April 23, 2008

Review: O Tacho

714 Sargent Avenue
(204) 219-2682

One oft-recalled supper club was a warm-up on a blustery early spring day (read: still winter in Winnipeg) at O Tacho, a little Portuguese family restaurant in the heart of the West End. It’s a very unassuming place with tiled floors, a few decorations, and simple tables, but the service is charming and warm and the food is rich and interesting.

Our reminiscing centres on owner Tony Goncalves who won our hearts with his friendly banter and spiked sangria. It’s always lovely to be served by the restaurant owner; you get that much more attention to detail and a real sense of the heart of the restaurant and food. 

I shared the Alcatra with Colleen, which is a beef simmered slowly in red wine and spices in a clay pot, served with boiled potatoes to soak up all the rich sauce. The roast was flavourful, and the dish is one of those that just says, home-cooked meal. The simplicity of the potatoes with the love of slow-cooking. A grandma at work!

Kerri had the arroz con marisco, a veritable fisherman’s catch of seafood. Mussels, clams, shrimp, squid, and octopus came cooked with rice and peppers in a saffron tomato broth. The little clay pot’s size is deceiving, as it’s packed full of seafood goodness.

At the end of our meal, we had to try their dessert, choosing both the coconut cake and intriguingly-named molotoff, both hitting the spot quite sweetly.