This ambitious newcomer serves excellent steaks, thoughtful vegetarian cooking and some of the best starters we’ve eaten all year.
When we open The Slovak Spectator restaurant column’s mailbag each week, one of the most frequent comments we receive is that Slovakia is a big country, and surely there are interesting places to eat in other cities, not just Bratislava. In an attempt to address this imbalance, we are going to venture a little further east during the summer months, in search of new venues and new flavours.
Taraxacum is a recently opened restaurant in the centre of Trnava, eye-catchingly located in a glass cuboid close to the football stadium. Taraxacum is the Latin name for the dandelion, or púpava in Slovak. A common garden plant, probably regarded by many as a weed, the dandelion has large edible leaves that taste a bit like rocket, although they do not seem to be used in any dish on the menu here. There are, however, large sculptures of dandelion seed heads just outside the venue, which should help anyone to find it. You can easily park nearby at Arena Mall, or walk there in about 10 minutes from Trnava railway station.
We visited on a Saturday evening, to find the restaurant almost full, but the waiting staff were cheerfully and efficiently keeping up with what seemed to be a large family party, as well as a number of smaller groups like ours. The place has a very modern feel, with a bustling open kitchen, pendulous hanging lamps and bass-heavy music playing just loudly enough to keep conversations private. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls might be a mixed blessing for some diners, depending on whether they want to watch – or be watched by – everybody walking past.
