I really liked Viajante when it was around, this is going back nearly a decade now, then latterly Taberna, both pushed out some delicious things for us Londoners, though both are now shut and superseded by Nuno’s other projects (Chiltern holding fort, Maos gaining steam, while it remains to be seen if Viajante 2.0 will ever rise from the ashes). Like anything of notable quality, it is always about the people and Mendes had the pick of the crop come through his kitchens (and still does at Maos). A few have gone on to make a name for themselves, I think mainly of Leo Carreira, and at least one guy has gone back home to open arguably one of the most exciting restaurants in Lisbon – Prado.
And then of course, there’s Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng, the his and hers of TaTa Eatery, who have thus far garnered a sterling reputation for themselves, migrating from one residency to other across town. I must admit, I tend not to bother so much with pop-ups these days, as they are by definition fleeting and not set up for consistency with the myriad of limitations. But I’ve heard only good things about the pair’s ever improving offering, and with their latest residency looking as good as bricks & mortar, I thought it time to finally give it a go.
Authenticity was much like a badge of honour when I started writing this blog (now going on 11 years), but these days, I like that its pretty much the norm for modern cuisine freely cross pollinating in pursuit an end goal of flavour, rather than simply pulling a five star replication of a classic recipe. What remains the same however is a respect for classic technique and if anything it requires mastery of fundamental craft before you start riffing off new ideas (David Chang was on to something all those years ago).
We now have chefs in Japan successfully applying French technique on local terroir, meanwhile in Europe, dashis are quickly replacing butter in the kitchens of many practitioners of classic cuisine. Sure, I too admire the 80s golden age of Nouvelle masters (and still do, the last bastions L’Ambroisie and L’Arpege are still apex), much like now, those pioneering French chefs in their heyday also sought to break new ground in with minimalist and natural flavours, in place of heavy butter and roux. Gastronomy moves forward as it always does, with the changing tastes of a new generation.
So this melange and melting pot of cuisine is very much what Zijun and Ana are about. East meets West, a marriage both in life and of cuisines, Portuguese and Chinese, and also everything else in between that interests them in pursuit of Deliciousness, and to create something that they can call their own.
This is how I came away with my first brush with Meng’s food; Uniquely his own, with a lot of care in product procurement, attention to detail, technique in cooking and above all delicious food.
Specifically for produce, Meng is keenly focused on his protein – both land and sea – with his specialty being atypically long length of dry ageing. For meats, carcasses are hung for over 6 months at source, meanwhile he dry ages noble fish from the South West on premises in a dry fridge with salt slabs.
I should speak about the major part of this site, it is first and foremost a cocktail bar, open by Alex Kratena, formerly of Artesian Bar, or most widely known as the World’s best bar. The design is lovely with unbroken, smooth Scandi lines and it is split across two spaces. The Elementary bit more casual, and the Tayer bit, hidden away at the back, and I suppose it entertains the more informed cocktail enthusiasts. I drank two cocktails – and I’m hardly a mixed drink kind of guy – and both were excellent.
Meng’s chef’s counter (and kitchen) resides in between the two spaces, and they pump out the all-day bar menu (the sando, the solders, flatbreads), and also this taster menu at the Chef’s counter, only available by booking directly with Meng and Ana, do it through DM on Instagram, or failing that email.
As for the food; it sure is banging. At his Chef’s counter, he prepares the food by himself and all dishes are whipped up a la minute. It’s rather an intimate dining experience, and Meng delivers food that’s family style, soulful, familiar and comforting. So much so, it actually masks the fact that he’s applied considerable craft make his cuisine.
From the bar food menu, we asked for one of his now famous pork sandwich, with the breaded Iberico pork collar brined until lusciously moist and tende. It is supremely well made katsu, brightened with a joltingly fresh sweet/savoury jam, the TaTa version of a tart katsu sauce. Undoubtedly delicious, as London has already attested to, though I did feel that the crusty brioche to be a jarring contrast. I get why he’s gone for a crusty bread, as this is in fact Meng’s take on Bifana, born from a collab dinner with Prado Restaurante early last year. Personally, I think milk bread is the choice bread for a fully melt-in-your-mouth sandwich. All about the soft textures, though that is more fittingly Japanese in spiritm than a Portuguese sando. Saying that, I get the hype, it is legit.
Will be interesting to see how Tou develops whenever that launches this year.
One of the best new meals I had in London this year no question, TaTa is so much more than a simple reflection of the couple’s heritage. I’m so happy for London! Don’t miss it, if like me, you’ve not yet experienced TaTa eatery till now, right now, it is gorgeous.
