The much anticipated Tattu restaurant formally opened its London doors this month after a long and well executed marketing campaign. The 5th in the Tattu family following it’s successes in Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester.
This one is sited as a rooftop restaurant so I was keen to add it to my collection. Now technically it is on a roof but it’s not an open rooftop restaurant. But unlike its predecessor, Vivi, I have allowed it to qualify as it has squeezed in a very small outdoor rooftop terrace adjacent to the bar. Frustratingly it wasn’t finished being built (that wasn’t declared anywhere on the website) when I went but I could still go outside and snap my classic insta pic with a drink!
The beautiful bar set against the London skyline is very small for the amount of diners that might want to have pre or post dinner drinks so don’t get there too early as you could be disappointed.
From the bar you move through into the main restaurant, where in the daylight illuminates the sexy and intimate divine decor and by night, I imagine, is quite the date night venue.
Sat by a window with the views of Tottenham Court Road – they aren’t the London landmarks you would seek out but it is a welcome addition to this part of town. On to the menu. Asked if we had any allergies… I said I did so was then brought another menu. Brilliant! I love when restaurants are this thoughtful or when they helpfully mark up their menus. Either is great. This was not. This was a second menu with essentially a list of all the allergens in each dish. As the menus are quite large it was quite the experience trying to cross reference everything. But I did, only to discover barely anything I could eat that was GF. In todays society of inclusivity I was baffled. I asked for help and was told, ‘yes it is restrictive but it is authentic Chinese style food’. I’ve eaten in many many restaurants that were ‘authentic Chinese’ food and never being patronised or had such a problem finding alternatives. I asked that, as soy was clearly the biggest issue, would it not be possible to not have one of the dishes without it. The dishes aren’t cheap and seemed a fair request… unless its all prepared. Thankfully I was offered a couple of other dishes that they would amend ‘just this time’.
They weren’t what I wanted but least I had slightly wider choice. (Side note, a restaurant I was in recently went so far to make me my own GF petit fours when I hadn’t even asked for them. That’s service for you.)
The food itself was ok. Not the worse I’ve eaten but for that money not the best. Full marks to the huge amount of thought and effort has gone on presentation including the pudding that my friend ordered. The insta goals of smoke filled table and making a very perfect picture for the gram.
Despite the cocktails being quite the draw (more smoke filled fun) we stuck with wine – which was pretty pricey. We had a bottle of rose but when I needed to switch to red (for the lamb) it was quite limited with what was by the glass – just 2 reds by the glass of either £12 or £45!
Overall I was quite disappointed it felt like we had gone back years when being GF was so hard and you felt an inconvenience. This is definitely style over substance – which I am not adverse to at all. Quite the opposite. View or venue over food everytime for me but neither were worth the poor choice or the money. Obviously if you aren’t cursed with food restrictions, love a smoke filled cocktail and have the cash then you will love this new addition to the London skyline.
