Hakkasan

A bit disappointing after frequently visiting the new hakkasan in mayfair, this hakkasan seem to have lost the edge. The taste of food was great but the waitress's was acting like its a chinese takeaway. she cleared the soup bowl before i could even finish it, brought the orders separately and was very eager to present the bill. I think i will stick to the hakkasan mayfair and not go back to this one.

I’d been warned by friends: it’s dark, it’s noisy and it’s expensive. And yes, it was all of the above and I might have added that it also has the kind of waiters tasked with guaranteeing a quick turn-round of tables and ensuring that water and wine glasses were topped up pretty well between every sip. (I’m also slightly suspicious of places where a lot of people drink either cocktails or champagne with their entire meal.) But the food was imaginative, very flavoursome and reasonably plentiful (at a price). This was real fusion rather than over-confident confusion.

Situated rather unpromisingly at the end of a cul-de-sac off a rather grotty alley near the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street (ie the wrong end!), Hakkasan’s initial impression is rather like curb-side check-in for Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class (only with the lights out!). Be-suited men, and red uniformed greeters check your reservation before allowing you downstairs. Then another half dozen staff check your coat, re-check your reservation and take you to your table. Even mid-week it was packed. It was dark. And it was very noisy (every surface is hard; there’s not a piece of fabric to absorb sound anywhere but the dark wood screens look great). There’s a nice vibe and a real sense of people having fun. It’s the kind of place to take a potential mistress, a business contact who needs to be impressed or a couple of lively friends. It’s probably not the sort of place for an intimate evening with someone for whom constant banter is not necessary. Oh, and do wear black!

We started with a glorious lamb salad – slivers of crispy, sweet, spicy meat piled ziggurat-like on a plate and interspersed with thin slices of melon and various unidentified crisp and rather discreetly flavoured vegetables (kohl rabi, perhaps?). We also had the dim sum selection – two each of four nicely contrasted steamed dumplings. Mains were the spicy Ma Ce chicken of which they’d managed to get the skin to resemble that of a Peking duck. It was very tasty. The braised pork belly in plum sauce was infused with the flavour of kumquat and was a triumph, a real fusion of flavours and textures. For a side we ordered a mix of crispy lotus root, asparagus and various other vegetables, as well as a bowl of fried rice. Puddings were a trio of ice-creams (banana, chestnut and chocolate) and a rather disappointing coconut rice-pudding.

The wine list, cleverly divided by style, is pricey, climbing fast from a rare bottle or two in the £30s to the £50s and then up to bottles in the hundreds. We went for a New Zealand pint noir at £50. Throw in a couple of cocktails (£11 each) and a bottle of fizzy water (£4.60), plus service at 13% and we left having spent £183.96 – quite a lot for a mid-week dinner but, on balance, it was a good meal and I’ll probably be going back. The only alarming note was the relentlessness of the assault on the two diners to our side who’d overstepped their two-hour dining slot by a couple of minutes. I was quite expecting them to be carried out… I downed my ice-cream rather faster than normal.

Great food but its a real shame about the service. The waitor that took our order insisted that we had only ordered 1 vege dim sum when our food cam ealthough we'd actually ordered two. No apology, instead complete rudeness making the point that he would get us another dim sum as a new order but that we had not ordered it in the first place. What happened to the customer is always right?

Then we get told at 9pm that they need the table back and if we wanted dessert we had 10 minutes to order them and eat them – nice! I enquired as to why they had not told us when we arrived that they would need the table back at 9pm or made sure that they ran the service in a way where we would have time for dessert. I was told that we would have been told when we booked. I'm not sure we were but even if we were I would have thought someone would have menioned at some point that evening. Especially as they new we were having desert as I'd pre-ordered one as it was a birthday!

The manager was rude and told me we wouldhave been told when the table was confirmed – i insisted we weren't and was told that it would be on a recording if I wanted to listen – nothing like being called a liar by a mIchelin star restuarant! I asked for the recording and was told that it could be heard now…ummm. Probably does not exist!

All in awful service – shame as the food is excellent!

