Hakkasan is often rated the world's best Chinese restaurant outside of China/HK. It's the only one (Hakkasan Mayfair) outside at least that ever features in the San Pellegrino list last year just scraping through at #100 in 2012 (and #60 in 2011).
Unfortunately I haven't found anyone with the time and dedicated bank balance to accompany me there to try their £130 signature banquet. Gladly the restaurant group opened HKK in 2012, as a more degustation menu, and from recent reviews is thought to be better value for money than the mothership.
8-course lunch costs a reasonable £48, while a 15-course for lunch or dinner is £95. There is no tasting menu listed on the website, so I assume it changes slightly quite frequently.
- Bai hua prawn (no photo) -
- Dim sum trilogy - lobster siu mai topped with caviar, fried daikon, vegetable & mushroom. The brush is to paint on soy sauce.
- Poulet de Bresse & ginseng soup with silken beancurd - healing chicken & ginseng soup with goji berries, radish and flowers. Good for my sinuses;
- Cherry wood roasted Peking duck - a wonderfully cooked Peking duck, crispy skin and a tasty layer of fat that sits underneath it. Served with hoisin and a little sugar;
- Gai-lan, shimeji mushroom & lily bulb in XO sauce - tasty vegetable intermission;
- Jasmine tea smoked Wagyu beef with water chestnut - amazing soft delicious beef and an equally phenomenal sticky rice ball;
- Mandarin jelly with pandan sorbet & jasmine meringue - great in combination. Pandan sorbet was my favourite component;
- Pineapple fritter, salted lime jelly, vanilla icecream - kataifi pastry delicately surrounding a warm sweet pineapple core. Excellent.
Next time I would order the 15-course tasting menu. The a la carte items also sound worth trying, and using ingredients like crab, lobster, scallops, abalone and pork belly, you'd expect as much. On to Hakkasan next time.
