Tag Archives: chinese

Yang Sing Manchester | Restaurant Review

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I think it’s important to start this review by saying that I’m not an easy person to please, especially with food. I say this simply because the rest of the review is going to be filled with gushing praise, beginning with…

Last Friday at Yang Sing restaurant in Manchester I ate the best Chinese meal I have ever eaten. My colleague and I were served six courses of house specialities ranging from chicken feet to jellyfish amongst a whole array of Cantonese delights and none of them disappointed.
We were seated by our very friendly host in the surprisingly bright and airy basement and were very helpfully talked through the menu and wine list. From here until we left the service was impeccable; we were attended to at all times without feeling like the staff were constantly on top of us.

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Our food odyssey began with a truly succulent duck in a sweet soy sauce served on the bone and served with the aforementioned jellyfish which managed to somehow be both slippery and crunchy all in one. To drink we had a 2011 Pinot Blanc which perfectly accompanied the food. This was followed by a deep fried chilli stuffed with prawn that wasn’t to my taste but my colleague enjoyed it. Along too came the notorious chicken feet which were incredibly flavoursome but a little fiddly and two types of dumpling – ginger, shallot and coriander and prawn. Both were among the best dumplings I’ve ever had.

Next came ostrich steak which was probably our least favourite course, although it was perfectly pleasant. Following this, we had steamed scallops served in their shells with an accompaniment of glass noodles which were exceedingly good. I noticed that it seemed to be a popular dish with the diners around me and rightly so.

At this point our wine was replaced with a light and fruity Sancerre rosé that went perfectly with our next dish of stir fried prawns with mixed vegetables, spring onion fried rice with garlic and a Malaysian chicken curry that my colleague found a little rich but I couldn’t get enough of.

By now we were more than a little full but the food train rolled on as a fresh fruit platter arrived which was just what we needed after the oily, starchy food of the previous course. I’m not normally a fan of melon but somehow this restaurant has managed to source the only melon I’ve ever really enjoyed. Finally, our epic meal ended with a little coconut tart that was not too heavy and the perfect size for a sweet.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough. If you live in the North West then make your way over to Yang Sing for a truly fantastic meal out.

Yauatcha Restaurant Review

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Yauatcha, for a restaurant that is so sophisticated and good-looking, actually makes you feel at home. There is something relaxing about it, rare for a Michelin-starred restaurant. My friend and I both felt like we could eat here four night a week. Another good sign is that the restaurant is heaving (it’s Tuesday, so not bad) and some of the diners are Chinese, which is always a good sign when eating in a Chinese restaurant.

The menu has a very good selection with plenty of choice. There is a good selection of drinks too.

To Start:

Lobster dumpling with tobiko caviar with ginger and shallot

lobstercaviarThis was decadent and wonderful. The lobster was excellent with great texture, firm and fresh along with a subtle hint of ginger all through the dim sum that really works, along with shallot. The caviar is sprinkled on top. This is top class dim sum. Everything just works together beautifully.

King Crab dumpling

crabdimsumThe crab is delicious with a great texture. The crab meat is excellent. This dim sum is beautifully made. It has superb seasoning and great use of herbs including chive.

Main

Pork belly with salted fish in claypot

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The pork belly is tender and delicious. It comes with mushroom and salted fish. It is very good but beware: it’s spicy and has a kick.

We had egg fried rice with our main. There was a few different ingredients you could choose to have in the egg fried rice and we choose asparagus. Jasmine and scallops were the other options I believe. It is delicate with well balanced flavours. Nothing overpowers but it has loads of flavour. You may have had egg fried rice in a restaurant before, or from a takeaway, but it certainly would not compare to this. It is what egg fried rice should be, fresh, clean, tasty; just very yummy.

Stir-fry Scallop With Lotus Root

scallopsI am a huge fan of scallops and this dish is particularly unique. It comes with lotus flower and spring onion. It’s a very good dish with a generous helping of firm and fresh scallops.

Black Bean Beef

YauatchaRestaurantReviewGreat and fresh black bean sauce, great beef as well, very tender and the vegetables all have great taste and texture.

Drinks

Strawberry and vanilla iced tea
strawberry, vanilla sugar, orange juice and jasmine tea

mocktailAn excellent mocktail. Amazing and superb non alcoholic cocktail. Beautifully balanced and remarkably delicate. It has a gentle sweetness. It is incredibly fresh and refreshing. Has plenty of ice and is pure pleasure

Hakka
Belvedere vodka, Akashi-Tai sake, lychee, lime, coconut and passion fruit

cocktailThis was an amazing cocktail. Refreshing, sweet and creamy. Very unique.

Glass of Rose

rosewineVery good rose. Not too sweet.

Peach and guava smoothie
peach, guava, banana, cinnamon and oolong tea

Really good. Nice mix.

chinesedessert Yauatcha Restaurant Review Yauatchadessert YauatchaRestaurantReviewdessert1Dessert was an Orange Mille feuille; it looked amazing and tasted just as good. An amazing looking puddings with apricot
orange and vanilla. A wonderful combination. Had perfect pastry and enough moisture from the satsuma and ice cream.

We also had a Mont Blanc; which was chocolate heaven with almonds and ice-cream. A superb dessert.

There was a lot of other amazing desserts on offer. We will have to go back.

