To celebrate our Anniversary we went back to a restaurant that we had visited last year with our friends Mark & Sharon, Tampopo, in the Trafford Centre at Manchester. This time it was just us too.
It’s a lovely little nip in restaurant that opens out onto the upper floor of The Orient area of the shopping centre, that offers, a to take you on a tour of the flavours of East Asia. The food is cooked & served by very knowledgeable staff.
You can try something on the menu from Vietnam, Malaysia & Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Japan & Korea. The choice is quite amazing. You can see the menu for Tampopo Menu at the Trafford Centre
Granddad Al decided to have Gaeng Keow Wan a dish from Thailand, a classic coconut green curry with chicken breast, pea aubergines, Asian basil & lime leaf, served with steamed Jasmine Rice.
I wasn’t quick quick enough with my phone to get a picture of it before he got into it! As you can see he took the chillies out & placed them on the side of the plate.
I only tried a small piece of chicken which tasted lovely but I’m not a big lover of hot spices, so this is one meal that I wouldn’t order myself.
I decided to go for a Ga Xe Phay, which is griddled strips of chicken breast, Chinese leaf, carrot, shallot, mint, coriander and roasted peanuts, with a lime & peanut oil dressing. I had this the last time & really enjoyed it, hence me trying it again. It’s a salad from Vietnam. I tried eating with the chop sticks but ended up using the fork as I’m not that great with them, but at least I tried.
The salad is very light, as I wasn’t really very hungry this was a perfect choice, though I did scrape my plate clean. We just drank tap water with our meal, which came with ice & a slice of lemon, but you could order beer, wine, soft drinks, teas, coffees, even a cocktail with an Asian twist.
As you can see your place mats are a map of East Asia, with a little information about the food from each country. Like the Philippines:- Chinese-influenced noodles & spring rolls & colonial Spanish ingredients, often with a tart sharpness to the flavour of the dishes or Korea:- has a warming robustness to combat the colder climate, with flavours coming form pepper, soy sauce, spring onions & sesame oil. It great to learn about why different countries involve different spices & herbs in their food
When our waitress brought us the bill, there was two little sweets with “I love Tampopo” through them. like Blackpool rock. – The sweets were wrapped, but I couldn’t get a decent photo of them! – It was a lovely treat, that we enjoyed.
The name Tampopo, which is a girls name meaning dandelion, is taken from a Japanese film, that is a cult classic, that shows the search for the perfect bowl of noodles by the films heroine.
Nanna Jane
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Other Family Clan posts you maybe interested in:
The Alphabet Project – I is for Island
Ooooo to eat here now – just really what i need
Is this place still there – ive not had the pleasure of dining here
As far as I know Margaret it is. We’ve been a few times now, t not recently. xxJane
Lovely the food looks great. Making me hungry looking at it ?
wow this sounds like a nice place to go and eat. I don’t go to restaurants that often, but when I do, I make the most of it. I also love Eat Asian cuisine!
Sounds delicious! I think experiencing different cuisine is fantastic – and you can always then try to make it yourself at home as Google will help you find the recipe, or something fairly close.
Just realized you’re in my neck of the woods or I should say I am in yours as I live in “Greater Manchester” or “Lancashire” depending on who you ask and which forms I have to fill out. Enjoying your blog.