Happy New Year! I was actually pretty ill over Christmas so I didn’t get to enjoy the festivities much – but thankfully I’m back, and rearing to go! I wanted to see the Christmas lights in all their glory with my niece before they disappeared.
Thankfully it wasn’t as bitterly cold as everyone was saying it would be, although I did layer up with Tromso gear – so I was toasty and warm! The lights were beautiful – I loved the floating Angels! I’m also glad that some lights – like these peacock feathers and fans – are being reused.
So all this walking and shopping made everyone hungry, and the hunt for food began. We decided to go to Hakkasan. B & C had been to the Hanway Place branch and waxed lyrical, and they wanted to go again to satiate their craving. However the Mayfair branch was much closer, so we went there instead. I have been to this branch before, but only for a set menu option. This time we were going a la carte!
As expected, the menu was pretty extensive. We decided to go for a couple of starters/small plates that we could all enjoy, including the impeccably behaved Little Miss S. We chose the vegetarian dim sum platter and the salt and pepper pumpkin tofu.
Now for someone who hasn’t had meat for years, that dim sum platter definitely reminded me of not only the texture of chicken, but the taste! All the dim sum were very yummy, but part of me just couldn’t get over that meaty texture! As for the tofu – I love silken tofu, and this was essentially coated in a pumpkin/seaweed/veggie floss. The tofu was meltingly soft and the seasoning just right. And don’t be fooled but those red chillies on the plate – absolutely no heat at all.
For mains we ordered veggie fried rice, Hakka noodle (with mushrooms, leeks and bean sprouts). The latter went down particularly well with Little Miss S – she thoroughly enjoyed them. And the noodles were tasty – better than the rice, which I thought was no different to what you get from your local Chinese takeaway.
We also went for the four style veggie sir fry (with beans, tofu, mushroom and nice chunky asparagus) in a Szechuan sauce. Now. As far as I know, a Szechuan sauce is supposed to be hot, potentially tongue numbing. Nope. Not even close. No hint of chilli, not even a tickle. It was a pleasant enough dish, but nothing to write home about (apart from on the blog haha)
The final dish we ordered was the stir fry black pepper vegetarian chicken – just to try what it would be like. In all the excitement I didn’t take a picture! Plump bits of ‘chicken’, coated in a peppery sauce, with a few sugar snap peas and red pepper chunks thrown in. It was Ok – not one to order again in my opinion, I wasn’t really a fan – but 100% for the mock chicken! Check out this piece – I can’t believe it’s not chicken!
All in all, an average meal (didn’t warm fully to the mock meats and the lack of flavour in the sauces), but with great company (with my favourite chica in the whole world) and beautiful Christmas lights – a lovely day to start off the new year!
PB Eats, PB Travels 