Yauatcha – Dim Sum With A Difference
It's been a while since I last visited Yauatcha. Alan Yau's contemporary dim sum eatery was all the rage in the first year after it opened, and even won a Michelin Star. However, it soon settled on its laurels and quality suffered.
However, that is all in the past, in the excellent Irrationality, Stuart Sutherland argues that single restaurant reviews cannot be rational as restaurants can have good and bad days.
So, with much anticipation, I once again decided to visit Yauatcha when a friend requested a Christmas treat there. The booking system was perfunctory, and upon arrival we only had a brief wait despite being a little early for our Friday evening reservation. That was a vast improvement from my previous experience, where I had to wait 30 minutes despite having a prior reservation.
While waiting, we browsed Yauatcha's range of delightful looking cakes. It prides itself on its range of exotic Chinese teas and cakes that combine western and eastern influences.
Upon sitting, my friend and I perused the menu, salivating greatly in the process. We were both exceptionally excited. We decided to order Scallop Siu Mai, Har Gow, Prawn Cheung Fun, Duck and Pumpkin dumplings, venison puffs and stir fried spicy aubergine, okra and French bean.
The Scallop Siu Mai and Har Gow - both steam dumplings - were amazing. The freshness of the ingredients was commendable, with the fillings being noticeably fresh and crunchy, as opposed to the smooth pasty fillings offered by Ping Pong.
However, the Prawn Cheung Fun was rather lack lustre, lacking in smoothness and a little too thick for my taste. The venison puff was also too dry for my palette and I found it hard to chew and swallow.
The spicy aubergine, okra and French beans more than made up for the prior errors, arriving in a tasty sauce of ginger and chillis. Despite going there for excellent seafood, I was exceptionally impressed by the tastiness of this dish.
For desert, I had a Mandarin cake with sourbet. It was fairly tasty, but nothing particularly special, though that may be because I'm not really a desert man.
Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Yauatcha. Though I only found just over half the dishes were exceptional, my dinner date was very impressed, and that is what counts. And it is interesting to note that Sutherland's observation was fairly accurate, with just under half of the dishes being subpar.
Oh, I almost forgot - I had to ask 3 times for tea (the last one didn't arrive), and they almost lost my coat. But no one's perfect.
However, that is all in the past, in the excellent Irrationality, Stuart Sutherland argues that single restaurant reviews cannot be rational as restaurants can have good and bad days.
So, with much anticipation, I once again decided to visit Yauatcha when a friend requested a Christmas treat there. The booking system was perfunctory, and upon arrival we only had a brief wait despite being a little early for our Friday evening reservation. That was a vast improvement from my previous experience, where I had to wait 30 minutes despite having a prior reservation.
While waiting, we browsed Yauatcha's range of delightful looking cakes. It prides itself on its range of exotic Chinese teas and cakes that combine western and eastern influences.
Upon sitting, my friend and I perused the menu, salivating greatly in the process. We were both exceptionally excited. We decided to order Scallop Siu Mai, Har Gow, Prawn Cheung Fun, Duck and Pumpkin dumplings, venison puffs and stir fried spicy aubergine, okra and French bean.
The Scallop Siu Mai and Har Gow - both steam dumplings - were amazing. The freshness of the ingredients was commendable, with the fillings being noticeably fresh and crunchy, as opposed to the smooth pasty fillings offered by Ping Pong.
However, the Prawn Cheung Fun was rather lack lustre, lacking in smoothness and a little too thick for my taste. The venison puff was also too dry for my palette and I found it hard to chew and swallow.
The spicy aubergine, okra and French beans more than made up for the prior errors, arriving in a tasty sauce of ginger and chillis. Despite going there for excellent seafood, I was exceptionally impressed by the tastiness of this dish.
For desert, I had a Mandarin cake with sourbet. It was fairly tasty, but nothing particularly special, though that may be because I'm not really a desert man.
Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Yauatcha. Though I only found just over half the dishes were exceptional, my dinner date was very impressed, and that is what counts. And it is interesting to note that Sutherland's observation was fairly accurate, with just under half of the dishes being subpar.
Oh, I almost forgot - I had to ask 3 times for tea (the last one didn't arrive), and they almost lost my coat. But no one's perfect.
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