Hakkasan Mayfair

Hakkasan Mayfair, which opened in 2010, is a large restaurant split over two levels, serving around 220 customers at any one time. Just off Berkeley Square, it is an offshoot of the original Hakkasan in Hanway Place. These two venues have spawned a global empire, now owned by a large hospitality group (Mohari), and with branches from Las Vegas to Doha, and from Mumbai to Shanghai.

A quartet of steamed dim sum dumplings (£48) featured fillings of wild mushroom with black truffle, Dover sole with seven spices, prawn shui mai and scallop with XO sauce. The dumplings were well made, having thin casings and generous fillings, and arrived piping hot (15/20). Fried salt and pepper squid (£26) was also very good, the batter crisp and the squid filling tender, garnished with spring onion and red chilli. This was served with a moderately spicy chilli sauce (15/20).

Spicy prawns (£36) with almonds and yellow curry featured tender, carefully cooked prawns in a mild curry sauce. The crunchy almonds gave an additional contrasting texture and the sauce was nicely balanced (15/20). A side dish was a particularly carefully cooked dish of fried bak choi with garlic (£22). This is a simple enough dish but it was extremely well executed, the bak choi having good flavour and lovely texture (16/20). Grouper (£48) was stuffed with prawns and “termite mushrooms”, a genus of mushroom termitomyces that entirely depend upon fungus growing termites for survival. These grow in Uganda amongst other places in Africa and Asia and have a slightly sweet flavour. The fish was served with crisp fried Chinese yam and crisp lily bulbs along with a sauce of the cooking juices. This was excellent, with a pleasing balance of textures and flavours (easily 15/20). A side dish of thin hakka noodles (£22) flavoured with soy sauce had very good texture (15/20). Egg fried rice with spring onion had nicely defined grains.

”Spiky lemon” dessert (£15) had spikes of meringue protruding from a white chocolate casing containing yuzu cremeux and almond cake flavoured with calamansi. The level of acidity from the fruit was carefully judged and balanced the richness of the almond cake very well (15/20). Service was fine and the bill came to £248 per person, though that was partly due to cocktails and wine. If you ordered less lavishly than we did then a typical price per person might be around £120 or so. I suspect that the clientele here is not particularly price sensitise, and the restaurant was packed out even at an early evening service. Hakkasan offers a very consistent experience and while it may not be at the cutting edge of Chinese cuisine, that is not what it is aiming for. What it does well is a very appealing menu of carefully cooked dishes using good ingredients, combined with slick service in a smart setting.

Further reviews: 02nd Aug 2023 | 14th Jan 2023 | 12th Sep 2021 | 02nd Aug 2020 | 23rd Feb 2020 | 10th Dec 2018 | 24th Mar 2016 | 17th Sep 2015 | 21st Jan 2015 | 08th Mar 2011