Celebrating the Year of the Monkey at Hakkasan

Name: Hakkasan (Chinese New Year Menu)

Where: 8 Hanway Place, London, W1T 1HD, http://hakkasan.com

Cost: Hakkasan’s Chinese New Year menu consists of 4 courses, or 9 dishes, costs a lucky £88.88 per person, and includes a cocktail each.

About: Opened in 2001, Hakkasan has long been a favourite of mine for its exquisite dim sum and Chinese food and is one of the few places in London I return to often. Hakkasan is the jewel in the crown of its group, which also includes two other Michelin-starred restaurants – Yauatcha and HKK.

Celebrating the Year of the Monkey at Hakkasan

I visited Hakkasan recently to experience their Dim Sum Sunday Menu (see review here). I believe this is still one of the best and most reasonably priced lunch menus in London right now – for £58 per person, guests can enjoy a 4 course lunch, ½ bottle of Champagne (or a full bottle between 2 people) and 2 cocktails each.

Chinese New Year is a great time to visit Chinese restaurants of this calibre as many will have specially designed menus for the occasion. So I hurried along to Hakkasan Hanway Place to try their Year of the Monkey menu which is available from 22 January until 22 February 2016 only.

What We Ate: The CNY menu is divided into 4 courses – soup, dim sum, mains & accompaniments and dessert. 

Course 1 - Soup of double-boiled fresh ginseng and chicken with bamboo pith and wolfberry

The broth had an intense chicken flavour with fresh ginseng root, which with its earthy, burdock-like flavour, was for me the highlight of the dish. I also enjoyed the gossamer-like texture of the bamboo pith. 

Course 2 - Japanese Wagyu beef with pine nuts in a crispy golden cup and a selection of dim sum

With little pieces of Wagyu beef, stir-fried with tiny cubes of Chinese chives, peppers and onion served on crispy pastry cups, this had a delectable crunchiness, wok-breath and richly flavoured beef.

The dim sum arrived in a platter of four. The har gau were well presented and delicate, while the scallop shumai had a thick slice of plump scallop, with a scattering of tobiko eggs – the pastry was ethereally light and so fresh it melted in the mouth. The Chinese chive dumpling with prawn was also good, and the duck and yam bean dumpling had a great hit of cracked black pepper.

Course 3 - Selection of 4 main dishes plus 1 rice

The wok-fried lobster in a spicy truffle sauce had chunky nuggets of tender lobster that tasted deliciously buttery and were topped with slices of aromatic fresh black truffles, Chinese black fungus, choy sum and tiny pieces of crispy deep-fried pastry which added an extra layer of texture to the dish. This was without a doubt the highlight of our meal, and one of the best lobster dishes I have eaten recently.

The Pipa duck is a regular favourite at Hakkasan, with its lovely crispy caramel-like skin, a sweet little layer of fat, and richly flavoured, slightly gamey meat.

The grilled Chilean seabass was also terrific. With a honeyed, slightly charred exterior, and a buttery texture to the flesh, the fish came with a scattering of well-made tempura of shimeji mushrooms.

The vegetable dish was an intriguing stir-fry of Hericium mushroom, with a meaty texture and delicately earthy flavour, combined with lotus root, asparagus and lily bulb in black pepper.

The dried scallop and crabmeat fried rice was a luxurious accompaniment to the duck, fish, lobster and vegetable mains.

Course 4 – Dessert: The Golden Halo

A ring (halo) of soy caramel and peanut brittle, topped with banana delice ice cream, a sphere of chocolate mousse encased in a wafer-thin chocolate shell, and flakes of real edible gold leaf. This was a light but intricate dessert with intense flavours of banana, peanuts and caramel. A monkey’s delight!

What We Drank: The CNY menu features one '9 Hou' cocktail per person, included in the set price. Made from Eldorado 3 year old rum, Amontillado sherry, banana, guava, lime, agave syrup and walnut, this was complex, well balanced and refreshing. 

With our meal, we shared a bottle of Sylvaner 'Sylvacello' 2012, from Cave de Turkheim, Alsace (£29) chosen by the sommelier. Straightforward, this had fresh, grapefruit notes but lacked any complexity. 

