Italian in Taipei: Osteria by Angie

Cuisine: Italian

Location: Guang Fu South Rd. No. 33, Lane 280, Taipei, Taiwan

Price: $$$

Food: 2.5*

Service: ***

Overall: 2.5*

Website: http://osteria.com.tw

In a city where Italian restaurants run abound and many try and cater to the tastes of the locals instead of preserving the authenticity of Italian cuisine, Osteria by Angie stands out in stark contrast. Co-owned by executive chef Giorgio Pappalardo, who grew up in Sicily, Osteria by Angie goes to great pains to deliver the feeling of authentic, home-cooked Italian food that makes one feel at home.

The concept, in my opinion, is fantastic – as someone with a decidedly non-Taiwanese palate, I have been to many Italian restaurants in Taipei where the quality of the food suffers as a result of dumbing down the food to local tastes. At Osteria by Angie, the pizzas are made with buffalo’s milk mozzarella imported from Italy, the pasta is hand-rolled and homemade, and the risotto is actually cooked “al dente”, instead of into a sloppy mush, the texture that many locals prefer as it more closely resembles the white rice eaten on an every day basis.

Osteria by Angie had all the components necessary for it to deliver an all-star meal – and at its best, I was definitely impressed with some of the dishes it had to offer. Sadly, I found flaws with a few dishes, whether it was in the preparation or in that they simply didn’t have a lot of flavor. The restaurant has a potential to be fantastic, but as it stands, too many missteps made the overall experience pretty average.

The first thing I noticed was how cramped the seating was on the first floor – we were seated in a booth that was directly next to the walk-in area. The layout was such that often, servers had to stand in the walk-in area and reach around us to plate food or refill water, which made their presence very conspicuous and made me feel like they got in the way of each other a lot. Otherwise, service was pretty much what I would expect.

Because our group ate family style, I wasn’t able to get pictures of all the plates, resorting instead to just taking pictures of what was on my own plate so I could chronicle the meal. So, apologizes for some less than stellar/ missing photos. With that in mind…

Deep-fried calamari with garlic aioli

Appetizer: The batter on the calamari was light and airy, giving them a nice crunch. I thought the garlic aioli could have been a little stronger – with the lemons that were squeezed over the calamari, the taste of garlic was neutralized and hard to detect.

Grilled tiger prawns, marinated capsicum, rocket salad

Appetizer: The poor, poor tiger prawns were way overcooked, making them chewy and tough instead of tender like they should be. Not only that, but the capsicum were not just marinated in olive oil - it felt more like they were just completely soaked in them. The amount of oil on the bottom of the plate gives you a little bit of indication here. They turned the dish entirely too greasy and further worsened an already crappy dish.

Angus Beef carpaccio, Parmigiano Reggiano, truffle

Appetizer: One of my favorite dishes of the day. The carpaccio was sliced very thinly, and the parmigiano reggiano and accompanying arugula gave the dish a kick that was finished with a slight hint of truffles. I appreciated that the dish wasn’t heavy-handed on truffle oil – it really allowed the carpaccio to shine through.

Salad: Romaine lettuce with Parma ham and smoked ricotta cheese (no photo)

The smoked ricotta cheese was an interesting departure from what I would normally expect in a salad – it had great flavor and accentuated the salad. Otherwise, this salad was pretty standard Italian, with the dressing being a simple balsamic vinaigrette.

Mushroom risotto with braised beef cheeks in red wine

Primi: Probably the best thing I had all day. I absolutely loved that the risotto had a bite to it, as it should – as I mentioned above, too often in Taipei I’ll get risotto with the consistency of white rice, which drives me crazy. The beef cheeks were braised perfectly and melted in my mouth. That, plus the fact that I love mushroom risotto, sealed the deal for me.

Pizza Diavola: Spicy salami, tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil

Pizza: Another very good dish – the cheese had that gooey, melty quality to it that I love, and the flavors are very traditional Italian. It's pretty hard, I think, to make something with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, basil, and spicy salami and have it come out poorly. I liked the thinness of the pizza dough, but found the crust to be a little bit too thick for my liking. 

Pizza Quattro funghi: Mozzarella cheese and four kinds of mushrooms

Pizza: I am surprised that the same kitchen that produced the pizza diavola could produce this disaster. Considering that this was a white pizza, I would have expected some intense flavors to replace the tomato sauce. Instead, I got bland, unseasoned mushrooms and some doughy pizza bread with a little bit of cheese. Without any flavor, I felt that the cheese's main contribution was to greasify the pizza (and my lips).  Just a poorly made dish all around.

Dessert Sampler: Chocolate soufflé, mango crème brulee, tiramisu, assorted gelato (no photo)

The dessert was complimentary, as someone in our party had complained to our server about the overcooked tiger prawns. If the point of dessert was to assure us that they cared about the quality of food they put out, well, they failed pretty miserably. It wasn’t that dessert was bad – most of it was decent, if not particularly memorable. However, the one thing I will remember from this sampler plate is that we were served a soufflé that didn’t rise at all – like a deflated balloon, the entire soufflé sank into the ramekin it was served it, creating an utterly sad and pathetic visual display that I will definitely remember. I wish I had a photo of it, but I think that we immediately dug in to the soufflé so we wouldn’t have to keep staring at the sunken black hole where there should have been an airy, fluffy top.

Last thoughts: The highlights – and there were many – were great, and left me wanting to make a return trip to have the risotto, pizza, and carpaccio again. Sadly, the lowlights – and there were just as many – left me disappointed with my meal as a whole, in the sense that I thought this meal could have been so much better. I’d love to go back the next time I’m in Taipei to see if they’ve improved upon some of the poorer dishes I encountered today – if they do, Osteria by Angie will become a great place to go to for authentic Italian.