Hakkasan

[felixhirsch]

Went here for a lunch a few weeks ago. After having been for dinner about a dozen times, I must say, lunch is much more enjoyable. This is so, for a number of reasons: 1) Dim sum menu is great and cheap 2) light is better at lunch 3) less noise from the people and less people 4) service was much more relaxed and more attentive.

All in all, it was fantastic for the price and some of the dim sum was of excellent quality. I don't know any better dim sum place in Europe, and think that the 1* is a very good description of the quality of the food here.

The room is something that not everyone will like, but I must say, that I enjoy it, especially when one can actually see something. The atmosphere fits the whole concept very well, as one can see here

[thom]

So dinner in London last Thursday was Hakkasan.

Firstly let me give this review context by saying that I was mildly drunk when I arrived at the restaurant, tipsier still after a few (excellent) cocktails in the bar, and even more tired and emotional post-dinner as we stumbled off into the night.

But let me give that context context by saying that although I am appalling at remembering the finer details of meals whilst sober, let alone drunk, my overall judgement tends to be remain remarkably clear (at least it remains in line with my gastro-appreciation whilst sober - I accept that that in itself might be horribly out of whack).

Unsuprisingly all the cliches about Hakkasan were true; on my first visit back in about seven years it was still painfully "sceney", still buzzy to the point of tinitus, still too dark, and still with staff who by and large (my bartender was an honourable exception) were slightly too full of themselves.

That said my dining experiences are seldom judged on food alone, and to be honest I enjoyed all of the points above (excepting the arsey front of house) as it was nice, and fitting to the night, to be somewhere supremely vibrant, buzzy and so ideally set up for people-watching and subsequent speculating/bitching.

So all would have been fantastic if the food was great, maybe say Michelin star standard, but it wasn't. It was mediocre. I made the mistake of letting my dining companions order so we ended up with a mix and match of fairly standard dim-sum - including one "selection" - but although much of it was competent not one thing was inspiring.

Steamed this. Wrapped that. Dumpling the other. Oh, apart from a set of slow, slow, cooked pork ribs, which were served cold with a sweet glaze and had teeth-suckingly tender meat which fell from the bone in time-honoured style.

For only one dish out of maybe five or ten to stick in my (admittedly hazy) memory is just not good enough, especially as the food bill rocked up to about £40 a head. Set this against my last Red Chilli trip with Bapi and Gary, when I was absolutely smashed but can still remember precisely what not only I ate, but what they ate too.

So in all it wasn't necessarily an unenjoyable night, but for the food, and indeed the restaurant, to have garned a Michelin star is as nonsensical as Ducasse grabbing his third.

And if it seems unfair to review a restaurant whilst drunk I say a) Bollocks to you, I'm in a bad mood so tough, and b) It doesn't seem to stop certain critics in the national press...

Edited January 18, 2010 by thom (log)

[Matthew Grant]

My dinner at Hakkasan Mayfair on Saturday was very good. We arrived at just before 20:00, it was rammed, sat down at 20:30 asked to leave at 22:30 (we had be warned it was a 2 hour slot), never saw an empty space in all that time and there was a queue of people at reception when we left. The clientele is a mix of rich and/or beautiful, a middle aged gentleman opposite sat showing his much younger partner pictures of her in her underwear on his i-phone. Good drinks, Buddha bar type soundtrack in the background.

Really excellent food but I hate the lighting and if I'm honest the vibe is just not what I want any more. I thought everything was lovey, highlights were the soft shell crab, duck with truffle and tea plant mushroom had a lovely crisp skin, pink meat, well balanced broth with just a hint of truffle, the melt in the mouth Szechuan Mabo tofu with welsh black beef. Prices appear expensive but £28 for the duck seemed reasonable when it arrived with two full breasts and the tofu was a very large portion for just £12. Service was polite but not very knowledgeable, 2 different waiters couldn;t tell me what cut the Wagyu beef was, one explaining that "its the best beef you can get, it doesn't matter what cut it is, it's all incredibly tender".

[david goodfellow]

Not been here yet, although it is on one of my lists, sounds good, and in theory if Michelin like it, it must be good.

I did however visit its sister restaurant Yauatcha for a dim sum fest over the weekend.

Report soon.