I’m lucky in a way then, my girlfriend loves cheese, hence another reason to go :smiley:

5

I ate here tonight with a few friends, read about it a few times and was prety anxious to try it. Well it was def. busy but we did manage to get a table on the patio/front entrance. Luckily the weather was nice and cool so it wasn’t as bad as it would be in the summer. We ordered a couple of pizza’s wasn’t really paying attention to the names as I didn’t order them, but we did get to share. The pizzas I tasted weren’t bad, the dough I wasn’t a big fan of though, a little “too soft” to the point where you couldn’t really hold the pizza with one hand without it flopping over the place. The pasta I had was pretty good, the linguine was al dente, and the pesto sauce was nice. There was also potatoes and mushrooms in it. We also had a Prociutto plate, that was decent. As well as a Mushroom with Fruit D’mare (Prawns) that was quite flavorful. The dinner was accompanied by a bottle of 2006 Chardonnay from California. Crisp, clean with a hint of peach, a pretty decent bottle for only 650NT (at restaurant price also). All in all the dinner was nice, good atmosphere, pretty solid food, and a great price. The bonus was they brought us a plate of freshly grated Parmageano! that was great to sprinkly over our pasta. Alot better than that powdered crap! Its definitly worth a try but be sure to book a reservation since they do fill up pretty fast

6

First of all, in most of the civilized world, pizza is eaten with a knife and fork and secondly, the “powdered crap” as you put it isn’t Parmesan cheese, it’s something like it, but not the real deal and hence the difference in taste.

It sounds like this place is well worth a visit though, still haven’t gotten around to it as last time they were fully booked and we went elsewhere.

7

[quote]First of all, in most of the civilized world, pizza is eaten with a knife and fork and secondly, the “powdered crap” as you put it isn’t Parmesan cheese, it’s something like it, but not the real deal and hence the difference in taste.
[/quote]

Well I am from north america and the only way we eat pizza is with your hand (enless its chicago deep dish)enless your from europe then you probably think all North americans are all uncivilized haha. And the comment I made about the Kraft style powder was just an emphasis on how glad I was to see freshly grated Parmesano not the “powedered crap” so many restaurants use because its cheap

8

There’s nothing wrong with eating pizza in your hands if it cut into slices and you don’t want to use the knife and fork. The same with chicken or ribs…any chef will agree, in America, or Europe! Of course I never use a spoon drinking soup anymore…had to stop myself lifting the bowl to my mouth when I went back home a couple of times :slight_smile: It’s also true no real Italian restaurant would give you that Kraft stuff to put on your pasta…that’s an American invention, real Parmesan would go off quickly (I also have it at home though!). Any real trattoria will have an array of cheeses at the ready.

9

Ok so after talks about casual italian in another thread…I decided to head to Primo Trattoria tonight for a meal with some friends, heres the review:

The restaurant was about 80% full which was a surprise because 1 it was raining cats and dogs, and 2 its a monday. Good thing I got a reservation, and were seated once we got into the restaurant. Now this was my 2nd time at Primo and a first for both of my friends who were quite anxious to try it. We ordered 2 pastas (Carbonara, Pomodoro Fruit D’mare [Tomato sauce with Prawns]), Insalata Caprese, Carppacio, and the Primo Pizza of the day.-

Pasta:
I had a good experience last time with their pastas, the Tomato/Prawns pasta arrived first, the pasta was al dente, sauce was nice and light, and the prawns were cooked and seasoned to perfection. Very tasty! The Carbonara arrived just minutes after , I was quite skeptical when it arrived because it didn’t look creamy enough, however I was quite surprised when I took my first bite! the sauce was creamy, eggy, and cheesy. Very good, there was a big helping of Panchetta that was cooked to perfection :discodance: Carbonara has been one of my all time favorites, the simple creamy cheesy sauce getting cut with the salty smoky panchetta never gets old! and Primo was on spot tonight with the Pasta Carbonara :bravo:

Insalata Caprese- Also one of my favorites, the cheese was too flaky I could tell right away that it wasn’t buffalo mozzrella (which is ushually perferred) but it was only $120NT so I didn’t expect to see buffalo mozz. anyways nothing special they used pesto and arugula which is a first for me (I always have it with Tomato, Mozz., Basil, EVOO) I geuss it was a different approach to the dish, anyways tasted way to much pesto, and it killed the creaminess of the tomatoes and cheese. Big dissapointment.

