This is the second of our notes on Michelin starred Chinese Restaurants in London. Last July, we posted Kai Mayfair, interpreting Chinese Cuisine 

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Late night reservation

With a last minute reservation on Saturday evening in September for Yauatcha, a Chinese Restaurant in London, we were lucky to get seats for 11.00 PM. Upon arriving at 15 Boadwick Street in Soho, we found Yauatcha still packed with guests.

Yauatcha opened for business in Soho, London in 2004, translating the vision of Alan Yau , a genius restaurateur that created famous eateries: Wagamama, Busaba Eathai, Hakkasan, Sake No Hana, Cha Cha Moon, Princi, and St Betty.

Born in Hong Kong and grew up in rural England, Yau managed his restaurants’ every detail from concept to execution, from the kitchen to the front of house and beyond. Yauatcha is his interpretation of Cantonese custom of dim sum from an afternoon delicacy to an all-day event, serving high-end Franco-Asian patisserie with a world-class tea list.

Techno ambiance

The two-floors restaurant showcased the work of Christian Liaigre, an architect known to combine certain modesty with great elegance who based his design on local cultures and traditions.

Yauatcha has a feel of techno, with retro music and bluish lighting. Designed by Isometrix Lighting and Design  through maximizing the full potential of lighting as a creative tool, it won the best Lighting Design Award.

Tea Drinks

With more than 50 varieties of hot tea and 6 types of iced tea available, we ordered a glass of raspberries, black pepper and jasmine tea; a goblet of cucumber, lime and jasmine tea; and a pot of hot jasmine green tea.

Presentations of the iced tea perfectly matched the vibrant names on the menu. They looked so invitingly cool with   reddish crumbs of raspberries floated inside a crystal clear glass with ice cubes while in another glass chopped greens waved back and forth. The jasmine green tea in a heavy green teapot had a green tea flavor but jasminish nonetheless.

Dim Sum

We did wish to have someone with a dim sum encyclopedic mind to help us choose, as there were 50 varieties of dim sum on the menu, steamed, fried, grilled, baked, and pan fried. Luckily we remembered an article by Zoe Li on CNN: How to eat dim sum- The best five dishes 

Li listed the most essential items to pick at a dim sum meal:  Har gow, the shrimp dumpling named the king of dim sum; Siu mai, a meatball known as the queen of dim sum; Phoenix talons, chicken feet in strong flavored sauce; Cheung fun, meat or vegetables rolled up inside layers of rice sheets then doused in soy sauce; and Cha siu bao, sweet and filling dessert.

Seconds of deliberations later, we decided on

*Prawn and bean curd cheung fun,

*Rice paper prawn and mango roll,

*Spinach ball with prawn and cuttlefish in black bean sauce and

*Spicy soft shell crab.

Beyond the dim sum

The flow of dim sum should satisfy anybody, but the menu beckoned for us to have:

*Hot and sour soup with trumpet mushroom

*Kung pao chicken with cashew nut

*Egg fried rice with long bean

*Gai lan, Chinese vegetable with oyster sauce, garlic, ginger.

To end the evening, we browsed the dessert menu after learning that Sarah Barber, the Head Pastry Chef, looks after Pralines & Macaroons through Yauatcha retail and production. Yauatcha’s spiced chocolate has a distinctive taste, as it is a creation made out of chocolate almond sponge, cardamom, star anise and carmelised pear. A good wine to pair this desert listed on the menu was Moscatel Soleado ‘Colosia’, Gutierrez Colosia NV Jerez, Spain, 16.5%

Sensory satisfaction

There may be thousands of reviews on Yauatcha out there that it would be impossible for us to come up with a one-off note. Suffice it to say that all the foods and drinks at Yauatcha fulfilled our basic sensory needs of sight, smell and taste.

As much as we would like to ask for Yauatcha’s recipes we know that it is almost impossible for a renowned restaurant to share their recipes. Luckily, we found at The Telegraph website an article by John O' Ceallaigh, London restaurant recipe: Yauatcha's scallop shui mai. This dish, number one on Yauatcha's  dim sum steamed menu, should satisfy our cravings for Yauatcha dim sum in the months to come.

In 2008 Alan Yau sold Hakkasan and Yauatcha for $60 million to an Abu Dhabi Investment Authority but still maintains a stake in the restaurants and serves as CEO. Yauatcha is now open in Bandra, Mumbai.

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Photos by Maira Niode and Yauatcha