When is a margarita not a margarita? The stock answer to this question should be: When it doesn't contain tequila, lime juice or Triple Sec. At Spazio, however, the proprietor Jessica Wu likes to do things differently.
Playing around with entrenched recipes may make purists shudder -- "Waiter, I ordered a margarita. What's this?" -- but in the restaurant business rules are meant to be broken. Even so, the staff at Spazio are accommodating. When a fellow diner expressed surprise at the innovative margarita she received, made with vodka, it was whisked away and replaced with the standard cocktail and another variant was brought to the table for a taste test.
This is a lounge-bar-cum-restaurant that aims to give customers a wide choice of mostly Asian dishes in a trendy setting. Appetizers include green papaya salad, Korean-style pork satay and chicken Caesar salad.
The grilled lemongrass beef satay, three small skewers of it, was presented exotically on a leaf with a wisp of deep fried noodles and assorted decorative vegetables. Style didn't triumph over substance though -- the tangy marinade had just enough zing to whet the appetite but not overpower the tender chunks of meat.
Glancing down at Spazio's offerings, crispy soft crab could raise suspicions. But it was true to its description. The two crabs, presented on a bed of watercress and radicchio, were coated in a crunchy, crispy batter that gave way to the soft edible shell under which lay salty, sweet flesh and the stronger tasting "mustard" of the crab's carapace.
Spazio opens until late, seats around 50 and has two private rooms, one of which carries a minimum charge and is decorated sumptuously. Opened around one week ago Spazio has many of the right ingredients to make a successful restaurant -- well thought out design, a variety of tasty, reasonably priced dishes, a good selection of drinks, upbeat lounge music and friendly, conscientious staff.
And if you doubt that rules in the restaurant business are meant to be broken, check out the panel of 600 judges including food critics, restauranteurs and chefs who voted the Fat Duck in the UK the best restaurant in the world last year. On its menu can be found exciting dishes such as sardine on toast sorbet, and smoked bacon and egg ice cream.
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