Restaurant: Barrio

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Feb 20, 2004, Page 19

Latino sushi with dipping sauces goes well with sangria or mojitos. PHOTO: YU SEN-LUN, TAIPEI TIMES

If you're not a fan of Latin music or a good salsa dancer, there are still plenty of reasons to visit Barrio, the new Latin bar in Taipei: the food for example. At Barrio there are no microwave pizzas or cold snacks, and no burritos or enchiladas, the flour for which comes from Taipei's Florida bakery.

Barrio's offers a third choice, what chef Tomer Feldman calls "fusion Latino food." On the menu you see interesting combinations such as Latino sushi or Italian-styled quesadillas.

"I wanted people to see the unexpected when they come here, and to have some new impressions about Latin food," said Israeli-born Feldman. Having been a chef at up-scale New York restaurants for 12 years, such as Italian restaurant Puccini in upper West and Bari Cafe in Soho, Feldman said he's experienced with Latin food. Creating variations and fusion seems to interest him most. In Taiwan, his previous job was a chef at Rendezvous, the first fusion Italian restaurant in Taipei.

Latino is actually tortilla rolls, like burritos, but chopped in slices which resemble sushi. Goat cheese and roasted pepper roll is the best-selling item so far among the Latino sushi dishes. Traditionally, Mexican burritos comprise wrapped rice and beans, thus giving a heavy feel after a meal. In Feldman's recipes the fillings are much lighter and healthier, good for dancing, perhaps?

One reason to eat at Barrio is you get to taste different kinds of dipping sauces with just one tapas dish. According to Feldman having different dipping sauces in one dish is common to Israeli restaurants. These home-made sauces have, again, each been infused with unusual ingredients. Salsa sauces are added to beans and toasted with ground cumin seeds. Coleslaw is added to jalapenos for a spicy coleslaw, or "fusion kimchi."

In March, Barrio's kitchen will present main course dishes such as burritos, enchiladas and tacos. "But again, they will be unconventional Latin main courses," Feldman said.