Colombo Critic.com

Being such a darling child that I am, I wanted to take my parents out to dinner and spoil them a bit. At the time, I was amidst my gosh I cant even look at curry for another week phase, my mom was sick of oriental food, and my dad doesn’t eat beef and refuses to consume anything raw. African food was out, cos we have none (and neither do they! :::cackles::: ok, that was wrong but whatever), and none of us were up for the gaudy decor and flavorlessness that seems rather (unfortunately) rampant at European food joints in SL. Add to that the fact that it was raining bloody cats and dogs outside, so anything outdoorsy or beachy was out of the question.

We decided to try fusion food, and Tao was suggested.

Tao is a monsoon-proof outdoor restaurant nestled among a tastefully maintained Zen garden at the Cinnamon Grand hotel, located just outside the Taprobane restaurant (side note: Taprobane is open 24 hrs in case you’re sick of Summerfields and not drunk/stupid enough for Pilawoos). The overall ambiance is nice, but if I am to be picky, I’d say the background music sold the place short (think tacky soft Chinese elevator electronica). Their wine selection was pretty decent, and while our server didn’t really have much of a clue of the wines on said list (my fault I guess – I should have asked for the sommelier), we picked a delicious Cabernet-Merlot blend (Yay for a Wines of the World class in college… hic!). The food was indeed interesting, and was perfect for the fussy crowd that we were. The appis were decent – The chicken satay was, well, chicken satay but the mango salsa spiced it up wonderfully. The sampler platter wasn’t really too much to gawk about, but I do recommend the 3-ways baked crab.

As for the entres I was utterly in love with my lamb chops (I took the precaution of specifying medium rare, as I knew that would be the only way I’d get a perfectly done medium). Tender, delicious and perfectly portioned, I was left sucking every morsel of flesh off the bone. It went brilliantly with the wine too (pats self on back), so fellas if you’re taking taking out a carnivorous gal who likes her wine, recommending this combo will sure get you points. The entres of ma mere (roast pork) et mon pere (a gigantuous seafood + lamb dish) looked good too, but I didn’t bother tasting theirs because I was so preoccupied with my own dish, however I did notice that they were rather satiated when the waiter took the plates away.

For dessert, all we ordered was the chocolate & ginger souffle cake, more out of curiosity, but it turned out to be a brilliant combination. I do wish they had a selection of flavored coffee, as a nice vanilla bean would have sat well. The choice of liqueur made up for this void, and accompanied us while we waited out the brunt of the storm.

Overall, service was great. Staff was very accommodating, and were quick to attend to our needs. Given what I have seen at many other “in” establishments, prices at Tao were very reasonable. A meal for 3 + a bottle of wine worked out to around Rs.11,000 (includes service and generous tip).