Likes: the lobster dish was the highlight, the rice of dried scallops and crabmeat was also terrific.

Dislikes: none.

Verdict: With Wagyu beef, truffled lobster, Chilean seabass and the finest Peking duck, Chinese New Year menus don’t get much better than this. Don’t wait too long, this special Year of the Monkey menu by Hakkasan ends on 22nd February 2016. Highly recommended.

More Monkey Business at Yauatcha City!

Name: Yauatcha City (Chinese New Year Menu)

Where: Broadgate Circle, London, EC2M 2QS, http://www.yauatcha.com/city/

Cost: The special menu designed for Chinese New Year at Yauatcha includes 4 dim sum, 4 mains courses including a rice dish, and the dessert of 6 specially created macarons. Menu items can be ordered individually or the entire CNY menu at a cost of £113.20 for a two people meal, with a matching flight of 3 Monkey 47 gin-based cocktails at £28 per person. I have also shown the menu items priced individually. 

About: Opened in May 2015, Yauatcha City is the 2nd branch of this restaurant in London after its Michelin-starred sister in Soho, which has been serving top notch dim sum to Londoners for more than 10 years. Yauatcha is also renowned for its super-refined French patisserie with an Asian twist, and its selection of fine teas. It has long been among the best places in London to go for tea and cakes, as well as cocktails.

Yauatcha is more affordable and a little more casual than its big brother Hakkasan or the fine dining & Peking duck specialist restaurant HKK, so this is a place I return to regularly, whenever I crave top quality dim sum and Chinese food.

The service is exceptional at this branch and this is due to mostly one person - Lim, the restaurant supervisor. I was lucky enough to meet her on my first visit to Yauatcha City and then again on this occasion. It is rare to find staff who are this passionate and knowledgable about the food being served at their restaurant so it was a real joy to see her again and get a detailed explanation and her recommendations on the CNY menu items. I wrote about Lim in my previous review (read it here), and if you do get to visit Yauatcha City, I strongly recommend asking for her help.

This Chinese lunar year is the Year of the Monkey, and so cleverly Yauatcha has teamed up with Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin to create a menu with three matching Monkey gin cocktails, and even gin-flavoured macarons.

What We Ate: The Year of the Monkey menu, starts with a traditional Yusheng (aka Yee Sang or Prosperity Toss) salad. Yusheng literally means raw fish (which in Cantonese sounds like 'abundance'), and it is a special Chinese New Year dish to wish for prosperity in the coming year.

Yauatcha's version combined sashimi scallop with radish, Japanese seaweed, grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, crisp-fried pumpkin strands and shimeji mushroom, pickled onions, plum sauce and shallot oil (£15.80). These we tossed with gusto at the table, while wishes ourselves to win the lottery or become millionaires in 2016, etc (although having never bought a lottery ticket in my life, I have my doubts about whether this will come true).

The selection of dim sum followed. The caviar siew long bao, also known as Shanghai dumpling (£6.80), was perfectly made, with a luscious glutinous casing surrounding a rich broth, made even more special by its topping of caviar.

The foie gras roast duck puff (£5.80) had a wonderfully buttery mille-feuille style pastry case to match the sweetness and luxury of its contents.

The caviar taro dumpling (£6.20), a vegetarian dish, was gorgeously presented, the 'caviar' cleverly made from seaweed gum flavoured with truffle, the casings naturally coloured with extracts of carrot and pandan leaves, filled with a mixture of flavours and textures of Asian vegetables.

Lastly, the black truffle edamame sesame ball was light, airy, and delicious (£6.50), the filling a clever mixture of edamame and truffles in place of the more familiar black sesame paste.

The soup course was a sea conch Chinese yam soup (£11.80). A very traditional menu item, this had a wonderfully fragrant broth with goji berries, and little pieces of tender chicken, longan, yam and delectable layers of diaphanous, sponge-like bamboo pith floating at the surface.

