Yauatcha

I can't count the amount of times I have been to Yauatcha, but it is probably an easy report to pull out of their reservation system. Safe to say that when I or my wife phone to book, they ask if I would like my usual table.

Sunday lunch is so much tastier when it come in little chinese steamer baskets. They have recently changed their menu and it has to be said that I was more than sad to see a few old favourites lose their pegging in the new print run.

Bye Bye – Baked chicken with Mushroom. We will miss you.
Bye Bye – Steamed Silver Cod – I knew you for only sometime, but what a time we had.

Now I don't want this to turn into anymore of a love-in than it has already become. So lets lay it out, my fave dishes.

Roast Venison Puff – This is the best of the best, soft buttery flaky pastry and sweet and unctuous venison inside there is nothing better to start the meal with, and as everything comes as it is ready this always makesit way to the table first.

Spinach Cubes – These are amazing, steamed parcels of prawn and water chestnut, wrapped in spinach and… More

My friends and I visited Yauatcha last Wednesday to discover the menu had undergone a revamp, with the dim sum selection significantly reduced, excising many of our favourites such as the spinach cube, char sui cheung fun and prawn and date dumplings, only to be replaced by a larger selection of starter and main courses. A confusing choice considering its reputation as one of the best restaurants for dim sum in London.

However delving into the menu revealed a number of highlights, with old mainstays like the baked venison puff supplemented by excellent dishes like roast duck and pumpkin dumplings and pear and taro croquettes. Indeed, it would appear that standards, which had slipped of late, are back to form, with everything receiving a bit of a polish, from the inventive ingredient combinations to the new spin on established dishes, notably including the mango spring roll now done in batter rather than pastry. Unfortunately the diver scallops, having had the fortune to eat on only a handful of occasions, remain elusive as ever, and we were informed that a… More

Wonderful dim sum – reasonably priced considering their quality and taste. Cakes of extraordinary beauty. The tea is quite delicious, especially the Oolongs.

I took clients here for lunch and the service was just appalling, when the prices are that high I do not expect to have to wave like a drowning woman to get a drink.

Disappointing and I will not be going back.

This place is awful.

While waiting for your table and/or your dinner companions, better not be thirsty because there is no bar. Then, once seated, better not be claustraphobic as they have crammed as many tables as is physically possible into both upstairs and downstairs dining room. Finally, better not be too hungry, the service is incredibly slow and awkward, after which we were told we had no time to even be shown the desert menu before being turfed out – but not before paying an absolutely wapping bill with a 12.5% service charge pre-added.

Not to be repeated.