Carppaccio- Loaded with arugula and parmageano killed over powered the thin beef slices. I would have liked to see more balsamico on the dish, :ponder: . Not a dissapointment, but not great

Pizza- The waitress recommended the pizza to us as it was their special of the week or something. Anyways it was divine!!! much better than I had last time I was here, it had mushrooms, panchetta, and mozz. cheese. They grated parmeseano on top of it when it arrived. I couldn’t get enough of it the cheese was perfect and the panchetta of unreal!!! absolute heaven, I hope they put it on their menu because I would go back just to eat it :thumbsup:

We also had desserts Tiramisu, Chocolate Tart with sprinkled cheese, Balloon Pudding. The Tiramisu was ok nothing to really talk about, the chocolate had a weird taste to it I could’nt really pick out what it was but it isn’t something I would order again. The balloon pudding was ordered strictly cause of how it looked (didn’t expect it to taste really good) The presentation was unique you had to poke the balloon the pudding was in for it to gush out. The pudding was milky but poking it was much more exciting than eating it.

Overall good dining experience, I will be back thats for sure. Maybe not for the desserts though, great company, good service. Primo deserves a 7.5/10 for tonight :slight_smile:

*one thing I did find interesting was that Heiniken was cheaper than Taiwan beer?? they also didn’t have Peroni on the menu which would have been nice. They do have a fairly priced wine selection though, wasn’t really in the mood to uncork one tonight- maybe next time

10

Sounds really good! Looking forward to trying it…

when you mentioned the directions, you mentioned Skylark California… totally OT, but anyone been there?

11

[quote=“hungryintaipei”]Sounds really good! Looking forward to trying it…

when you mentioned the directions, you mentioned Skylark California… totally OT, but anyone been there?[/quote]

Hey, yes I have and I have to be honest it is terrible :frowning: …now I don’t really like using that word, I mean it has its clientelle because its been around so long. But its one of the places that seem super " western" to the locals, and thats probably why they are still in business. You could give it a try but seeing that your from the states (I think) i’m 90% sure you will be dissapointed. Some other ppl might enjoy but I don’t reccomend it :unamused:

12

[quote=“dlin”][quote=“hungryintaipei”]Sounds really good! Looking forward to trying it…

when you mentioned the directions, you mentioned Skylark California… totally OT, but anyone been there?[/quote]

But its one of the places that seem super " western" to the locals, and thats probably why they are still in business.[/quote]

I think you will find the food just so-so. Not good but not really bad. They offer complete set meals, so for locals it seems like a great bargain (salad/appetizer/main/dessert/drink for less than a single main at TGIF). They have a few branches scattered around. I wouldn’t be as harsh in my criticism as dlin :slight_smile: but again just so-so localized “western” food.

13

[quote=“elektronisk”][quote=“dlin”][quote=“hungryintaipei”]Sounds really good! Looking forward to trying it…

when you mentioned the directions, you mentioned Skylark California… totally OT, but anyone been there?[/quote]

But its one of the places that seem super " western" to the locals, and thats probably why they are still in business.[/quote]

I think you will find the food just so-so. Not good but not really bad. They offer complete set meals, so for locals it seems like a great bargain (salad/appetizer/main/dessert/drink for less than a single main at TGIF). They have a few branches scattered around. I wouldn’t be as harsh in my criticism as dlin :slight_smile: but again just so-so localized “western” food.[/quote]

elektronisk, I didn’t mean to be harsh! :blush: but you do have a good point it is a bargain. The service is good, but both times i’ve been there my pasta was cooked to the point of mush. I mean they are still in business and are ushually busy, so they must be doing something right :ponder: . I geuss you would have to see for yourself to judge :slight_smile:

14

You do know that Taiwanese dont like their pasta al dente, instead they like em super mush.

15

On a lark I checked their website and they have 18 stores in Taiwan!

[url=Skylark sandman for the extra work. :wink: Here is the link for you.[/url]

16

Sounds like the English, maybe it’s an island thing? :smiley:

I went to Skylark in Xindian once, it was ok, hardly fantastic food, but not terribly expensive. I guess it all comes down to budget/taste buds :smiley:

17

Yes I am quite aware of that actually, i’ve often had to ask restaurants to cook theirs noodles a little “Rawer” that ushual. Haha, the expression I get is :astonished:

18

I found Skylark to be a decent option for a budget western meal–especially if you want a full set with dessert and coffee. I usually went for the meat or fish dishes since there’s limited nutritional value in most pasta dishes. I remember they used to serve a flat fish that looked something like flounder which was really good most nights, but the quality of cooking was hit or miss, with the chicken or fish dishes seeming a lot greasier on certain nights of the week.

19

hahaha we’ve gone waaaay off topic … o well all in good discussion

20

I had Primo couple weeks ago… I was impressed with their food.
I like their pizza a lot, I love the dough they are using.
Their pasta didn’t leave me much of an impression, however, so many of you have recommended it here
Maybe we just didn’t order the right ones.

Their wine list is fairly priced as well, we uncorked a bottle of red wine from Wirra Wirra
Priced at $1200, but special for $980
It was very good after decanting for 15 mins or so
Very rich berry flavor with strong body and some denim to it. I liked it very much

I should definitely give Cabronara a try next time, it’s one of my favorite!

And Skylark… That ain’t Italian food, you kidding me?
it’s Taiwanese dish with Italian look!