Hakkasan, mayfair

Hakkasan, mayfair (££££)

It’s really hard to try and go somewhere without pretensions. Hakkasan, for those that have heard of it, have likely heard about it for many varying reasons… it was one of the first Cantonese-style restaurants in London to gain a Michelin star. Others may play more emphasis on ‘was’, where they then lost their star last year. But, with set menus reaching over £200pp, the food surely must be of superb quality. What’s a star anyway?

Others may know Hakkasan for its atmosphere. Walking down the dimly lit stairs into the restaurant proper, you’re met with the DJ before you end up being greeted by the host. This is perhaps one of the reasons why they’ve kept their popularity; they know their audience and their audience wants as much an atmosphere as a well-cooked duck.

But - back to pretensions. In my mind, I was expecting style over substance. Perhaps they can carry on justifying high prices because people will simply carry on paying it? Am I really placing that much weight into the Michelin guide?

There I am though, through the nondescript entrance, and down the stairs to a neatly laid table, in a superbly decorated restaurant. The low ceilings and dimly lit space do somehow create that perfectly special atmosphere, that you’ve really made it by getting (and affording) a table here. The menus were fairly simple, with an emphasis on the set menus (of which there were many, at a range of price points), but still a lengthy à la carte options if that’s what you wanted.

We opted for one of the set menus, and whilst debating between a few, decided if it’s duck and caviar they’re known for, our set menu should include that at a minimum. A friendly chat with the sommelier too after, we ordered a glass of white and a sparkling jasmine tea (a game-changing discovery).

Whilst ordering, and being explained the menu concept, something our server said stuck with me. “You order a set menu, and we do the rest”. This, therefore, I thought meant we were in for a great evening, paced at our leisure, especially as we had a small table for what seemed like was going to be a lot of food. More on this later.

First to arrive was the dim sum. Expertly presented, each dim sum looked perfect, each a different natural-looking colour, and each garnished, that these weren’t just steamed and served, but that they had a clear intention. Within the dim sum were: mushroom (purple dim sum), dover sole with seven spices (orange parcel), XO scallop and prawn (garnished), and the lobster (with the caviar). Each dim sum tasted as well as it looked, cooked well, with a wrapper not chewy, and a filling well seasoned. Of special mention was the lobster and caviar, delicate flavours but equally powerful. Normally, I’d have assumed the caviar as visual only, or a sign of decadence, but here, it added a slightly saltiness that absolutely worked in the dim sum’s favour.

Whilst on our final dim sum, our next dish arrived. Perhaps the dish I was most looking forward to, the crisp duck ‘pancakes’ with caviar. Across two sleek black plates sat three ‘pancakes’, crispy duck sat on top of soft (although somewhat underwhelming) pancakes and cucumber, all topped with a fairly substantial mound of caviar. The duck itself was sweet and well seasoned, although not served warm which would have perhaps brought out more umami flavours. The caviar was (of course) ‘extra’, and didn’t add much to the dish except looks.

Underwhelmed slightly, it was still very much enjoyable, with no doubt the cooking of the duck was up there with the best I’ve had. Finishing off our duck, our final of our small eats dishes arrived: chargrilled octopus with aubergine. Whilst visually impressive, a great char on the octopus, it fell into the trap that octopus sets: overall rubbery. Although, texture aside, I still wished the flavour on the octopus was ramped up. More in the dishes’ favour, however, were the cubes of aubergine: crispy, excellently seasoned, and texturally complex.

I now refer back to a comment made to us by ok server at the start of the meal: “…we do the rest”. These few words set an expectation of sitting back and letting us serve you an excellent meal, in all respects. My qualm (as you may be expecting coming) was the conveyor belt of our mains coming. Within a couple of minutes, with only enough time to just about crumb our table, did our first main arrive. For an expectation of quality and decadence, we almost started to feel rushed… is there another sitting at our table we’re getting dangerously close to? I’d expect not this short into our meal…

Our first main then arrived, venison with a pistachio crumb, a turmeric sauce, with a confused side of mushrooms and crispy salsify.   Sitting at that confused temperature of not quite cold, but definitely not warm, it overall just lacked in every way. In taste it felt under-seasoned, with the crumb not doing much, and in texture chewy and not overall appealing. The sauce was nice, but even that couldn’t cover the dish as a whole. Finally, the confused mushrooms. I mean, they were nice, but what they were doing for that dish I don’t really know.

Next in rapid succession was the roasted silver cod with champagne and honey. Visually, this dish had a lot more going on for it than the others; the cod sat glistening, around which the champagne and honey ‘sauce’ was poured. Once again, though, this dish was more style than substance. The fish tased under seasoned, with the ‘sauce’ (and I use apostrophes here, as it was far too runny to really be a sauce), more generally sweet than either champagne or honey. It wasn’t by any means a horrific bit of cooking, but with expectations so high, this dish like others felt like it missed the mark. Served with our side of cod was the stir-fried baby broccoli, preserved olives, and (whilst not listed), ‘Chinese’ seaweed. Wonderfully seasoned, textually complex, with the vegetables well cooked and presented exactly as you’d want for a side - this one we did finish.

At this point in the meal, our table is literally covered in plates. Struggling to place my glass down without coating it in a dish, side sauce, or rice, our next main arrived. Very much like the rush we had from starters to mains, pacing this meal out more would have not just aided room at the table, but allowed us to (try and) enjoy each dish in turn. But, too late for that, and the spicy prawns arrived. One of my favourite dishes in terms of presentation, the striking orange of the sauce against the white of the prawns is genius. In terms of taste, there was a lot going on here, some spice, some acidity, a lot of lemongrass coming through too, but it didn’t taste bad. In terms of orange sauces, this one definitely tasted nicer than the venison.

Our final main, as rushed as the others, then came. Whoever expertly constructed and presented the previous dishes must have gone on break by the time our final main arrived. Duck in XO sauce, except this looked like more dumped on the plate, with ‘some’ garnish put on top, and then rushed out. Should we judge a book by its cover though? In this case, yes. Whilst our server when ordering promised us that this was the chef’s special sauce, a favourite of all here at Hakkasan, this surely did not feel special. Muted in taste, the duck overcooked, this was not a dish that I would remember fondly.

And like that, our meal was coming to an end. Our table was cleared quickly, and we received after two hot towels, which was a nice way to refresh after the meal. As you can imagine, after our table was cleared, only a few minutes later did our two desserts arrive. The Jivara bomb (in effect, a massive Ferrero Roche), and the spiky lemon, which was cut in half table side (for effect? Maybe?). The Jivara bomb tasted wonderful on the whole, aided by a decadent chocolate sauce poured over, although if it only a few minutes extra at room temperature, the centre would have been a lot easier to eat, and tasted slightly less of ‘frozen’.

What to say of Hakkasan though? With so much hype around it, maybe at its glory the dishes did hit every mark, the pacing better, and the experience truly elite. Whilst by no means would I say I had a bad meal, for over £200pp, I did leave a bit miffed… I can see why many years ago they earned that star, with the food inventive, and some dishes carried out well. But, now, I can see why that star was lost, also.

For good Cantonese food then, I’ll either suck it up and deal with Chinatown service, or cough up an even larger amount of money and try A. Wong.