Yauatcha – Soho, Thursday 28th October, 2010

Whilst I was mired in pre-operation tests, masses of day-work and a decidedly dreary couple of weeks in October, I was able to eke out a couple more days off so I wouldn't be stuck with loads of leftover holiday at the end of the year. Happily enough, most of these days off involved some sort of eating and luckily for me (and you, dear reader), I have an excellent memory. Let the raptures of meals past come forth once more!

…Ahem. Tea time at Yauatcha is nothing to be sniffed at. Named after the successful restaurateur and patron Alan Yau (the man behind Hakkasan), it sits on the corner of Berwick Street and Broadwick Street, right in the middle of Soho. It's bizarre to think that on the edge of a Soho street market, next to a parade of the ugliest flats and the dodgiest fabric shops, sits a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant.

The place itself is pretty swanky. Deep, cool blues everywhere from the fish tanks to the screen in front of the kitchen, soft yellow backlights and a real feel of Mayfair chic. Bizarre for what is essentially a Soho café. Mind you, the food is generally more expensive and - importantly - better than what you'll find elsewhere in W1.

Well, it is better but it isn't quite good enough. It's cheap but not quite cheap enough. There are highs but strangely these just are not high enough. Most of what we ate - cheung fun (thin, white dumplings stretched long to accommodate beef), char siu (puffy buns housing more impressive pork), char siu bao (pork buns as comforting as the cosiest bed) - was really lovely. Kind of like Hakkasan without the spotlighting and grandeur.

Two dishes stood apart though. The stir-fried beef ho fun (flat, sticky noodles) was actually fairly ordinary. Neither on-the-street authentic nor Michelin-starred galactic, they just ended up being noodles which were slightly overpriced and poorly served. The second dish which stood out was for better reasons. A salted egg and crab croquette is something that should be great if you're eating at Yauatcha, but this was even better than I'd hoped (left).

Crackly, deep-fried batter housing something that looked like it had been wheeled off the set of Alien was actually light, crispy, rich in salty flavour and just lovely. I've never eaten anything that looked or tasted quite like this.

I'd go back to Yauatcha, but only for a quick lunch or a traditional Asian tea time. It's not the sort of place you would go very often, but as a midday outing or afternoon treat, I'd recommend it.

I do find it hard to get too galvanised by Yauatcha in general. The food is - more or less - very good without the eye-watering prices you might expect, but the place itself is a bit contradictory, a bit clinical and a bit precious. I'm sure I'll go back, but I won't be hyper-excited about it.

Yauatcha