Liutaio Music Restaurant & Café 3.08

Liutaio is a name that carries many meanings. It originates from the Italian language, and in olden times would have been translated to mean ‘lute maker’. In more modern terms, the translation can be used to describe a stringed instrument maker, or ‘luthier’. The other name for our café is 樓臺 (pronounced liu-tai ) and sounds similar to Liutaio, but means something very different. The Chinese characters 樓臺 can be translated to mean ‘balcony’. In ancient times in tea houses and restaurants, the balcony was seen to be a very special meeting place. Lovers, friends and family could meet and enjoy food and drink together, away from the hustle and bustle of both the streets below and the others inside. Taking this as our inspiration, we hope that Liutaio will be a place where anyone and everyone can meet up and enjoy our food and drink; where people can escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and everyday life. For this reason, we have decided not to install wi-fi, to encourage our customers to come in and simply enjoy the atmosphere, music, food and drink, as well as spend quality time with their loved ones, or even meet someone new. Within our café, we have also tried to use tables, chairs and crockery similar to that which would have been used in those ancient tea houses, to give our customers a real taste of what those ancient balconies might have once felt like. Unlike in ancient China however, our menu offers food and drink with both oriental and western origins, and through all these aspects of our café we hope that we can offer customers something new and unique.