The Hakka fortune pot (£38.80) was undoubtedly the highlight of the meal - it had a variety of different meats, fish and seafood presented together in a clay pot. There were deep-fried battered prawns, meaty abalone, gourd slices filled with dried scallops, the most delectable roast Peking duck and beef, slices of steamed seabass, lotus root, Chinese leaves and mushrooms. It was one of most luxurious dishes I have ever tried on a Chinese menu, and a real feast of fine flavours and textures. Lim explained that the fortune pot is a traditional dish from the Hakka region of China, where layers of different dishes are put together in a large pot, with meat at the bottom and fish then seafood on top - this is to symbolise reunion and harmony, and is used to celebrate important family occasions.

The rice dish was dry oyster fried sticky rice (£11.80) - this was exceptionally good. The rice was not like stick rice from Northern Thailand or Laos, but rather the stickiness came from the cooking of the rice in plenty of chicken stock and the addition of dry prawns and oysters which imparted great umaminess to the final dish.

Because I loved the next dish so much on my last visit, I couldn't help myself from ordering a portion of Yauatcha's fried chilli squid (£11.50) rolled in oatmeal (Malaysian Nestum oatmeal Lim tells me) and curry leaf. This, in my opinion, is a must order when visiting this restaurant, and was just as delicious as I remembered.

For dessert, we had a selection of 6 macarons (£9.70 per 6). For the CNY menu, the macaron flavours reflect the ingredients that are used to make or drink gin, including gin and tonic (made from Monkey 47 gin, grapefruit pate de fruits and tonic buttercream), juniper berry (with juniper berry ganache), bitter orange almond (filled with almond buttercream, bitter orange pate de fruits), elderflower ginger (filled with elderflower and ginger buttercream), rose and rosehip (filled with rose buttercream and rosehip jam), and camomile (camomile buttercream).

I've made a lot of macarons in my time, including while I was at Le Cordon Bleu, and I know how hard they are to get right. Yauatcha is famous for their patisserie, and the macarons I had there were faultess - the shells crumbled on contact with the lips, and the centres were soft, velvety and aromatic. 

What We Drank: We started with a couple of cocktails at the bar. The Aged Negroni (£13) blended Tanquery No. Ten gin with Campari and Lillet Rouge sweet vermouth, all aged for one month on the premises in American oak. The Asian Daiquiri (£11.50) was a delectable blend of Diplomatico Reserva Rum, plum sake, lime, orange marmalade, vanilla and chilli sugar - refreshing with a lovely citrus notes.

Priced at £28 per person, the flight of three gin cocktails is designed to partner the Chinese New Year menu. It includes a saffron gin and tonic, the 'pomelo fortune' with grapefruit, cranberry and mandarin bitters, and with dessert a pink kumquat with sloe gin and ginger liqueur. 

The Saffron Gin and Tonic served with the salad was an inspiration - 1724 tonic was poured through a strainer with a pinch of saffron strands. The flavour from those, and the one or two strands that passed into the drink, were enough to impart a thrilling intensity of the aromatic herb without overpowering the drink, and just a slight tinge of watery gold to the colour.

The Pomelo Fortune accompanied the dim sum. With a tropical blossom fragrance from the pandan leaf and grapefruit peel at the glasses' edge, and gin mixed with velvet falernum liqueur, pomelo, grapefruit, cranberry and orange, and mandarin bitters, this was a heavenly, and complex drink.

With our macarons, we had the Pink Kumquat cocktail. Kumquat is one of my favourite fruits, and this cocktail was punchy, with refreshing citrus aromas. Monkey 47 sloe gin was blended with Diplomatico Reserva rum, Domaine de Cantone ginger liqueur, cranberries and rice syrup.

Likes: If you visit Yauatcha City, make sure to ask for Lim – her knowdedge is encyclopaedic, her enthusiasm and friendliness are contagious. For me, the stars of the evening were the Hakka fortune pot, the fried chilli squid, the dry oyster rice and the adorable macarons. The gin cocktails were spectacularly good and unusual, with truly Asian flavours, and the saffron gin and tonic is one I will experiment with at home. 

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: For one of the best Chinese New Year menus on offer in London right now, hurry along to Yauatcha City before the season ends on 21 February 2016. Very highly recommended.