We paid £149 for all food and drink for two. The taster menu was £55pp, but actual price varies based on produce on the day. Taster menu requires you to DM them to book.
1. Tartare of aged turbot, with tobiko, sesame, soy sauce, leek oil. Topped with pickled kolrhabi and mustard leaves.
Like all good food, it starts firstly with product – here the Southwest’s most noble flat fish treated well. Hung on premises in a dry fridge for five weeks, the turbot’s natural umami intensified, becoming round, mellow, complex, its textured softened and tightened, with the loss of moisture and the protein fibres gently denaturing from dry aging. I included a video of @ana_357 dicing the turbot – the fillets positive glisten in the light. Beautiful fish.
The pickled kolrahbi is gentle rather than sharp, smooth, soft flavours to match that of the fish, resulting in mercurial balance.
2. 200+day aged Dexter sirloin tartare, popped barley, wild strawberries, egg yolk and a dashi of mushroom with sesame, coriander and chilli oil.
Meng talked about his sourcing of long aged protein while he prepared this dish, when his supplier rings him up about potentials, he trials a fillet after a standard 3 week hang time to taste first prior to purchasing. Once he’s made up his mind on quality, he buys the carcass whole, and they hang it whole, for the long haul. In this case over the 6month mark.
The beef has tremendous flavour persistence but importantly, it hasn’t lost too much moisture, which undoubtedly is down to careful dry ageing. To balance, he’s composed an earthy broth to match the grassy funk, popped barley for texture and wild strabs to pull in freshness and acidity. It comes together like clockwork on the palate – a dance of richness and lightness. The Chef has an instinctual palate, creating a taste that is both familiar and new at the same time. Top notch.
You might wonder about the two tartare dishes to start the taster menu, and partly this is because their grill isn’t fully in operation yet at these early days. Right now, Meng relies on a single portable induction hob for source of heat. The show must go on of course, as with any good chef, he’s resourceful and adapted his craft to suit his tools at hand. Which is to say, there is even more to come when his grill gets up to speed 🔥!
– 160day+ aged old spot pork two ways –
IMG_1453
3. First – the fattier end, as a sort of bossam, wrapped in purple komatsuna grown at Namayasai, with some spicy red bean paste.
IMG_1456
4. Second – the loin end, with seaweed caramel, onion, shiso and sage flower, coriander stems and it is finished with a umami bomb sauce of garum made from trimmings from the iberico pork that goes in their sandos.
IMG_1461
The cuisson is perfect – edge to edge pink. We saw him slowly roasting to, in a covered dry saucepan on his portable induction hob at low heat, occasionally poking holes in the skin. Then prior to carving, Chef placed it skin side down on a hot pan. Juicy like a water balloon, bags of flavour, melting tender, and the fat disintegrates like cotton candy on the palate. Seasoned with salt and a superb spice mix consisting of cumin, coriander seeds, sesame, dried seaweed amongst other things, which acted to foil and contrast the fat.
Amazing pork. This right here is one of the best things I ate this year.
5. The Sando (supplement £14.5)
And of course, you’re well acquainted with this one – TaTa Eatery’s take on bifana. With breaded iberico collar and toasted brioche in place of milk bread.
This firm city favourite was born from a collab with Prado Restaurante. I remember my meal there vividly during my Lisbon trip last year, as it was one of the best.
6. Rice bowl of aged Dover sole and herb rice.
IMG_1473
IMG_1475
Meng’s piece de resistance for this taster menu. The dish that perhaps best signifies Meng and Ana’s cuisine a melding of Portuguese and Chinese, in this case Chinese steamed fish, and Portuguese coriander rice.
The fish has been dry aged for 3 weeks, then is steamed la minute with ginger and fish sauce, on the bone and skin on. When he pulled the spine out (swipe 👉), I was bowled over, a little translucency, a light pink blush on the spine. Moist and shiny flesh pressed against the bones – this is perfect cuisson.
The dry aging has tightened the flesh, giving the flakes both softness and a light firmness, steaming it like this accentuating the best attributes of its aged texture, whilst keeping it moist.
At the same time Meng got going with the rice, steamed overnight, then cooked out like a risotto in a supercharged vegetable stock/mix, resulting in something that was redolent of xi fan. Finally it is topped with chopped mizuna for freshness.
A spoonful of the rice… wow the fullness of flavour, a pure vegetable umami, warm, comforting, familiar, luscious, simultaneously a dish prepared with precision of technique. Banging bowl of fish on rice. This is what its all about – Pure Deliciousness!