Hakkasan has long been a favourite haunt of mine. I have personally never had a bad experience there to date, although sympathise with many over being hurried through your meal to ensure you don't exceed the alotted 2 hours. As long as service is swift and food arrives on time from the kitchen, 2 hours is ample with Chinese/Asian cuisine (unless of course you want to have a long meal) The only time you really suffer, is when you are in a group of more than 4 people.

The food is still phenomenal. Crispy duck salad flecked with ruby pomegranate seeds, crunchy coated salt and pepper baby squid with garlic, my favourite seafood dim sum basket and faultlessly cooked spare ribs in a rich, sweet sauce are all a great way to open the meal. For mains, the black pepper beef in Merlot is a firm favourite, along with the sweet and sour pork with pomegranate, tea smoked chicken, seabass and of course, the utterly fabulous Singapore noodles, which remain the best in town. Beware though as the main courses can be astronomically priced and sometimes I prefer to eat lots more of the starters than the mains, which not only bode well for group-sharing, but also work out to be far more pocket-friendly.

Desserts are safe and somewhat less interesting than the previous courses. Nothing particularly stands out with any wow-factor. The chocolate fondant is always a good bet and sometimes they do banana and chocolate donuts, which are delicious. I guess the thing with Asian and Oriental restaurants are that dessert is never the main focus of the meal and therefore less tempting.

The restaurant is still a great evening out in the West End; but once upon a time, you would dance all night in the old ‘Ling-Ling’ lounge, which has now been culled to make space for more diners. Lets see whether the new Hakkasan (due to open next month) can capture some of the old magic and sparkle that once made Hakkasan so great.

be under no illusion that Hakkasan will be an experience to savour and remember – or at least not in a complimentary way!

from the moment you book a table – if you are lucky – it will be made apparent that they (grudgingly) want you in, take your money and get you out.

the cocktails are good, though the bar is standing only and cramped, the wine list is expensive but interesting, and the food is pretty good, though scarcely good value.

however, once you have spent some money at the bar and been shown to your table, the pressure is on to get that table vacant again.

no leisurely ordering of starters and main bits after you've eaten those – it's order NOW!

you may well be spending £75-100 a head or even more, but once your allotted 2 hours is up, the bill will be thrust under your nose whether or not you are still eating and spending money.

Hakkasan has an attitude problem and we shall not return.

Interestingly, Zuma, which in many ways has a similar set up, never puts you under pressure to leave – or at least not on nthe 5/6 occasions that I have eaten there

yes, the decor is stylish and sexy, the staff attentive…at times anoyingly, too attentive. But the reason for eating out is just that…eating. This is where i think they failed. I am surprised about the good reviews on this place, perhaps a trainee was running the kitchen tonight. Expecting the ‘wow’ factor that any michelin starred restaurant would provide but unfortunately i was left terribly dissapointed… The starters of duck with a thick wedge of mango should have been sweet and delicate but found the mango to be too sharp leaving no taste of the duck behind…the deep fried squid must of been fried for an eternity as it was so rubbery we could of used it as a squash ball. On to the mains and the roasted chicken was bland. However the lamb chops were divine. The glass noodles again…crying out for some flavour…literally. I found myself thinking i must be spoilt if my local chinese take away surpasses this michelin starred restaurant so on that note i think i'll be better off staying in and dialing them.

