Dinner at Tampopo

So today I had my dreaded MRI scan (which was NOT FUN) so as a treat, my fiancé and I went out to dinner at Tampopo.

Tampopo is a wonderful restaurant chain which serves a wide variety of South East Asian Dishes. They have a number of restaurants in Manchester, as well as one in Bristol and Reading.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures because I was so distracted by my MRI (silly me). However, I enjoyed my meal so much, I still want to tell you guys about it! However, if you head over here you can have a look at their lovely gallery!

I love Tampopo, the minute you walk in you are hit with this wonderful aroma of South East Asian cooking - lemongrass, sesame oil, chill and coconut. Tampopo also has a lovely authentic vibe, with individual padded stools on long communal tables.  On every table, there is a well containing a collection of condiments - Soy Sauce, Chili Sauce, Fish Sauce and another sauce which I can't remember the name of but tastes heavenly!

I ordered some Jasmine Tea, which comes in a beautiful cast iron teapot with matching cup. Chris ordered a Tiger beer, which is one of his favourite beers (although I may have stolen quite a bit).

We shared a portion of 'Edamame ', as I simply cannot resist ordering the yummy beans whenever I see it on the menu. We had the option of sea salt or sea salt with chilli oil, we decided on just sea salt. They were wonderful when they arrived, just the right temperature - lovely and warm but not hot enough to burn our fingers! As well as being coated in sea salt, they also seemed to have been blanched in sesame oil and lime, which made them taste even more divine!!

I decided to have 'Gaeng Phed Ped Yang', which is a spicy Thai duck curry dish. It was absolutely divine! The duck was cooked superbly and the coconut milk based sauce had just the right amount of spice for me!! It also had lychees for that sweet burst. My curry was served with jasmine rice, which was served exactly as I like it - nice and sticky! I ended up scraping my plate clean it was so good!

Chris had 'Char Kway Teow' which is a Malasian street food dish. It was a pork, squid, prawn and clam noodle dish cooked with chilli, garlic and soy. He seemed to really enjoy it and also cleaned his plate. (the bits I stole were really yummy)


Then for dessert we shared 'Khao Niaow Mamuang' which was made up of half a mango sliced up and then sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and serve with chilled coconut milk. I choose this dish because it sounded like something I had as a child when I lived in the Philippines. Whilst it wasn't the same dish, it was still really nice. The rice was lovely and creamy and sticky. The melon was really gorgeous and sweet. And I loved it!

Then it came to paying, which was uncomplicated as expected. Tampopo also do 25% Student Discount, which was brilliant! The bill came with a piece of mint rock each, which was also really yummy! I have that in my bag so you can at least have a picture of that :)

Overall I loved my meal at Tampopo, it has been my third time eating there and I would happily go again!

My Rating: 8/10