I can’t believe how time flies. The last time we were at Tao’s was in January – ten months ago! We really should make it a point to come here more often. It’s a simple, no-frills dinner place, and we always leave feeling just full enough, and very satisfied. Minor complaint – when I called to make a reservation, the waitress who answered spoke no English. Zero. I can’t help thinking that if they want to attract all manner of customers and not just the K-Box crowd, they should really get someone who can speak even a smidgen of English to field telephone queries and reservations. Anyway, minor rant over.
I like that they tweak the menu regularly; it gives us the option to try a few new things each time we come. They’ve added an Asian-inspired plum dressing to their ‘Farm Boy Splendour’ chicken salad, which sounded a bit dubious but ended up tasting really good. I ordered a new starter – the curry yogurt prawn salad, which was a bit measly in terms of portion size, but tasted quite interesting.
Speaking of portion size, they’ve also changed some of their crockery, so as a result, the mushroom soup portion seems to have shrunk. I like the new plate for the grilled oyster mushrooms though – if it was intended to look like an oyster shell, it’s very cute.
A had the lamb again, which was flawless. I tried a new dish – the baked baby lobster with white wine pasta. This was a bit of a disappointment. The lobster certainly was a baby; there was hardly any meat on it, although it was topped with some sinful cheesy goodness. The pasta had no hint of white wine at all, and just tasted of cream, flour and salt.
I can’t not have the crème brulee here; A ordered a new dessert – chocolate mousse, but it certainly wasn’t what either of us expected. Instead, it was reminiscent of chocolate fudge cake, and while being a bit on the heavy side, was quite tasty.
Mr Huang Yen Kun, the boyish-looking and very affable owner of Tao’s, has opened a new joint called Dozo. For those of you who watch the ads on cable tv, yes this is the cringe-worthy ad with the rather un-seductive woman giving come-hither, (non-) smoldering looks at the camera… It’s meant to be a finer-dining sister restaurant of Tao’s, with a similar choose-your-own-course degustation-type menu, but with higher-end, premium ingredients like sashimi, escargot, foie gras and beef fillet. At $58.80 per person for a 7-course dinner, it’s literally twice the price of Tao’s, but I do want to check it out some time. If it’s anything like Tao’s it’ll probably be good, plus the owner is such a nice guy that I do want to lend some support. Well, when we finally drag our asses there we’ll definitely write about it.
A says:
I love this place because it’s so laidback and the menu is like a low-end type degustation. My only complaint is that the main is always the most disappointing thing in the meal. Maybe my expectations are too high because everything else is so great. The price is not bad for what you get and the service is very good (note: I do not share my atas wife’s attitude to K-Boxers).
We definitely need to come back to this place more often (I don’t know why they seem to remember us everytime we come). Once a month is a bit much so I’m aiming for once a quarter.
On a side note, while I’m on to try Dozo, I’m not going anywhere near the place while that horrible commercial is on the air. Plus, I can’t go sloppily dressed like I usually am.
Tao’s
1 Selegie Road
B1-19 Paradiz Centre
Tel: 6339-8858
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