Unless you are a Russian oligarch (of whom there were several there the night we went), I've found that you have to ignore the “how much??” screetching alarm that keeps going off when choosing to dine at somewhere like Hakkasan, otherwise the enjoyment is somewhat soured by the prices. Once this state of mind is achieved, it does leave you free to concentrate on the experience better.
Previous reviews have lauded the lychee martini, and these did it no justice; words can't explain the explosion of complementary flavours; others in the party were similarly positive about their cocktails; to put this into context, my choice of pre-prandial drink is generally a pint of bitter, or a glass of wine if I'm feeling sophisticated.
The six of us chose a selection of starters all of which were very good, the highlight being the salt & pepper squid; the fried soft shell crab was pretty special too.
For main course, we again shared a selection; the baked lotus leaf sea bass Honk Kong style was strikingly unusual, but none the worse for that. Our other choices included stir-fried Welsh black beef, grilled Wagyu beef with enoki mushroom & soya, atlantic scallop & prawn cake, and roast duck with chinese herbs. All were really good, wonderfully cooked, and well presented. Wine list offers a wide choice, and also a wide range of prices (relatively!)
Hakkasan is a must for people watching; the Russian oligarch on the table next to us looked as if he treated the place as his local chinese; no attempt to dress up, and the only evidence of pre-planning was the DVD player for his small child.
Overall, a very good experience. Service generally excellent. The 2-hour per table policy was applied, but not aggressively or discourtiously. Only black mark was refusal to order cabs at the end of the evening; the only option on offer is to use the restaurant's own private car service – which has a minimum charge of £15.

I was really looking forward to my first visit to Hakkasan – to try some top notch Chinese food. I wasn't disappointed with the food but overall, the evening did not live up to my expectation.

Hakkasan has a great cocktail list (they don't come cheap at £10 each though) but I had to wait a good few minutes whilst the barmen stopped chatting enough to notice and serve me. When my guest arrived, the hostess advised us not to have another drink in the bar as “it would eat in to the time we had at the table”.
They do say at the time of booking that they may need the table back after two hours which is a bit much when you're paying almost £100 a head. (As it happened, we were at the table for three hours).

The food we had was good but we didn't choose very wisely. For a restaurant with one Michelin star, I would have expected some advice on our selection. The service generally was lacking in warmth and I didn't feel the staff were particularly interested in us – again not what I would expect for the prices they charge. The sommelier on the other hand was great and happy to give us as much information as we wanted on the wines we had selected (even though they were at the cheaper end of the list).

Overall, good food but not value for money and not a restaurant I'd rush back to.

I have eaten in Hakkasan over a number of years and if you like chinese food then it just does not get any better than this place. It is truely wonderful chinese food with Dim Sum to die for. I consider myself a chinese foodie and this is the best food I have ever eaten. Time and time again I have eaten there and I am never disappointed. If you go for the food then go at lunchtime where the Dim Sum menu is more extensive. At night the bar etc give it a unigue atmosphere. It is is at the end of a dark and narrow laneway and down dark stairs and then a whole new world opens up inside. The best.

Food and service was fantastic and all staff friendly and welcoming towards us and towards our 2 month old baby. With none of the perceived snobbery of a top restaurant. Dishes were full of flavour favourite starter was jasmine tea smoked pork ribs, the meat fell off the bone, delicious. Silver cod in seafood “hotpot” was wonderful.

The Hakkasan experience blew that of Ming Jiang out of the water. It would not matter were the décor and ambience bland (which it obviously isn’t) because the food borders on the magnificent. I have never tasted such wonderful soft shell crab. Singapore noodles were a sensation as was the Welsh Black beef. I fail to discern which my favourite dish was, but were a gun at my head, I think I would not hesitate to elect Jasmine tea smoked chicken. Service was acceptable and fortunately we were saved from our own enthusiasm by an astute waiter who pointed out that we’d ordered enough – he was right as we left totally replete, but already contemplating our next possible date to return.

I am going to keep this review short, like the restaurants table policy – overated, overpriced and over the hill. £400 for 3 people for a table from 7.30-9.30 that we almost got physiclaly removed from is not good value. With the vast choices available in London nowadays and in the present climate go somewhere else instead.

Hakkasan is all it is made out to be. Few places make as lasting an impression as this interesting space in a side street in Soho. I was quite sceptical that the high standarts would persists after Alain Yau sold Hakkasan, but it is almost unchanged.

If your visiting Hakkasan anytime soon then do one thing – catch up with your fellow diner/s beforehand as once you enter the basement restaurant you'll be too busy people watching and being generally astounded to speak to them until the bill arrives. Entering Hakkasan is like entering a secret uber world, with the backstage buzz of a fashion show together with the ambience of a sleek and very exclusive members club. You want to be here and you love every minute, particularly the minutes that fly by as you read the ample menu.