Yauatcha will be offering a special limited edition Chinese New Year menu between 30th January to 14th February, including Golden cuttlefish roll; Pork belly with salted fish in claypot and Jasmine honey dessert with mandarin and sesame.

Address

15-17 Broadwick Street.
Soho, London, W1F 0DL
+44 (0) 20 7494 8888

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Fashion Meets Food As Yauatcha & Harvey Nichols Team Up for Chinese New Year

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This February sees a unique twist on Chinese New Year with an exclusive collaboration between Michelin-starred Chinese dim sum teahouse Yauatcha, by the internationally acclaimed Hakkasan group, and global luxury fashion destination Harvey Nichols. Renowned for their fantastical and elaborate store windows, the Harvey Nichols visual display team have designed a spectacular one-off window display, to be exhibited at Yauatcha in Soho from 20th January to 10th February.

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Inspired by the Chinese tradition of spreading luck by gifting friends and family red envelopes containing money, Yauatcha and Harvey Nichols designed the display to capture the essence and ethos of Chinese New Year, the most auspicious date in the Chinese calendar. As 2014 is the Year of the Horse, the creation focuses around a large red origami-style Perspex horse jumping into the front window, with a flowing mane and tail brought to life with almost 1,000 bright red folded envelopes, hand made by luxury paper merchant GFSmith. The window display will extend back into the restaurant, with red paper envelopes flying from the horse and forming patterns in the air above and around guests. Smaller origami horses will also appear along the front and side windows.

 

Throughout the collaboration each guest at Yauatcha will receive a red envelope containing vouchers for fashion and beauty treats, along with a bespoke Chinese New Year cocktail created by the Yauatcha and Harvey Nichols bar managers and available at the Fifth Floor Bar. During the campaign eight special golden tickets will be given to guests at random, containing lavish prizes such as meals and cocktail masterclasses at Yauatcha and makeovers at Harvey Nichols.

 

In addition, Hakkasan group’s Executive Pastry Chef Graham Hornigold has created bespoke macarons and petits gateaux, which will be added to the existing array of award-winning desserts, macarons and handmade chocolates. The limited edition flavours include:

 

Red Macarons depicting the Chinese character for the Year of the Horse, filled with mandarin ganache and mandarin pâte de fruit. Mandarins are traditionally given at Chinese New Year, and symbolise luck and fortune.

Red Petits Gateaux in the shape of a traditional Chinese New Year lantern, depicting the Chinese character for the Year of the Horse. A jasmine mousse filled with a honey panna cotta centre, with caramelised mandarins and sesame brittle. The mandarins symbolise luck and fortune, the sesame seeds fertility.

 

Price: Macarons – £1.60 each, £9 per 6 pieces, £18 per 12 pieces. Petits gateaux – £5.90 (retail), £8.50 (a la carte).

Guests at Yauatcha on the afternoon of Sunday 2nd February will view the spectacle of the traditional Chinese dragon dance, with the raucous theatrical procession of the dragon visiting every table with its colourful and noisy celebratory performance.

 

Cha Cha Moon | Restaurant Review

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15-21 Ganton Street, W1F 9BN. Nearest tube: Oxford Circus.

Meals served 11.30am-11pm Mon-Thur; 11.30am-11.30pm Fri, Sat; noon-10.30pm Sun

Main courses £7-£8

Telephone: 020 7297 9800

On Thursday night we headed to Cha Cha Moon. A Chinese restaurant right in the heart of trendy Soho. The first thing that strikes me about Cha Cha Moon is the decor: it is incredibly stylish with an open kitchen and a bar at the back. The tables are long benches and there is also a good garden space. Of course the decor is not the main thing you want in a restaurant, that’s the food and the service. Both of which are first-class here. The atmosphere was buzzing and very much in keeping with the Soho surroundings.

I have to admit that I love chinese food. We started with the chicken dumplings and Cha cha mooli. The dumplings were excellent. They were crispy and tasted divine when dipped in the perfectly seasoned garlic chilli sauce. The Cha cha mooli was something I’d never had before, but it looked very interesting on the menu. It was Turnip cake, dried shrimp, Chinese chive, Chinese salami beansprout, spring onion, egg. It didn’t disappoint, everything somehow came together in a dish that was delightfully different.

We also had the Seafood ho fun which is Scallop, prawn, squid, red and green pepper, onion, black bean, ho fun. It tasted superb and the portion was very generous. Everything, particularly the seafood, was perfectly cooked. We also had Crispy duck lao mian: Crispy duck, cucumber, cū mian, we really enjoyed this classic chinese dish with the noodles Cha Cha Moon specialises in.

For dessert we had Banana and melon fritters. I had never had melon fritters before and they tasted just as good as the banana fritters. The fritters came in a deliciously warm sugary syrup. The cool vanilla cream on the side was the perfect contrast and when it was all combined with the crispy fritters it was a simply fantastic dessert.

Cha Cha Moon also does very good drinks. An expert cocktail maker is constantly at work behind the bar and there is a good selection of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails. We had the Golden Sunrise (Peach, mango, mint, goji berry), Chan Chan Tei (Beetroot, spinach, pear, apple), Pina Colada (White rum, pineapple, coconut, cream) and Mango Juice.

I loved my Pina Colada. It was superbly made. The Chan Chan Tei was a great savoury drink and very healthy.

The service was excellent. The food came extremely quickly and everyone was very warm and friendly. Highly recommended.