The Exquisite Year of the Monkey Chinese New Year Menu at HKK

Name: HKK (Chinese New Year Menu)

Where: 1 Snowden Street, London, EC2A, http://hkklondon.com/

Cost: The Chinese New Year menu is available from 25th January until 20th February 2016. The food menu costs £88 per person with an option of £48 per person for drinks pairing.

About: One of my favourite Chinese restaurants in London, HKK is one of just a handful of restaurants I visit regularly whenever I crave top quality Chinese food.  

February is a great time of the year to visit such restaurants, as most will devise some exquisite menus to celebrate their most important calendar event of the year – the Chinese New Year. With that in mind, I hastened along to HKK for a sneaky peak at their 2016 Year of the Monkey menu and what is on offer until late February.

What We Ate and Drank: We kicked off with the Prosperity Platter which included a very refined version of the traditional prosperity salad. Typically served to start a family New Year meal, all the guests stand and toss the salad high in the air with their chopsticks while saying auspicious things to bring good luck, health and prosperity in the new year. HKK's version combined julienned pumpkin and daikon, crispy salmon skin, green and red seaweed, peanuts, pomegranate seeds and olive oil, all topped with some real gold leaf.

The second element of the platter was the 'fortune wrap' – this was a delectable dried Japanese oyster in Chinese leaf, with a scattering of black moss. The third and final item was a lovely little cube of Welsh organic pork belly, with a thin, crisp layer of fat, grilled and lightly spiced with sea salt, mustard and goji berry.

We opted for the drinks flight at £48 per person to partner each course. The Prosperity Platter was partnered with a glass of Japanese Mio sparkling sake. I love Mio sake and often serve this at my supper club - it made a deliciously refreshing, low-alcohol start to the meal, with delicate stone fruit and brioche on the nose, and an off-dry finish. 

The Tai Ji supreme seafood soup was served yin and yang-style, with one side consisting of crab roe and vegetarian shark fin, the other of egg white in broth, with winter bamboo, scampi and scallops served separately in a spoon. To eat, all three components are mixed together. This was warming, with delicate flavours of freshest seafood, and a refreshing crunchy texture from the winter bamboo.

To accompany, we had a glass of Clos la Cariziere Muscadet Sevre et Maines 2014. I'm not normally a huge fan of Muscadet, but this was a fine example, with a nose of green apple, lemon, and some luscious pineapple and tropical flavours on the finish. 

The Chinese believe that it brings good luck and happiness in the coming year to eat dumplings just after midnight - shaped like ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots, they are believed to bring prosperity. And who am I to argue, just give me the dumplings, please! HKK's dumpling trilogy included white (deep fried dumpling of chicken and abalone), orange (steamed dumpling was of scallop and Chinese chive) and green morsels (steamed dumpling of Dover sole with Imperial caviar).

Cleverly, the pastry cases were naturally coloured with gai lan juice (for the green dumpling) and carrot juice (for the orange). These were very well made, with finely textured cases and delicate, well flavoured fillings.   

We had a 'bitter fortune' cocktail with Tanquery Number 10 gin, Aperol, rhubarb liqueur and fresh grapefruit juice. Deliciously astringent, this was able to cut through the diverse flavours and textures of the dumplings.

Next up was HKK’s wonderful roasted cherry wood Peking duck - the signature dish of the restaurant. The duck is prepared over 2 days, with a complex, multi-stage process that ends with skin as crisp and thin as caramel, with the flesh still utterly succulent. Served with a delicious little salad of micro-herbs and fragrant pea shoots, this was as wonderful as I recall from an earlier visit. If you would like to try this amazing duck over a four-course lunch with a bottle of Champagne thrown in, the restaurant offers a special Peking Duck menu on Saturday lunch times only, reviewed here.

The duck was matched with a glass of Tsarine brut rose Champagne, that had refreshing strawberry and redcurrant notes.

My favourite course of the evening was HKK’s lobster noodles with an XO sauce, dried prawns and scallop, Parma ham, garlic and shallot. It was served with 'longevity noodles', symbolic of a long and healthy life. The lobster was magnificent - a generous serving, tender and with many layers of umami flavours from the dried seafood and XO sauce.

