Hannah M.
Yelp
I'm super torn about Tattu, while it has some super excellent bits, there are some things I would change if I ran the joint.
Privileged to have a best friend who hates chain restaurants as much as I do, when heading to see one of our favourite bands and dining too, we thought we'd give tattu a go.
I booked on the phone, straight forward enough, polite staff, hot on their allergens and dietary requirements, which is good- with enough notice I'm pretty certain that these guys would be darn accommodating. There did seem, however, a strangely high amount of confirmation bits.
We arrived, and were asked again about dietary requirements, and we were directed to the bar to order drinks before the table was set, they took a card, gave a lockbox key, things that seemed a little ott, again, understandable, but it seemed the level of trust of a company who've been swindled before. It was quite the "hup" onto the chairs for my little legs, and coat and bag hooks wouldn't have gone amiss. Driving home later, we stuck to teas and softs, my hibiscus tea was rather lovely.
Ushered upstairs, and sat on a 2-table near the oft mentioned cherry blossom tree, the decor definitely is lovely albeit busy, a handful of people needing tattu=tattoo epiphany moments when it came to the ropes and anchors. The attentive waiter explained the menu, and we got perusing. The do also offer cutlery rather unjudgementally.
After giving vegan recommendations for mcr earlier in the day, I was feeling guilty for the sheer number of creatures preyed upon by our menu selection, on our table at staggered times (be prepared for table Tetris, peeps) there was;
Spicy pork wontons
Mixed dim sum basket
Duck egg and sausage fried rice
Seared tuna
Kimchi crab cakes
Salt and pepper aubergine
Duck Bon Bons
Lobster and prawn toast
The things that were good, were stunning, the seared tuna was lovely, and with more of a kick than the menu suggests, the pork wontons- especially the sauce they came in was great, the cherry sauce with the duck, the black cod in the dimsum basket, the jalapeño and coriander dipping sauce from the little trio, and the aubergine weren't slippery.
Unfortunately, there were a couple of things that weren't as exciting, the toasts were cute, crusted with mixed sesame-tasted nice, but just didn't meet my expectations, they were a bit much just to have in one but too solid stacked, yet a dainty width to bite in half, and the crab cakes had a nice sauce, but were a bit texturally uninspiring.
We followed up with the dragon egg pud, which was an on trend bit of theatre, with flavours that were nice, but not the perfectly paired boundary pushing things that the presentation implied.
The few changeable things that rang true for us both were;
-coats and bags- I've not been to many nice places where they don't offer to take them off you, as a restaurant people will want to visit when they're in town for the day= guests with shopping bags and bulky coats on the floor and draping chairs, coat hooks under tables would be a welcome & easy addition if there's no cloakroom in use, if you want to go somewhere you can play footsie under the table, it's not going to happen here, and more than once I feared for the feet of the waiters tripping over shopping and straps.
-you're really close to other tables- in a popular place, I understand this is going to happen, but at 5pm, when it's not yet packed, surely a table could be left between us and the woman loudly screeching that her favourite drink is an "ex-presso marhhrtinnehrrrr" less than a metre away.
-little touches- daft things like, inconsistent water glass filling, photos of gorgeous tattooed people which are backlit which stops them from being as sharp as the gorgeous ironwork- make these paintings, or printed on something that makes that black black & not being entirely consistent with the dress code- I'm certain that I live in a smart-casual minimum, it's part of my job, and my friend has the best taste in shoes so I know he's always good for it, but come on chaps, scruffy polo shirts with the collars up?
I don't see how it could be romantic, or how some reviews complain about cost, we were both expecting a higher tag, and we were really full!
Overall, there were some parts that were absolutely hands down nailed; every server's attitude, dress, was impeccable, and we could have both eaten the pork and tuna all day, but it just doesn't have the polish that comes with more seasoned finer dining establishments, it's like forgetting to put pockets on a pair of trousers, they're nice, but it needs a little more- it seems more footballers and instagram youth (see; two young ladies spending ten whole minutes posing in front of the bloody tree from every angle, disturbing diners and reapplying make up after phone checks) than high end, meeting the posh-not-posh bar- when at the end of the day, it's the food that's going in my mouth, not the hashtags