We do enjoy a good collaboration, especially so when it encompasses both the visual and the culinary. Celebrating the Chinese New Year of the Horse, fancy pants retailer Harvey Nichols have adorned the dim sum favourite, Yauatcha, in red acrylic galloping fillies. The windows exude vibrancy: the dynamic red creatures set against the restaurant’s deep blue façade make for one heck of an Instagram #nofilter moment.
As the year of “energy and rejuvenation” begins, the Michelin-starred tea-house/restaurant has introduced limited edition ‘red petits gateaux’ in the shape of traditional Chinese lanterns. The little treats of jasmine tea-flavoured mousse surrounding honey cream with caramelised mandarins are ingenious, scrumptious. The soft, sweet and aromatic delights are the creation of Hakkasan group’s Executive Pastry Chef Graham Hornigold. Representing luck and fortune, they’re clearly two things that this pâtisserie master needn’t rely upon.
Of course if you’re able to get to Yauatcha in time for the special sweet menu you should also go à la carte. Notable were the spinach balls with prawn and cuttlefish that came steaming and full of appetising filling. We also tried one of their best sellers – the prawn and beancurd cheung fun – here the textures began with the soft of the rice dough and ended with crispy fried pancake that allowed for perfect steaming of the juicy prawn.
Ten years on, Yauatcha remains one of London’s favourite dim sum restaurants for reasons of flavour and ambience. With low ceilings, seating upstairs and an open dinning hall vibe downstairs; it remains cosmopolitan, very Soho. Even a dreary Monday evening couldn’t dampen the spirits of tonight’s assembled masses.
You’ll want to act fast if you want to indulge in Yauatcha’s Chinese New Year tea-house delights. You need to book in by 10 February.
Photo © We Heart
Photo © We Heart
Photo © We Heart
Photo © We Heart
Photography courtesy, Yauatcha
unless otherwise stated.
