World Foodie Guide

Ever since it opened, I’ve managed to avoid going to Chinese restaurant Hakkasan (formerly owned by Alan Yau), having been mesmerised by sister eaterie Yauatcha’s dim sum and dainty cakes. However, I finally decided to try the dim sum there, as I’m researching dim sum for a future post on Where To Eat Dim Sum in London.

As those of you who have been to Hakkasan know, it’s located in a basement down a small, dingy alley (on the day we went, the rubbish from a nearby shop or restaurant was piled sky-high). The bouncer probably had the day off, as he was nowhere to be seen.

First impressions:

The interior was extremely dimly lit, with plenty of dark wood furniture and screens. It was rather glamorous, I must admit, and far larger than Yauatcha’s downstairs restaurant. At noon on a Sunday, there was hardly anyone there, which was perfect. I’d also requested a quiet table, so by the time it got busier (parents and children seemed to form the majority of Hakkasan’s Sunday daytime clientele), we were still relatively ’shielded’ from the noise. My friend said that the last time she had dim sum at Hakkasan, the music was so loud that she couldn’t have a proper conversation, which put her off eating there until now. According to her, the noise level was much improved this time. Incidentally, the loud music over at Yauatcha has meant that I now eat upstairs in the tea-house, not downstairs in the main restaurant.

In terms of service, it was more or less similar to that at Yauatcha – polite and efficient. However, I had read that the dim sum menu is not brought to you unless you ask for it. We were each handed a copy of the main (expensive) menu, and just one copy of the dim sum menu, so I had to ask for extra menus. More importantly, there are certain dim sum items that appear on both menus, but are more highly priced on the main one (for example, the grilled vegetable Shanghai dumplings are £3.00 on the dim sum menu, but £6.00 on the main menu!). So be careful you don’t get caught out by this. Hakkasan does however allow you 2 hours to complete your meal, compared with Yauatcha’s 1 hour 45 minutes…

What I ordered:

Having to take into consideration my vegetarian husband, I ordered for him the vegetarian dim sum platter (£9.00) from the main menu, which consists of two of each of the following – crystal dumpling, vegetable shuimai, yam bean and shiitake dumpling and vegetable beancurd roll. He also got the stir-fry black pepper vegetarian chicken with sugar snap (£9.50 from the main menu) and the grilled vegetable Shanghai dumplings (£3.00 from the dim sum menu).

Incidentally, Hakkasan has a great Zai Choi section for vegetarians, which I’ve not really seen on other Chinese restaurant menus, as well as an excellent selection of interesting vegetable dishes. Two out of the four tofu dishes are also vegetarian. Finally, a place where vegetarians are also properly catered for! Here’s the Hakkasan main menu that I found on-line.

For myself and our friend, I ordered the following dim sum: Chinese prawn and chive dumpling (£3.90), Shanghai siew long bun (£4.50) (which is xiao long bao or Shanghai soup dumplings), pan-fried turnip cake with garlic and Chinese chive (£5.50), prawn and gai lan cheung fun (£4.50) (cheaper than at Yauatcha!), baked venison puff (£3.90) and to finish the meal, Singaporean vermicelli noodles (£8.90).

It was all very, very good, but we were particularly impressed by the pan-fried turnip cake, which I highly recommend. I’ve never had such amazing or unusual turnip cake. It was chunkier and more substantial than the classic turnip cake that I’m used to. And I loved the baked venison puff, a modern take on the traditional baked char siu pork puff. In terms of style and presentation, it’s quite hard to distinguish between Hakkasan and Yauatcha, as they both serve ‘modern’ dim sum with unusual ingredients. A few of the same dim sum can be found at both, while certain dishes can only be found at one or the other (no fried prawn and date dumpling at Hakkasan!).

The vegetarian platter is not recommended, as the dim sum were all somewhat gloopy and bland (thank goodness for the excellent accompanying chilli dipping sauce). The vegetarian chicken, on the other hand, was outstanding. Next time, husband is going to stick to the Zai Choi menu!

A note about their tea policy – they don’t do free hot water top-ups like at other dim sum restaurants, so you’ll be charged for an extra pot of tea. Two pots of jasmine tea (£3.80 per pot) go a long way though, for three people. The bill for three came to £68.00 (with a 13% service charge). It’s about the same price as dim sum at Yauatcha.

The verdict?

Would I return again? Yes, as any Chinese restaurant that has a creative vegetarian section has to be on my list. If my husband can’t find something to eat, I get very stressed! But we still prefer Yauatcha. There are items on the menu there that he loves, which are not stuck in the ‘vegetarian’ section, like the beancurd and enoki roll. Yauatcha upstairs is also great if you’re meeting someone in the afternoon and need a quiet place for a chat. The lattes are delicious, as are the cakes, and of course there is a lovely selection of Chinese teas.

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

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Contact Details:
Hakkasan
8 Hanway Place
London W1T 1HD
Tel: 020 7927 7000
mail@hakkasan.com

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: Alan Yau, Chinese, dim sum, food, Hakkasan, London, Michelin star, restaurant review, restaurants, traveleating