I really liked Viajante when it was around, this is going back nearly a decade now, then latterly Taberna, both pushed out some delicious things for us Londoners, though both are now shut and superseded by Nuno’s other projects (Chiltern holding fort, Maos gaining steam, while it remains to be seen if Viajante 2.0 will ever rise from the ashes). Like anything of notable quality, it is always about the people and Mendes had the pick of the crop come through his kitchens (and still does at Maos). A few have gone on to make a name for themselves, I think mainly of Leo Carreira, and at least one guy has gone back home to open arguably one of the most exciting restaurants in Lisbon – Prado.
And then of course, there’s Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng, the his and hers of TaTa Eatery, who have thus far garnered a sterling reputation for themselves, migrating from one residency to other across town. I must admit, I tend not to bother so much with pop-ups these days, as they are by definition fleeting and not set up for consistency with the myriad of limitations. But I’ve heard only good things about the pair’s ever improving offering, and with their latest residency looking as good as bricks & mortar, I thought it time to finally give it a go.
Authenticity was much like a badge of honour when I started writing this blog (now going on 11 years), but these days, I like that its pretty much the norm for modern cuisine freely cross pollinating in pursuit an end goal of flavour, rather than simply pulling a five star replication of a classic recipe. What remains the same however is a respect for classic technique and if anything it requires mastery of fundamental craft before you start riffing off new ideas (David Chang was on to something all those years ago).
We now have chefs in Japan successfully applying French technique on local terroir, meanwhile in Europe, dashis are quickly replacing butter in the kitchens of many practitioners of classic cuisine. Sure, I too admire the 80s golden age of Nouvelle masters (and still do, the last bastions L’Ambroisie and L’Arpege are still apex), much like now, those pioneering French chefs in their heyday also sought to break new ground in with minimalist and natural flavours, in place of heavy butter and roux. Gastronomy moves forward as it always does, with the changing tastes of a new generation.
So this melange and melting pot of cuisine is very much what Zijun and Ana are about. East meets West, a marriage both in life and of cuisines, Portuguese and Chinese, and also everything else in between that interests them in pursuit of Deliciousness, and to create something that they can call their own.
This is how I came away with my first brush with Meng’s food; Uniquely his own, with a lot of care in product procurement, attention to detail, technique in cooking and above all delicious food.
Specifically for produce, Meng is keenly focused on his protein – both land and sea – with his specialty being atypically long length of dry ageing. For meats, carcasses are hung for over 6 months at source, meanwhile he dry ages noble fish from the South West on premises in a dry fridge with salt slabs.
I should speak about the major part of this site, it is first and foremost a cocktail bar, open by Alex Kratena, formerly of Artesian Bar, or most widely known as the World’s best bar. The design is lovely with unbroken, smooth Scandi lines and it is split across two spaces. The Elementary bit more casual, and the Tayer bit, hidden away at the back, and I suppose it entertains the more informed cocktail enthusiasts. I drank two cocktails – and I’m hardly a mixed drink kind of guy – and both were excellent.
Meng’s chef’s counter (and kitchen) resides in between the two spaces, and they pump out the all-day bar menu (the sando, the solders, flatbreads), and also this taster menu at the Chef’s counter, only available by booking directly with Meng and Ana, do it through DM on Instagram, or failing that email.
As for the food; it sure is banging. At his Chef’s counter, he prepares the food by himself and all dishes are whipped up a la minute. It’s rather an intimate dining experience, and Meng delivers food that’s family style, soulful, familiar and comforting. So much so, it actually masks the fact that he’s applied considerable craft make his cuisine.
From the bar food menu, we asked for one of his now famous pork sandwich, with the breaded Iberico pork collar brined until lusciously moist and tende. It is supremely well made katsu, brightened with a joltingly fresh sweet/savoury jam, the TaTa version of a tart katsu sauce. Undoubtedly delicious, as London has already attested to, though I did feel that the crusty brioche to be a jarring contrast. I get why he’s gone for a crusty bread, as this is in fact Meng’s take on Bifana, born from a collab dinner with Prado Restaurante early last year. Personally, I think milk bread is the choice bread for a fully melt-in-your-mouth sandwich. All about the soft textures, though that is more fittingly Japanese in spiritm than a Portuguese sando. Saying that, I get the hype, it is legit.
Will be interesting to see how Tou develops whenever that launches this year.
One of the best new meals I had in London this year no question, TaTa is so much more than a simple reflection of the couple’s heritage. I’m so happy for London! Don’t miss it, if like me, you’ve not yet experienced TaTa eatery till now, right now, it is gorgeous.
