Tuga — Restaurant in Da'an District

We made a reservation but arrived early and only two seats were taken so no wait time. The last time there was a short wait but was less than fifteen minutes.

Decor is minimalist and reminiscent of modern restaurants with an added Portuguese flair with several modern style artwork on the walls which is pleasing to the eye. You can also, as we were, be seated in the wine area where there is Portuguese jewelry displayed or wines from Portugal.

We were greeted & seated quickly. The menu is quite new & easy to read and lists selections in Chinese & English. There is a wide variety from seafood, rice dishes, pastas and meats. TUGA offers staple Portuguese fare from codfish, octopus and chorizo plus less well known & exotic plates like cow tongue, liver & woodpecker. We decided to stick with standard Portuguese dishes.

The first courses ordered was Portuguese codfish cakes & shrimp tempura. Main courses were octopus rice & codfish Lagareiro. Desserts were chocolate mousse & Portuguese milk custard (cream brûlée).

No wine menu but that doesn’t mean you can’t have wine here. There is plenty of wine on offer all around you. One whole section of the restaurant is lined with shelves showcasing a plethora of red, white, rose and dessert wines.

You can look around or ask for a list describing them. Staff is happy to assist. Wines you purchase are available to drink at restaurant. You can also buy wines by the glass. We were eating seafood so chose a nice bottle of affordable white wine from Portugal which proved to be a perfect choice.

The first course came about 10 minutes after ordering. The codfish cakes was light and fluffy and had a nice spice to it and a potato filling. There were five codfish cakes. Very delightful.

The shrimp dish was well cooked. Very lightly breaded and not dry. We had six large shrimp. The sauce was tart, complementing the shrimp perfectly.

The main course came about five minutes after we had finished the first course. The codfish Lagareiro was a large slice of cod with thinly sliced glazed onions resting on it seated atop two potatoes with olive oil and a few olives completing the plate. There is a trick with eating cod. Cod and salt generally go together so very often if you eat a piece of cod alone it will be quite salty. This wasn’t the case with this dish but it is always something to look out for when eating codfish. The trick is to eat each piece with a little potato and glazed onion to help it blend. A marvelous dish.

The octopus rice was very Portuguese style, a bit of a stew with a nice Chinese influence. The rice is soft and the dish as a whole is moist but not overly so. The spices used are very well thought out and the octopus was very well cooked adding a stable foundation to each spoonful. Another great dish.

The dessert came out quickly afterwards and both desserts were well presented & proved to be very flavorful. The mousse was dark chocolate while the creme brûlée offered the final touch to a very enjoyable meal.

The only flaws were being seated in the wine area meant people would walk pass you periodically looking at wine on the shelves. Thankfully they didn’t reach over for any bottles but it was uncomfortable at times. Lastly, staff need to be better informed to help novices in how to eat certain dishes. It helps make a dish go from mediocre to amazing, this personal touch gives the diner the feeling the restaurant cares deeply about your dining experience. Overall it was a wonderful...

For all it's pretentions of being a fancy Portuguese restaurant, the service just doesn't live up to expectations. The food was nothing special either. The beef stew wasn't rich and stewy at all. It was in a diluted and thin base that was akin to a clear soup. The potatoes had barely soaked in any flavor. The pork in orange sauce was not bad but not something I will go back for. But the most frustrating part was definitely the service. Being a Portuguese restaurant and for the prices that are charged, one would expect well trained staff who could actually explain the menu items...but the first person who came to our table, when asked what "jardineria style" stew was, he says it's a stew. Thankfully someone else came over who was able to explain what it was. When I asked if I could have the stew with bread instead of rice, I was told no. Considering how thin the stew was, the rice just didn't go well with it, the rice didn't soak up any of the stew and it was a watery mess. It would have been better served with mash potatoes or better still if they actually made the stew thicker and more flavorful. When ordering the dessert, I was given the option of the caramel sauce or the egg yolk sauce. I opted for the caramel sauce but later wanted to try the egg yolk sauce and I asked if I could get that one too. Again a point blank "no" because they are portioned out and I couldn't get a small bit...why couldn't I get the whole portion? The portion being a tiny cup size. There's no notion or interest of going even the slightest extra mile to make the customer happy. While they weren't in the wrong to say no to a special request, there was nothing particularly inconveniencing about granting the request and most restaurants know the value of making a customer happy. And only the first portion of bread is complementary. Every additional portion is charged. For the prices one has to pay for the meal here not having complimentary bread refills seems absolutely ridiculous, especially when you are keeping your customers waiting at least an hour for the meal. Overall while the food was not bad, it wasn't great either. It's definitely not worth the price and the service and attitude is a...

Invited my friend’s Mother and sister for a birthday dinner. The restaurant is conveniently located, close by the subway station. Décor is unique and cozy.

We ordered asparagus and eggs, seafood trio, codfish Bras, fried squid, pork and clams the mustard steak and coffee steak. Appetizers were standard affairs with none of dishes that stood out, albeit all were heavily salted. Pork and clams was the best dish we had and also an interesting combination of flavors.

We ordered the two steaks medium rare but the first steak came, the myoglobin was bleeding heavily with just a slight pressure of the spoon. We thought the meat was just not rested so we waited a few minutes before cutting but alas it was raw instead, bordering on bleu.

When informed, we were asked whether they should reheat the steak again (!!!), or the dish remade. We let them know a steak that has sauce over it and preciously been cut would be grey matter reheated and to please remake the dish.

Two servers came by to confirm we wanted medium rare and finally the owner showed up to proclaim that their steak was tested with thermometer for temperature and that we were served medium rare but he will remake the dish.

We were flabbergasted at his attitude and rudeness. Four global trotter diners, one of which works in the restaurant industry for the past twenty years, and we were basically told by the owner we didn’t know what a medium rare steak should look like. We were also blown away by the fact that he was very proud of their chef needs a thermometer to prepare steak.

In the end, the mustard steak came as well as the remade coffee steak. One medium rare and the re-prepared dish a perfect….medium. Three steaks in total for the night, a rare, a medium rare, a medium - all tested (supposedly) with a thermometer.

No apologies or follow ups from staff or the owner after the confrontation. No need to return to this establishment as “service” is not part...