Tattu - A Tasteem Review

It was our wedding anniversary last week and @bingbabe has been rattling on about a swanky restaurant in central Manchester named Tattu.

I conceded to take her there fully expecting my pockets to be empty when vacating the place.

This is the story of what could have been a 'Blind Date'.

Tattu is in the ‘Spinningfields’ part of Manchester which is a fifteen-minute walk from the main town centre.

It wasn’t a good start as @bingbabe decided to dress up in her glad rags and heels. They are ill-suited to walking.

Fortunately, we were airlifted into the surrounding area and Jeeves the butler took us swiftly to our destination in one of our many ‘rollers’.

Having dismissed Jeeves we entered a restaurant which was not so evident of its own existence from the outside.

Even using online maps, we had trouble finding the place and I had to inquire at a nearby food takeout.

The name and logo were marked on the side of the door, but still, it was not an obvious place to see.

We did have a booking so were quickly escorted through this downstairs area and up to what is ‘the restaurant’. The décor was quite stunning with a magnificent large purple tree stealing the show.

I don’t know whether it was real as I didn’t touch it, there were people sitting close to the tree and all those tables were taken.

They offered us the crappiest table in the house which we rebuffed rather sharply. The place was 75% empty so why do they do this?

The waiter needed to have a conference with his superiors before deciding to give us one of the other 30 empty tables and so we eventually sat and took in the menu.

The first thing I noticed was the mandatory 10% tip enforced on diners. I do tip if I get good service and food but being forced too doesn’t really go down to well with me.

Nevertheless, the waiter was accommodating and informed us that the small plates are popular for sharing and FIVE would be enough for us both as well as some rice.

We did take his advice and ordered the Kimchi Crab Cakes at £7.50, Drunken Chicken Wings at £9, Sticky Beef Short Rib at £10, Crispy Pork Belly at £8 and the Chilli Salt Baby Squid at £9.

I was wondering how all these small plates were going to fit on a table for two that was not overly large. The waiter assured us that the plates would arrive in a staggered manner.

Service was fast at Tattu and before we knew it the Crab Cakes and Wings arrived. The first lot of food was a mixed bag.

I didn’t really care for the Cakes but the Wings were excellent, even though the creamy sauce was visually reminiscent of a McDonalds Toffee Sundae.

The second batch of small plates arrived right away after the first ones were cleared away.

Again, it was a mixed bag of quality, the Squid being a little dry and overcooked resulting in little taste to the Beef which was succulent and rich. @bingbabe particularly enjoyed the Pork Belly.

While eating from the second round of plates a
strange aroma entered my nasal passages; the unmistakable smell of Cannabis resin. While it's not an unpleasant smell, I didn't expect someone nearby to be ‘skinning up' in such a place.

The aroma left as quickly as it arrived and try as I might I could not find the perpetrator.

The bill came to just under £60. I was quite relieved as expensive as this sounds. The food was decent but probably not quite worth the asking price.

@bingbabe was more complimentary of Tattu, the Pork having a bigger impact on her taste buds than mine.

Would I return to Tattu? Possibly, but probably not. The food was not bad at all, in fact above average but there are many more restaurants in the city yet to be tried.

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Restaurant Information

Tattu Restaurant and Bar

3 Hardman Square, Gartside St, Manchester M3 3EB, UK

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Tattu - A Tasteem Review
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Where to eat for my blind date?

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