[Radar]: Tomatito

Willy Trullas Moreno goes back to the basics with his newest resto: a casual, colorful and quirky new tapas bar in the Taixing Lu courtyard.
Last updated: 2015-11-09
Area: Once again we look to Taixing Lu. This is a hot little alcove at the moment, with lots of recent openings. Among them: Tap House, Black Pepper, Starling, Taste & See, and the soon-to-open el Ocho cocktail lounge.

What it is: The latest from Willy Trullas Moreno. His namesake restaurant and Elefante have made him more or less synonymous with upscale Spanish dining in Shanghai. But those are restaurants you go to when you want to woo clients or celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Willy wants Tomatito to be the kind of place you could hit up a few times a week.

To helm the kitchen he's enlisted a key lieutenant by the name of Alvaro Ramos. He's been a fixture at Willy's other two restaurants. You've likely seen him; he sports a lot of ink on his arms... and pretty much everywhere else, too, for that matter.

The two have collaborated on a menu of classic tapas, the kind of stuff, they tell me, that'll you'd be served at your typical tapas bar in Spain. We're talking industry standards, like pork and chicken croquetas, patatas bravas, tortillas and albondigas, many of which are based on Ramos family recipes. But Willy and Ramos are also doing a lot of traditional Spanish favorites that you don't see in other Spanish restaurants around town, like mussels on the half-shell smothered in bechamel, breaded and deep-fried to a hot crisp. In Spain they're known as "tigres". Huevos rotos, or broken eggs, is another example. It's a versatile dish comprising a fried egg ripped up and tossed with meat and potatoes. I imagine it's an ideal hangover remedy. Tomatito offers it two ways: with baby squid and Iberico ham or with barbecued pork belly and chilies. They pull from regions all over Spain, even as far south as the Canary Islands, too, with a marinated and fried wild Atlantic fish served alongside mojo canario, a piquant red pepper sauce.

They're doing lots of little snacks that are worth a look too, like tiny sandwiches made with steamed bread. They make tasty little tuna melts and work nicely with duck and mushroom. Other dishes skew more toward Latin American flavors with Peruvian style kingfish tiradito and sea bass ceviche.

In Spain, a tapas bar is just that: a bar. Food is viewed more as an accompaniment to your drinks, not the other way around. With that in mind, Tomatito has an eminently approachable wine list that's conveniently organized by price. It's 100% Spanish, and most of the country's key regions are represented, from crisp, fragrant Rias Baixa albariños to dark, brooding Priorat garnachas. Additionally, they serve cocktails like sangria and margaritas by the jar.

Atmosphere: Casual, quirky and colorful, just what you'd expect in a restaurant by Willy. Light fixtures spell out random words, like "huevos". The walls are adorned with bull motifs and lots Spanish kitsch, like vintage Julio Iglesias album covers. The bar is the centerpiece, but there are lots of cozy little nooks for table seating, too.

Damage: Eminently reasonable. Tapas start at around 35rmb per serving and top out at 112, and that's for Iberico ham shoulder, which, naturally, is expensive. Larger dishes, like paella, fideuá and Willy's signature juicy rice are 140 to 195. For drinks, jars are the way to go. A litre of Asahi is only 85rmb. Sangria goes for 175rmb. Wines are anywhere between 180 and 1390rmb per bottle.

Who's going: A younger, hipper, preferably more bibulous crowd than you'll find at Willy's other two restaurants.

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