Twenty years after launch, the Hakkasan Group’s all-day dim sum venue Yauatcha is a Soho mainstay, and is still at the cutting-edge of premium Cantonese dim sum. Many reckon it’s the best in London, and they might be right.
Such is the success of the original Soho franchise, designed by Christian Liaigre, and owned by the eponymous Alan Yau, that several off-shoots have sprouted up – one in the City of London and four internationally (in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Riyadh).
Stepping inside the original outpost in Soho, Yauatcha feels every bit as hip as it did when I first came here in the mid-noughties. Exotic tropical fish in sulphorous blue underlit tanks lace the walls of this modernist building on Broadwick Street. The downstairs space, which houses the bulk of the restaurant seating, is contemporarily stylish, expensively festooned with polished dark wood tables, plush, teal-colored banquettes and candle-lights embedded in the cross-shaped recesses of an exposed brickwork wall. It is a cool, contemporary space.The service is, unsurprisingly, equally slick and polished.
My friend S and I visited one gelid Thursday evening in mid-January. At Yauatcha, there is absolutely no hint of January mopery whatsoever. The restaurant is buzzing; there is not an empty table in sight. We are here to sample some of the Autumn/Winter 23-24 dishes.
We began with a trio of steamed dim sum: golden squash, vegetable and seaweed crystal and edamame truffle dumplings. We both enjoyed them all, especially the edamame truffle, which had a wonderfully loamy taste thanks to the truffle, and interesting mouthfeel. Next came the fried and baked dim sum – an edamame puff (deliciously crisp) and mushroom bean curd roll, which was exceptional. My friend S has lived in Hong Kong and knows her stuff when it comes to dim sum: she declared all the pieces that we sampled to be outstanding. Our unanimous favorite dish of the evening, though, was the crispy wild mushroom and bean curd, which was a wonderful textural and flavorsome melange. We had six pieces each, which was absolutely satiating, but we both wished we could have eaten more. Next came vegan Mapo tofu with soy mince, which was firm and piquantly flavored with pickled mustard and earthy shiitake mushroom. Another highlight for me, in particular, was the sweetcorn oat milk bao; the buns resemble miniature corn on the cobs and are a wonderful sweet and sour blend. We also enjoyed the stir-fried long bean dish, which was sauteed with ginger, garlic, and black bean sauce, which was the perfect flavor amalgam of spicy, salty, sweet, and savory– so often this sauce can be overly sweet and cloying – thankfully, this was not the case here.
All of the sweetness is reserved for the funky, French-fusion patisserie puddings: we shared the chocolate black sesame & salted caramel tart, which was a devilishly tasty confection – the nutty, slightly bitter black sesame offsetting the sweetness of the praline and salted caramel to perfection. We also enjoyed the aptly named Mount Everest – a moreish marriage of coconut crunch and mousse – the creamy unctuousness of the coconut spiked with lime curd and champagne jelly.
There are few restaurants in London that can lay claim to sustaining a record of excellence for decades, particularly somewhere as capricious as Soho. Yauatcha retains its status as one of, if not the best place to go for dim sum in London.
Celebrating Chinese New Year (Saturday 10th February 2024), Yauatcha will offer a special Year of the Dragon Menu, available from 30th January until 24th February.
Yauatcha, 15-17 Broadwick Street, London W1 0DL (020 7494 8888).
