Tiago Opens at Promising Food Haven WF Central With Festive Menu
2017 has treated us well in that the opening of the North Zone of China World Mall has offered up a huge amount of dining options in the CBD. It now seems that Wangfujing is about to get the same treatment, with new food haven WF Central becoming home to several familiar brands, including this new Tiago venue, plus Tribe, Putien, Xihe, The Woods, and more in the future.
Tiago’s fourth floor location is spacious and modern when compared to its sister venues at Indigo and Joy City. A long bar runs the length of the right-hand side of the restaurant, its shelves stuffed with bottles of alcohol. The decor is rounded out with Edison lights, elegant grey and white hexagonal tiles, comfortable leather chairs, and the low-key beige tables.
Tiago have used the occasion to launch a special festive menu, which runs until Jan 3, and includes a grab-bag of Christmas options from around the world, including seafood pasta, roasted prawns, foie gras tapas, Christmas Yule cake and drinks like mulled wine, cider, a cranberry hot toddy, and Christmas sangria.
The menu itself is even styled like a beautiful pop-up Christmas card and sets the tone for the warming and addictive freshly baked bread and seasonal warm salad – loaded with pumpkin seeds, roasted cherry tomatoes, avocado chunks, grilled chunks of Australian beef, roasted pumpkin, cheese, peppers, and veg – that kicked off our meal. The salad was followed by a foie gras canapé, each sporting a rich slice of foie gras topped with deep-fried onions and a dash of cranberry sauce.
For our main dish, we tried the signature grilled Australian beef steak (pictured at top), and Tiago's signature seafood spaghetti, which is similar to their seafood paella and comes loaded with every morsel we love from under the sea: squid, mussels, prawns, scallops, and a whole crab, providing a strong umami flavor to the seafood broth that takes hours to make every day.
To round the meal off we had the strawberry tiramisu (RMB 49). We found it to be a little too soft and wet, making for a sloppy finish. However, its generous sprinkle of dried strawberries and its rich layers of cream saved it. To double up, order a marshmallow hot chocolate (RMB 38) or the Baileys version (RMB 48) for an added oomph.
Overall, Tiago in WF Central is exactly how a restaurant in a fancy shopping mall should be; it's relaxing, modern, casual, and suits multiple needs. Patrons of all stripes are sure to find a dish that they are familiar with, while this new venue branches out to include a cocktail menu too, as well as options for afternoon tea. For now, we were impressed with their different take on an inclusive and sizable Christmas menu.
Tiago Home Kitchen (WF Central)
Daily 11am-10pm. 4/F, 411b WF Central, 269 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District (8517 9177)
东城区王府井大街269号王府中环东座4层411b
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang
