Pan Fried Pork Belly, golden lotus root, honey hoisin sauce; Coconut and Palm Sugar Brûlée, elderflower sorbet

It is so weird for me to not have an opinion about something. Usually everything; whatever the thing may be – a restaurant, a movie, a service or even just my new L’Occitane Red Rice mattifying moisturiser – everything leaves me with some form of an opinion. I love it, I rave about it. But if I hate it, wow, I run around the internetz bagging it all over Twitterverse, much akin to social media murder (’tis a good thing I don’t hate very much. Or have any influence).

Drawing an opinion from me (either good or bad) is really not very hard. What’s a more difficult achievement is balancing so precisely on the thread between leading me to like or dislike something that I am left speechless (which is an unfathomable feat in itself) and without an ability to form any opinion.

My dinner at Tamarai left me with one such conundrum. I went, I ate, and I really don’t have much of an opinion about it.

Well, ok, I lie, the pan fried pork belly made my tummy dance in glee, but other than that it really didn’t leave an impression. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, it was just meh. Oh wait, was that an opinion right there?

Thai Green Curry with chicken, pea aubergine, young bamboo shoots; Herb Tofu Rolls, shiso cress, lemon grass sambal

Ok, so maybe I have an opinion afterall! Meh, the utterly indescriptive 21st century word to describe indifference, a word to be used “when one simply does not care”. My opinion of Tamarai is meh.

I normally dive into a description of the dishes that I had (or at least a try to describe what I had) but I won’t do that in this post. The food is Asian-fusion, clearly influenced by Thai and other southeast-Asian cuisines, the flavours were ok (mango & green papaya salad had a chilli kick that sent me to the high heavens and back), the presentation was fine, the portions actually quite large.

The pan-fried pork belly, served with a little tower of lotus roots and covered in hoisin sauce, was probably the only dish that I would rate as scrumptious. The lovely juicy fatty pork was so tender it dissolved right there on my tastebuds, and the hoisin sauce, which I expected to be too sweet actually wasn’t. Not quite sure why it wasn’t, but hey, it worked.

amuse bouche of foie gras on watercress; Mango and Green Papaya, banana blossom, pandana dressing; Hoisin Duck Spring Roll, pickled plum sauce

The atmosphere is dark, trendy, or trying to be. The service is reasonable ~ not outstanding nor horrendous. Nothing about the evening made me sit up and thinking oh wow, this is amazing! nor did I cringe in disgruntledness.

So as I pitter my way through writing this post, I twittered my angst in less than 140 characters:

catty: Trying to blog about a restaurant I went to, ate at, but have absolutely zero opinion about. this is a toughie.

A fellow foodie replied: then why blog it…?

And I actually know why I blogged this. So that please, can someone who went to Tamarai and actually have an opinion tell me what they thought? Did I totally miss something?

Coconut and Palm Sugar Brûlée, elderflower sorbet; Guava juice

PS: I went to Tamarai with Toptable’s 50% off. If I hadn’t I may have had a real opinion ~ painfully overpriced.

Tamarai
167 Drury Lane
Covent Garden, WC2B 5PG
0871 426 9511
website

Tamarai on Urbanspoon

Tamarai on Gekko

5 Thoughts on “dinner at Tamarai: much about “meh-ness”

  1. Omg! I’ve had my eye on that same moisturiser too, lol. Have been looking for a new one and been sampling heaps (Aesop, Jurlique, Kiehl’s, Mario Badescu, L’Occitane) and just getting confused, haha.

    xox Sarah

  2. Sarah: try it it’s great ~ but only if you have a vat of oil on your face, like I do on my t-zone. It’s been pretty good in mopping up the mess 🙂 feels nice and light too!

  3. I’ve never wanted to go to Tamarai, so I can’t help you there. I think I know what you mean though, a so-so restaurant meal, of which I’ve had a few…

  4. Helen: it’s such a weird thing because I didn’t hate it or anything. If I love or hate something it’s so easy to discuss. This was just… nothing! Anyway, you need not ever go to Tamarai 🙂

  5. I don’t know If I said it already but …Hey good stuff…keep up the good work! 🙂 I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,)

    A definite great read..Tony Brown

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