If you haven’t heard of Tattu, you’ve surely seen the beautiful pictures of the renowned blossom tree décor and marble staircase in one of Birmingham’s most instagrammable restaurants?
With the recent launch of the seasonal menu featuring 17 new dishes of small plates, main dishes and desserts, there was no better time for Visit Birmingham to trial the much talked about contemporary Chinese restaurant. Upon arrival, that warm, happy feeling that you get inside when your food arrives is the best way to describe our first impressions. The look and feel indicated we were in for a spectacular dining experience and we can assure you it was nothing less than that!
The main restaurant seats between 9-150 guests with several blossom booths in a secluded area, seating up to 6 guests in each. Upstairs there was an additonal bar, a large party table seating up to 12 guests and a private dining area seating up to 20 guests that overlooks the stunning main floral dining space over the balcony - a perfect selfie opportunity!
We were taken to our seats and shown the menu by our lovely host for the evening, Maria who was extremely knowledgeable in describing flavours and textures to ensure we picked the best suited options. She advised that most guests shared dishes in a tapas dining style or picked a set tasting menu whereby a selection of dishes would be provided at a set cost per person.
There was a fair choice of cuisine ranging from Sweet and Sour Vegetable Tempura and Mixed Dim Sum Baskets to Japanese Black Wagyu Ribeye and Pan Fried Szechuan Sea Bass… a bit of everything to cater for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans.
We finally decided (after hard deliberation as everything sounded amazing!) to go with menu two. Priced at £55 per person with the following dishes included:
WAVE ONE
(With the addition of a mixed dim sum basket as 1) we are pigs and 2) Maria highly recommended)
Crispy Kale Seaweed
Ichimi pepper, five spice and sweet chilli sauce
WAVE TWO
Peking Duck Bon Bons
Sweet and sour, plum and sesame
Chicken Truffle Shumai
Freshly shaved truffle and soy
Lobster and Prawn Toast
Sweet and sour chilli sauce
WAVE THREE
Ribeye Steak Bulgogi
Eryngii mushroom, sweet sesame soy and baby leek
Special Fried Sweet Potato
Szechuan, spring onion and sweet sour salt
Duck Egg Fried Rice
Chinese sausage
Thai Style Monkfish
Lime, shallots and lemongrass
WAVE FOUR
Revelled Wontons
Chocolate orange, chilli and coffee lucky dip
Cherry Blossom
Chocolate mousse, cherry and candyfloss
We're glad we picked this as it was the perfect mix of indulgent, sweet, savoury, and spicy dishes, all bursting with flavours (hats off to the chefs)! Our personal favourites were: Lobster and Prawn Toast, Ribeye Steak Bulgogi and the Revelled Wontons.
Alongside our dining, it would have been rude not to try a range of Tattu’s finely crafted cocktails/drinks and once again Maria was able to make the best reccomendations based on what we liked. We had:
Skull Candy – bubblegummy, sweet and delicious
Old Fashioned – classic and smooth
Tiger Lily – creamy and exotic, almost felt like we were on a sandy beach
Sake Sour – Like Marmite, you’ll either love it or hate it. Too sour for me but my colleague enjoyed
A glass of white – crisp and refreshing, can’t go wrong really
Overall, our Tattu experience was exceptional with a huge shout out to the lovely Maria (pictured below), Mollie and Pat on reception and the general manager himself who were all so attentive throughout our visit and made sure we had the perfect time. The food, drink, hospitality and decor certainly impressed us and we can firmly agree that Tattu is a fantastic asset to Birmingham’s ongoing list of restaurants.