To accompany, we were served a glass of Chablis, Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils, 2012. Full bodied, and aged in French oak, this was a rich, creamy wine with gentle tropical fruit on the finish. It had more than enough depth of flavour and complexity to match the richly flavoured lobster. 

To finish the mains, we were served an outstanding dish of Welsh lamb with Sichuan mala sauce (spiked with toban jan, a fermented soybean chilli sauce) that came with rice and pumpkin cakes, shiso leaves, and romanesco broccoli.

With the lamb, we were served a glass of Ribeira del Duero from Dominio de Atuata, Spain, 2011. Made from Tempranillo grapes, this had intense mint, black cherry and vanilla notes, but was well structured with plenty of tannin to balance the rich sweetness of the fruit. 

For our pre-dessert, we had vanilla and mandarin 'Tangyuan dumplings', with osmanthus and orange infusion. The round dumplings, and the bowls in which they are served, are said to represent family unity. With a crisp white chocolate shell and mandarin glaze, surprisingly filled with vanilla ice cream, this was wonderfully refreshing, served with pomegranate, lime caviar, an orange and osmanthus infusion, micro-coriander and a glass of orange and osmanthus iced tea.

To accompany, we had a glass of Diplomatico Reserva 8 year old rum from Venezuela which had plenty of spice and vanilla and made for an unusual but interesting pairing.  

Dessert proper was a green apple parfait, with cardamom cake, crispy apple noodle, apple sorbet and puree. This was an inventive, chefy with a surprising mix of textures and apple flavours, not so sweet or heavy as to overwhelm our palate at the end of the meal.

We were served a glass of luscious Samos Grand Cru 2014, Muscat Petit Grain, from the Greek island of Samos with our apple dessert.

To round off, we were brought the 'Tray of Togetherness' - these were a selection of delectable petit four, including grapefruit jelly, lime marshmallow, pandan choux, almond financier, white chocolate and passion fruit truffle, red bean choux, smoked salted caramel and dark chocolate truffle and yuzu jelly. I am not sure we were meant to have them all, we were asked to choose the ones we wanted, and of course I had to try the lot! They were all exquisite, but the salted caramel in particular was the star of the show in my opinion.

Likes: All the dishes were cooked with great skill, and were gorgeously presented. For me, particular highlights were the Peking duck and the lobster dish, but there wasn't a weak dish on the menu.

Dislikes: None

Verdict: For a great way to see in the Year of Monkey in 2016, I can't think of many other places I would rather be than HKK. This special Chinese New Year menu runs only until 20th February 2016, so hurry along if you fancy a fix of brilliantly cooked celebratory lobster, cherry wood roasted Peking duck and a selection of fine wines and Champagne. Highly recommended.

Hakkasan: For A Very Festive (& Glamorous) Chinese New Year!

Words & Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Hakkasan

Where: 8 Hanway Place, London, W1T 1HD, http://hakkasan.com/

Cost: The number eight is lucky in Chinese culture - and Hakkasan’s Chinese New Year dishes are all centred on this number. The 9-course Signature Sharing Menu is priced at £88.88 per person, including a special festive treat, and is available for groups of three or more. Other New Year dishes are priced comparatively with the a la carte menu, with starters and small dishes from £12.88 to £18.88, and a main dish of Abalone and Dried Scallop Fried Rice, £23.88. 

Hakkasan has an impressive and varied drinks selection - most cocktails from the room-length bar are £12.50, and a New Year special, the Kumquatcha, is £11.88. Most wines are priced at £40 and above, but thankfully many are also available by the glass, both 175ml and 250ml. 

About: The Hakkasan Group is a formidable force in Chinese cuisine, with restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Mumbai and Shanghai, as well as London. Opened in 2001, Hanway Place was the first Hakkasan, awarded a Michelin star in 2003, it has always been my no.1 favourite restaurant for dim sum and Chinese fine dining in London (reviewed here). 

Hakkasan’s design is as striking and innovative as when it first opened 14 years ago. The Christian Liaigre interior is atmospheric, with beautiful wooden screens and hanging birdcages. The 16-metre bar supplies great cocktails, and gives the dining room a glam atmosphere.