I was glad to see that style (fantastic though it is) is not above substance here and there were a few dilemmas on choosing the right dish and sides, but nothing the friendly and knowledgable waiting staff can't help you out with. On the advice of a friend I went with the infamous silver cod with champagne and honey – what a delight. Interestingly unlike most hyped restautrants at Hakkasan portion size does not have an inverse relationship to price and the cod came as two generous fillets. Vegetarian options were also aplenty with carefully prepared mock chicken dishes.

My only regret is not trying the desserts, but between a pre dinner visit to the Sanderson's Long bar for a few glasses of celebratory champagne, the plentiful dim sum platter and the melt in my mouth cod, I'd have been akin to a certain pink farmyard animal if I'd have attempted anymore. Great for dates to impress or inversely bored couples! And one to keep visiting…

p.s. Has anyone else noticed that Mint Leaf, which opened some time after Hakkasan, has co-incidentally very similar interiors?

A very good restaurant, still very booked in the current economic environment so they must be doing something right. Spectacular atmosphere, dark and exotic and always really busy, with constant food and service. The only downside is the price…

The food was trully delicious, especially the Seabass in black miso. Dim sum however was a bit disappointing and lacked flavour. The place is quite noisy in the evenings,so not the best choice for a romantic dinner. The other inconvenience is that the tables are rather close to each other, so you intimacy is somewhat ruined by people unwillingly able to hear your conversations.

The food at Hakkasan has been very good and consistent for years and the atmosphere always buzzy. Admittedly the location has put me off previously a couple times from going more often (nowhere to park, difficult to get a taxi) but that's irrelevant. I have only one more thing to add to all these positive reviews: try the silver cod in honey & champagne, it melts in your mouth.

This restaurant is currently my favourite. I find comments like, “2 hour limits being irritating” to be IRRITATING! Why would anyone want to spend over 2 hours in any restaurant? You could not possibly eat for such a period of time unless your stomach(s) is/are (a) bottomless pit(s)! Try to understand, it is a busy place, they want to serve as many people as they can and I think they do so very well. Service is not just good, it is outstanding, the waiters are helpful and ooze class – they know what they are doing, they know what they are talking about and they ALWAYS get you what you actually want. It is dark inside, yes, but your table will be well lit and your food will not only arrive promptly, it will be cooked and presented to a standard of sheer excellence.
Parking is hard to find, though they do a very good Valet service which you are charged a very reasonable £10 for. The location isn't ideal, to be frank, it is located within a one-way labyrinth of narrow roads in the sort of place you'd probably expect to find a rat-infested cafe rather than a top-notch restaurant.
As for the 2 hour table limit “rarely being handled with grace” – I completely disagree. In my own experience, I've been an hour late before on a busy night and I was not once hassled to leave promptly. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it hasn't happened to ME and I am reviewing the place based on MY experience, not hearsay from someone with a bee in their bonnet.
Next, we come to the decor, I would call it classy, not dark or old fashioned. I've taken many a friend to this restaurant and have only had complimentary comments; “Wow!” being the most common and these people are not easily impressed – like me. The best example is right at the start, the way they have transformed what was presumably a boring dark stairway into an interesting, mystique inducing introductory passage into brightly lit reception area which leads into a gorgeous restaurant. There is a lovely fragrance as you walk down the stairs (there are quite a few and it doesn't look good for disabled access but I cannot be sure that there isn't some other way to accommodate the disabled, so ask them before going or assuming they won't and deciding not to go).
You enter the reception area and are welcomed and asked for your name, just as you would have been before entering at the top of the stairs. You then go through to the seating area and, if you wish, the bar. The music, to me, is just the right volume, loud enough to drown out other conversations but not too loud to follow your own. There is always a decent crowd inside, the place is always not just clean, it is spotless, meticulous and just adds to the polished overall presentation of the restaurant.
Food is exquisite with a very wide variety, I tend to stick with what I like – at the moment that is the Crispy Duck Salad and the Lamb Salad. Those two starters are absolutely gorgeous and worth every penny. On the main course front, I have tried various dishes, none of which have made me want to order them again, but were not in the least bit unpleasant. I tried the Wagyu Beef and Ostrich recently, both delicious but not what I will order every time. As I said, nothing is unpleasant, I had never tried either of the aforementioned meats before and didn't particularly fancy the beef with its pinkish appearance, but you don't taste looks! The beef was delicious, it melted in my mouth and I would definitely recommend it. Similarly, the Ostrich didn't appeal to me at first glance, but one taste and I was ready for more. The meat was perfectly cooked and the sauce it was covered in made it irresistible. I am confident that I will find a regular main course to have, and I am enjoying the journey towards discovering it! IF you don't like what you order here, you shouldn't have ordered it because you won't like it anywhere else! Basically, you ordered a dish which you couldn't possibly have liked.