We paid £149 for all food and drink for two. The taster menu was £55pp, but actual price varies based on produce on the day. Taster menu requires you to DM them to book.
Pictures and descriptions below.
IG: Tata Eatery • Tayer+Elementary
1. Tartare of aged turbot, with tobiko, sesame, soy sauce, leek oil. Topped with pickled kolrhabi and mustard leaves.
Like all good food, it starts firstly with product – here the Southwest’s most noble flat fish treated well. Hung on premises in a dry fridge for five weeks, the turbot’s natural umami intensified, becoming round, mellow, complex, its textured softened and tightened, with the loss of moisture and the protein fibres gently denaturing from dry aging. I included a video of @ana_357 dicing the turbot – the fillets positive glisten in the light. Beautiful fish.
The pickled kolrahbi is gentle rather than sharp, smooth, soft flavours to match that of the fish, resulting in mercurial balance.
2. 200+day aged Dexter sirloin tartare, popped barley, wild strawberries, egg yolk and a dashi of mushroom with sesame, coriander and chilli oil.
Meng talked about his sourcing of long aged protein while he prepared this dish, when his supplier rings him up about potentials, he trials a fillet after a standard 3 week hang time to taste first prior to purchasing. Once he’s made up his mind on quality, he buys the carcass whole, and they hang it whole, for the long haul. In this case over the 6month mark.
The beef has tremendous flavour persistence but importantly, it hasn’t lost too much moisture, which undoubtedly is down to careful dry ageing. To balance, he’s composed an earthy broth to match the grassy funk, popped barley for texture and wild strabs to pull in freshness and acidity. It comes together like clockwork on the palate – a dance of richness and lightness. The Chef has an instinctual palate, creating a taste that is both familiar and new at the same time. Top notch.
You might wonder about the two tartare dishes to start the taster menu, and partly this is because their grill isn’t fully in operation yet at these early days. Right now, Meng relies on a single portable induction hob for source of heat. The show must go on of course, as with any good chef, he’s resourceful and adapted his craft to suit his tools at hand. Which is to say, there is even more to come when his grill gets up to speed 🔥!
– 160day+ aged old spot pork two ways –
3. First – the fattier end, as a sort of bossam, wrapped in purple komatsuna grown at Namayasai, with some spicy red bean paste.
4. Second – the loin end, with seaweed caramel, onion, shiso and sage flower, coriander stems and it is finished with a umami bomb sauce of garum made from trimmings from the iberico pork that goes in their sandos.
The cuisson is perfect – edge to edge pink. We saw him slowly roasting to, in a covered dry saucepan on his portable induction hob at low heat, occasionally poking holes in the skin. Then prior to carving, Chef placed it skin side down on a hot pan. Juicy like a water balloon, bags of flavour, melting tender, and the fat disintegrates like cotton candy on the palate. Seasoned with salt and a superb spice mix consisting of cumin, coriander seeds, sesame, dried seaweed amongst other things, which acted to foil and contrast the fat.
Amazing pork. This right here is one of the best things I ate this year.
5. The Sando (supplement £14.5)
And of course, you’re well acquainted with this one – TaTa Eatery’s take on bifana. With breaded iberico collar and toasted brioche in place of milk bread.
This firm city favourite was born from a collab with Prado Restaurante. I remember my meal there vividly during my Lisbon trip last year, as it was one of the best.
6. Rice bowl of aged Dover sole and herb rice.
Meng’s piece de resistance for this taster menu. The dish that perhaps best signifies Meng and Ana’s cuisine a melding of Portuguese and Chinese, in this case Chinese steamed fish, and Portuguese coriander rice.
The fish has been dry aged for 3 weeks, then is steamed la minute with ginger and fish sauce, on the bone and skin on. When he pulled the spine out (swipe 👉), I was bowled over, a little translucency, a light pink blush on the spine. Moist and shiny flesh pressed against the bones – this is perfect cuisson.
The dry aging has tightened the flesh, giving the flakes both softness and a light firmness, steaming it like this accentuating the best attributes of its aged texture, whilst keeping it moist.
At the same time Meng got going with the rice, steamed overnight, then cooked out like a risotto in a supercharged vegetable stock/mix, resulting in something that was redolent of xi fan. Finally it is topped with chopped mizuna for freshness.
A spoonful of the rice… wow the fullness of flavour, a pure vegetable umami, warm, comforting, familiar, luscious, simultaneously a dish prepared with precision of technique. Banging bowl of fish on rice. This is what its all about – Pure Deliciousness!
7. Pain perdu with creme fraiche