Here we go! I am closing my busy season at work and coming back at full-time blogging with probably the least expected review yet. If you are following the Facebook page of the blog you are aware of the background – and, if not, you can find the post somewhere there.

You know, I never stop at the first bad experience – I have at least a dozen before I can feel satisfied. This happens with restaurants – and with men, definitely. How bad someone can be, I should have at least couple of sips of it, I am not happy otherwise. I am the queen of disappointments and the favorite target of my friends “I told you”.

With the “no same day reservation” in my mind, I decided to book quite in advance at Tailors Concept for dinner. Look guys, just to be transparent: this review refers fully to my restaurant experience. My repulsion for the idea about having to reserve in advance for drinks is still pretty strong – even if I am not ruling out the possibility that I will try also the Speakeasy at some point in the future.

Now. We got at the restaurant around 7ish. It is located in the prime heart of Limpertsberg, this sepia tones, residential landscape, in a quiet, still postcard. You walk the door of a suits shop, tailor-made, where you can just have a glimpse of people, seated. If you didn’t know this was a restaurant, you would have expected them to be business men discussing on the couch of the shop, while waiting to have their measurements taken.

The restaurant area is dominated by a huge wooden counter and the atmosphere is extremely old fashion – I love it. I am feeling like getting into a movie, where suddenly I am not wearing my Isabel Marant dress anymore, but a midi, wide skirt and a fascinator and my boss is changing into a charming man with moustache (no, not the one you are thinking of, thanks).

We are taken to our table and ordered an aperitif – went for bubbles, as we were celebrating the closing of the season. Shortly after, we were given the menu, that is pretty wide and offers a dish for almost every taste – raw fish, including oysters, pasta, an astonishing selection of meat -.

As I normally do when I visit for the first time a restaurant with so much on the plate – not just metaphorically – I went for the tasting menu. There are two versions, a shorter one – mainly meat based – and a longer one – mainly fish based. This solution to me is an excellent one for couple of reasons: you have the possibility to try more than two dishes (starter and main) and it is also great if you are in-between some choices. Also, in the tasting menu, you normally have smaller portions, that it is also positive if you end up not liking something – so you don’t have a full dish to finish in front of you. And, lastly, I would expect that tasting menu to be a “best of”, so the greatest expression of the chef, perfect to understand – or at least try to – its philosophy.

We had a first welcome from the chef composed by a cheese gauffre, panzanella and foie gras. Cappuccino of cod and Croissant. King Crab Salad. Cappellacci with Prawns. Risotto with Prawns, Cacio e Pepe, Lime. Cod with tomato, olives, capers, garlic. Mini-pastries with ricotta & red berry and cannoli with Marsala. A sweet bread to share with vanilla butter, bitter orange jam and zabaione cream.

We closed with two espresso – accompanied by some more sweets (salted chocolate and chocolate truffle).

Total bill read 296 Euro, of which 85 each were for the menu, 64 Euro for a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse we had over dinner, 20 euro for two bottles of water and 16 eur/19 eur for the champagne glasses.

Pictures of my dinner at Tailors Concept, followed by my impressions – there’s always a pause when the jury goes out to consider its verdict*.

(I apologies for the quality of the pictures, that it is even worst than my usual shitty ones, but unfortunately the restaurant has very dark lights and being with my boss I could not stretch around having her to wait and giving out my second life as a blogger..).

*This is only a quotation from the favorite scene of my favorite movie. If you comment and get it, I will give away couple of invitations for Luxembourg Nightlife Awards night – just as I don’t like the boring “post and re-post” giveaway and I am not your usual blogger 🙂 Competition is open till end of September 2019.

What I loved about Tailors Concept:

• I loved the atmosphere. As said, you feel like you are getting into a costume drama and you expect Colin Firth to walk by at any second with a walking stick and a top hat. I loved the idea of the restaurant hidden behind a shop – even if in Luxembourg secrets are easily out – and I loved the interior design of the place – reminding me easily the great times in the blue Bob Bob Ricard booths, in a modern, restored Orient Express.
• Food was lit. I am being honest saying that my expectations were not set high, as some of my best friends did not have great experiences there. But, jez, happy for once we had different opinions in food and not only in men. I was flabbergasted. Some dishes were definitely better than the other – I loved the cappellacci, on the other side the crab was fine but not memorable. But what surprised me most was the bravery about some mix and matches, as some dishes – the risotto and the cod cappuccino for example – were so over the edge to almost digress into arrogance. Well, that limit has been well touched but never crossed over. Like taken out the courage to stick out almost to the limit of the ravine to admire the best of the gorge. I think we had the best in those dishes, and the combination between the cheese, the lime and the prawns in the risotto was almost divine – and strong, you have to consider that.
• Service was definitely fine. Actually I did not want to include this point, but I received couple of messages from followers pointing out that the service there for them was superficial and rude. I did not experience that. Actually the service was on point, on the casual side – that is definitely my favorite option, between a posh service and an “Italian” style one – well, you know what I mean… Moreover, I have to add, that both our credit cards got declined – this will request another post, so stay tuned – and they were so nice to prepare us an invoice to pay the day after. So – really, nothing to complain.

What I liked a bit less about Tailors Concept:

• The place is not cheap definitely and it is not the kind of place you just walk by when you don’t want to cook – and you cannot, as you have to reserve in advance 😛
  Still, the price for our menu of 5 courses plus several bites was definitely appropriate and I did not feel at all that I overpaid – well, actually I felt the price of the menu was a steal compared to what we had. A la carte, it might be a slightly different discussion, but still I would personally prefer paying the prime for eating here than giving away 25 Euro for eating a pizza – good and everything, but still pizza – few blocks down.
• Having confirmed that for me the price is not an issue at Tailors as you get what you pay for, I would say that for me the downsides were only two: first one is the recurring one of my reviews – tables being so f*ck*ng close. We were definitely lucky yesterday as the restaurant was not packed, so the table next to us was empty. I was also with my boss, so I did not care if the people next to me would have listened to our debt restricting plan for Ireland or for my next Turkish trip. Still, it would have been less pleasant if I was out on a date – also because most of my recent dates ended up in a fight LOL – so not pleasant for our neighbors. As said, this is a recurring issue in Luxembourg, so nothing new here.
• Lastly, I really would have expected a better wine card. I know that the place is famous for cocktails, but I would have really liked to have a wider choice, in line with the amazing food we had. As wine is important part of my preference for a restaurant or the other, I would say this might be the only blocking point for me to come back soon.

In conclusion, as I felt this review took ages to be over and I digressed quite a bit, I loved the food at Tailors Concept and I loved the place. Food is sophisticated and, for some side, subversive. It is the perfect place for a business dinner and if you feel like splurging for a special occasion. Atmosphere is lovely and service informal.