It was surprising that on a Tuesday night, Chairman & Yip was full. It was lucky there were tables available, but if not Akiba nearby had available tables, music and a neon atmosphere. It made me almost realise the appeal of weekday dining - available parking, quieter streets and restaurants and not having to make advanced bookings.
Anyway it was a good opportunity to try the 3rd of the Chairman group restaurants. I have to admit that the menu interested me the least of the 3, which is why it had been left until last. Fine Cantonese cuisine is something I had only tried in London at HKK (sadly noone was willing to pay the £128+ for the Hakkasan Hanway Place signature menu) and both times were sensational lunch meals most impressively featuring a tea-smoked Peking duck.
The Chef's Tasting menu at Chairman & Yip seemed to feature most of the dishes that interested me on the menu except for the Chairman's Red Curry Chicken, so it was easy to select that as the option. Each dish is brought to the table, and with the exception of the calamari at the start and the lamb and vegetables at the end, the wait staff automatically serve it onto your plate. If it isn't serve on individual plates, I much prefer it to be on a shared central plate to pick off myself. This is only a small thing - maybe it has something to do with the better photo opportunities.
- Fried Calamari with spicy salt & chilli - slightly crispy, nicely fried, salty with occasional slivers of chilli;
- Light-fried King Prawns with sweet chilli vinegar sauce - medium sized prawns topped with something similar to standard honey sauce;
- Sesame crusted salmon with cinnamon infused soy - very nicely cooked salmon with a soy crust, nice thin (would have preferred thicker) rice cakes and a delicious drinkable cinnamon soy. Delicious;
- Roasted duck & shiitake mushroom pancakes - quite disappointing diced duck and mushrooms. A far cry from the great Peking ducks I've had around the world;
- Grilled field mushrooms with herb & cashew pesto - slightly out-of-place dish of a mushroom with a thick pesto on top, served with noodle pieces and continental parsley;
- Spiced eye fillet skewers with lemongrass & galangal dressing - medium-rare tender eye fillet topped with pineapple pieces and a tasty lemongrass sauce;
- Crispy lamb Shan-Tung style (with vegetables & steamed rice) - a large dish to finish with lamb (rib meat I think) tender meat with crispy edges and a strong salty soy dressing. I'd prefer a touch more sour and chilli in the masterstock-type sauce, but it was a very good dish;
- Choice of Dessert - one was a mild flavoured silky Japanese matcha creme brulee with a very thick caramelised top and wispy Persian fairy floss which was overall nice; other was an excellent cinnamon semi freddo (couldn't detect any chilli) with a firm poached pear slice and a great ginger palm syrup (couldn't detect any pandan);
- Coffee or tea - selected a hot chocolate and chamomile tea which was a pleasant civilised end of the meal.
The meal was overall nice but I did feel slightly dissatisfied from a flavour and creativity point of view until the lamb and desserts. I do think Lanterne Rooms is better, and possibly equivalent to Malamay in that some dishes were good and others not so.
Next time I would order a la carte with either calamari or try the Pan-seared Quail for entree and either salmon or lamb or try the Red Curry Chicken for main. The semi freddo is my preferred dessert also.