Taking someone to Hakkasan is a pleasure, you know they will not let you down with presentation or service and it fills you with pride to take your friends or associates there because they will be impressed and you will gain respect for knowing and acknowledging such a place. They too will be infected and so the customer base will grow – which is why the 2 hour limits are in place!
I cannot recommend Hakkasan more highly. It has everything you need and it is impressive in every respect. I look forward to my next visit and recommend that you book your place without delay; you have missed out for long enough as it is, don't waste any more time!

Hakksan has been a favourite of mine for years – very lively and buzzy (sometimes too much) I always book for the Ling Ling area as I find it to be so much more spacious, comfortable and a little less loud. With regards to the food I don't think I've ever had a disappointing dish but do in honesty tend to stick to similar dishes that I know I'll enjoy. Pricewise it is expensive especially if your brain decides to let your stomach order as it is easy to order too much and therefore overspend. I'd also suggest trying (I'm sure they still do it) the special Peking Duck & Caviar menu for a special treat – it's very expensive and needs to be pre-ordered 24 hours in advance but it's oh so good and definitely a good option for a special occasion.

I have been going to Hakkasan for several years and love it's consistency. I know what I like to eat there (Chilean Seabass, Jasmine Smoked Pork Ribs, duck salad, dim sum platter to name a few dishes) and it never fails to deliver. It's always buzzing with chatter, smells good and you get very well looked after. The drinks are also spot on, and my favorite cocktail has always been the Lychee Martini.
The only problem with Hakkasan is the turnover, there is a slight conveyer belt dining feeling going on, with a 2hr sitting and tables packed closely together it can feel a little impersonal. However this a small minus in an army of plusses. The only meal I have had @ Hakkasan that i didn't enjoy was when I was advised to try dishes that i knew I probably wouldn't like, so my advice is stick to what you like, do try something different, but if you don't like the sound of it don't try it because at the prices you want to enjoy every mouhtful!

The best restaurant in a basement anywhere! The staff are gorgeous to look at, the loo's are difficult to find and the bar is terrific (as long as you forget what the drinks cost). The food is consistently good, with the finest sesame prawn toast you will ever experience. It’s funky, loud and lively – probably not the place to take your mother-in-law, but your teenage children will think you are cool… almost.

Expensive but great fun – especially at lunch, when the dark interiors make you feel it's nighttime. The food is excellent, as are the cocktails, and it's easy to get carried away. Stumbling outside into the afternoon sunshine after what feels like a big night out is a curious experience that comes highly recommended.

Effortlessly stylish. Flavourful food. First rate, bespoke wine list – real passion here. Pricey, not that I mind this with clients. A special occasion place, for sure. Funky, moody decor best experienced at night or lunchtime on dark winter days.

First went when it opened and thought that it was fantastic. It took Chinese food up several gears and took Chinese into the fashion world. Since then the prices have gone up but it still remains a top destination. Having said that I went the othe day and thought it had gone down as I choose badly but it goes to show you need to choose well. The dishs were too similiar and the waiter did not advise me well.
It also has a superb long bar for a cocktails.