Tong Chee Hwee, Executive Chef at HKK, whose Chinese New Year Menu we reviewed just a week ago (see review here), has also been in charge of Hanway Place since its launch. Thankfully, this means that the two New Year menus he has created are very different, but equally delicious. As you enter the restaurant, the handwritten wishes of other diners hang above you, and the Celebration Menu includes a special secret element! 

What We Ate: Our meal began with a Dim Sum Platter, featuring a scallop shumai and dumplings made with Chinese chive and celery and prawn. We rank Hakkasan as one of London’s best Dim Sum venues, and this trilogy was a reminder why. The scallop was soft and flaked away on the tongue, a rare achievement as they can so easily turn hard and chewy. Elsewhere, the chive and celery flavours gave their respective dumplings a light and fresh flavour, ideal for a first course.

These were followed by a Spicy Lamb Lupin Wrap, served with Hakkasan’s own Hoi Sin Sauce. This was a special alternative to traditional Peking duck and pancakes for 2015, the year of the goat/sheep. The crunchy wrap was cut into easy-to-share pieces, and the lamb filling was mixed with spring onion and chilli, giving it a gorgeous aroma.

The third and final starter, golden fried soft shell crab, was served with an incredible nest of egg floss that added to the crab’s delicate bite. This dish, glistening with a sweet glaze and topped with a curry leaf, is exactly the kind of thing you leave the house to eat - complex and satisfying at the same time.

The five different main courses arrived at once, and were served to share. Spicy prawns, served with almond and lily bulb, were thick and fleshy. The curry sauce in which they were served was just enough to give them a creamy but intense heat.

Stir-fried black pepper beef was soft and untextured, lacking the bite and crunch of the prawns. The merlot and black pepper sauce was rich and sweet, however, and the beautiful vermicelli cone in which it was served add some needed texture.

Better still was the grilled Chilean sea bass in honey, its soft flesh glistened under the marinated skin. The stir-fried lily bulb and garlic shoot was a great accompaniment, it was crunchy with fried chilli and salty with soy; utterly addictive.

The best, though, was the abalone and dry scallop fried rice. Beautifully creamy, and with the clean, salty flavour of the scallop and the softness of the abalone, this is a very special dish indeed. If you visit and don’t opt for the Celebration menu, then don’t fail to order a bowl of this succulent rice to accompany your meal.

The theatricality stepped up a gear with dessert. A wishing tree arrived with two bright orange caramelised macadamia nuts hanging from it and an envelope containing a gift from Hakkasan to each diner!

The plate itself was decorated with a dusted cocoa tree, alongside servings of chocolate ganache, kumquat sorbet and cocoa rocks. The mixture of cocoa and citrus works beautifully, and the kumquat flavour and biscuity cocoa are truly innovative elements.

What We Drank: We began the meal with a Kumquatcha, a cocktail made with Brazilian cachaça, campari, kumquats and lime. This is the perfect drink for lovers of caipirinhas, with the kumquats adding a whole new level of flavour and colour.

For the wine, we ordered a 2013 Albarino “Marinero” Terras Gauda from Rias Baixas in Spain. The combination of roundness and acidity makes the Albarino grape a suitable match for both seafood and Chinese cooking, and it is no surprise to find it on the wine lists of many top Chinese restaurants.

We ended with a dessert wine - a glass of the Tokaji Late Harvest ‘Bodvin’, with a wishing tree on the table, we couldn’t resist the urge to celebrate! This is a complex glass, and the notes of oak, honey and apricot added new elements to an already fantastic final course.

Likes: This Chinese New Year Celebration Menu is a fantastic chance to try some of Hakkasan’s best dishes (the dim sum and garlic shoot and lily bulb especially) alongside an incredible new dish, the abalone and dry scallop fried rice.

Dislikes: None. 

Verdict: The Chinese New Year Celebration Menu is a great way to experience Hakkasan, with the atmosphere at its warmest and a strong selection of its best dishes available to share. It’s a fantastic insight into the power of the traditional elements of Chinese New Year, from kumquats to abalone, to public wishes and surprise presents, all of which combine to offer real festivity.