Hakkasan: Culinary indulgence as it should be

This Michelin-starred restaurant takes Cantonese cooking and adds European decadence
The exquisite dim sum at Hakkasan
Ailis Brennan31 January 2018

A Friday night at Hakkasan sports a little bit more than your average “going for a chinese”. Both the London locations of the internationally renowned fine dining outfit hold a Michelin star for their sophisticated, smart and pretty darn sexy approach to Cantonese cooking.

The glamour of the occasion is beautifully crafted, with a firm grip on contemporary luxury: taking your seat is akin to entering a ferociously stylish club. The menu is peppered with opulent touches: prawn toast is served with foie gras, and Peking duck is topped with Hakkasan special reserve Qiandao caviar – an addition that sounds excessive but is perfectly placed to add salty silkiness to the crack of the skin and the sweetness of the meat.

This is part of what makes Hakkasan quite so fun – ingredients associated with European decadence are treated as ingredients, as part of a dish rather than on a pedestal, their flavour potential explored through an Asian framework. The foie gras intensifies the nuttiness of the prawn toast's sesame sprinkling, and at Mayfair, buttery soft slices of Wagyu rib eye beef (Japanese, we know) reign supreme, served with a spring onion soya, the meat woven together with golden threads of glistening fat.

This is culinary indulgence as it should be.

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