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Restaurant: La Tarradoro (塔拉多羅歐式餐飲)

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 02, 2002, Page 19

Grilled king prawn at a price even a pauper could afford. PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES

It is rather difficult to categorize La Tarradoro. An extension of the Cafe Piazza, which has already established a reputation for quality coffees and cakes, the interior retains the feel of a coffee shop, even though a substantial menu of meat and fish dishes has been added.

Although it bills itself as a European restaurant, this restriction only applies to the a la carte menu. For its business lunch, which packs people in during the week, the menu is constantly changing. "We serve a business community, and we want to feel that they can come in day after day without getting bored," said owner Wang Hsiu-chu (王秀菊). It all depends on what the chef de cuisine, formally of the Howard Plaza hotel, decides to turn out. There is a small salad bar that is part of the business lunch, providing plenty of fresh salad and fruit, in addition to the elegantly presented main course.

While the lunch menu is good, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and the high point comes with the coffee or tea, which is excellent. Wang, who as a member of Holen Freezer Co, a professional food service and equipment importer, has been responsible for training many aspiring coffee shop owners, is something of an expert in this field, and pulls a very fine espresso. La Tarradoro also serves Pickwick Tea, (rather than the ubiquitous Liptons), and the difference is much appreciated by tea lovers.

The cakes served at La Tarradoro derive from the Cafe Piazza range, which are a fine mix of French and Japanese styles prettily presented but richer and not so sweet as you find in the usual Japanese bakeries. Confections such as the coffee, caramel and brandy mousse cake or the red currant cheesecake are innovative and exciting.

While it is possible to order a la carte at lunch, the evening is probably a better time to settle down to enjoy the toothsome selection of grilled meats, all very reasonably priced. For the budget conscious, you can pick up a very nice grilled pork filet with mushroom sauce along with a soup (the pumpkin is very good), coffee and unlimited salad for just NT$380. Various cuts of beef are priced in the mid-NT$500s, often with the addition of a seafood cocktail or escargots as an appetizer. A full surf and turf is just NT$720. While not wildly fancy, the meat is excellent, and cannot be faulted at the price, and while you can't place the food either by region or country, it maintains a general Mediterranean flavor.

All this can be washed down with a bottle of the restaurant's reasonably priced wines. Currently, a Linderman's Semillon Chardonnay will only put you back NT$600, which is an extraordinarily good value, as most establishments don't usually let even the most vinegary stuff go for less than NT$1,000.

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