According to the service crew who serve our table at Tao Seafood Asia 饕聚, its boss was formerly a partner of Thai Village Restaurant. With this as a background, it has the Sharkfins soup as its highly Chef recommended dish.
Tao Seafood Asia is located at Asia Square Tower 2. On weekends and public holidays though it opens its door to diners, it is extremely quiet, making it a good place for gathering.
As I saw quite a number of reviews slanted very much to the extreme end of positive note, I thought it would be worth trying it and find out for myself. And so four diners went over to Tao Seafood Asia for lunch on a Sunday.
Chef’s Recommendation 主厨推荐
Tao Seafood Asia Signature Soup 饕聚精致汤品 at 68 per person came with choice of sharkfin or fish maw paired with either crab meat of chicken. We ordered a portion with Premium Whole Shark’s Fin and Crab Meat.
The soup stock was flavourful but I felt that the taste of oyster sauce was a little too strong. It kind of masked the flavour of the soup. And lucky, they provided beansprouts, this provided some vegetable sweetness and crunch. Both sharkfins and crab meats were added in generous amount.
APPETIZERS 开胃小菜
The service crew recommended Crispy Fish Skin with Salted Egg Sauce 咸蛋脆鱼皮 but none of us, except my Dad, enjoy fish skin, so we skip this. Instead we order, Crispy Enoki Mushroom 香脆金针菇.
When served, the truffle aroma filled our noses. It was strong enough to savour the truffle fragrance too. Other than the intense truffle scent, nothing unique about this fried dish. And since it was a fried dish, it was extremely oily. The plate surface that were covered with the mushrooms were dapple with oil.
LIVE SEAFOOD SELECTION 活海鲜类
We ordered a Deep Fried Garoupa in Thai Chilli Styled. This was a recommendation from the service crew.
We like the fish but felt that the Thai Chilli sauce that were on top of the fish covered the sweetness of the fresh fish. And it was a little too spicy for all 4 diners. It was quite a shame. We thought it would be better off prepared in the steamed way.
CRAB 螃蟹
Singapore Chilli Crab 新加坡辣椒螃蟹 was one of signature dish in Tao Seafood Asia. There were a number of thumbs up review about it so I thought we should try it.
It turned out to be, none of the 4 diners was impressed with this dish. We find the chilli sauce was not pungent enough. The taste was extremely light or rather a little diluted. We prefer a strong chilli tasting sauce. My dad felt that the crab was reared in fresh water instead. I suppose he was right as I couldn’t taste the sea water scent, if you know what I mean.
MEAT 特制肉类
Pot Roasted Chicken Caramelized in Rice Wine 锅烧黄酒焦糖鸡 was the best among the dishes we ordered.
The chicken was smooth, tender and flavourful. It was best eaten together with a bowl of white long grained rice.
VEGETABLE 蔬菜类
Selection of vegetables were pretty standard, very much like any other Chinese Restaurant offerings.
We went for Stirred Fried Baby Kai Lan with Garlic 蒜炒当季新鲜时蔬. The vegetable remained crisp and green with some garlicky flavour
RICE AND NOODLES 米饭面类
Another dish, recommended by the service crew was the Tao Seafood Asia Stewed Rice Vermicelli 饕聚焖米粉.
The soup was full of sweetness. So sweet till my Dad felt they must have added quite some sugar in it which I won’t be surprised if they do. Lots of seafood and greens were added too. A pity, the vermicelli was far too chewy, the flavour from the soup did not penetrate entirely into the vermicelli. It would taste better if it was softer.
NAHMJ VERDICT
We have lots of food for 4 diners till my stomach has no space for desserts. This was rare! Our conclusion is that we find that the food good but it wasn’t good enough. In each dish, there was an element or two that resulted in the not so perfect result. If they could improve a little in every dishes, that would have been fabulous.
Tao Seafood Asia
12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2 #02-10, Singapore 018961
Tel: +65 6844 9969
FB: https://www.facebook.com/TAOSeafoodAsia?fref=ts
Website: http://www.taoseafoodasia.com/
Opening Hours
Daily 1130 to 1430, 1800 to 2200 (Last order 2130)
Getting There
By MRT:
- Downtown line – Downtown station
By Bus:
- alight at One Raffles Quay along Raffles Quay 10, 10e, 57, 70, 75, 100, 107, 128, 130, 131, 162, 167, 186, 196, 196e, 700, 970
- alight opposite Hotel Sofitel So Singapore along Robinson Road 10, 10e, 97, 97e, 196, 196e
- alight opposite AIA Tower along Robinson Road 10, 10e, 70, 75, 100, 107, 128, 130, 162, 196, 196e
Rating: 7/10