Yauatcha 4th July 2010

Our friends from the Philippines had missed their connection from San Sebastian (strikes in air traffic control, would you believe it) resulting in their missing our Friday night dinner engagement which would have been at Yauatcha had we managed to get a table after tea time for the children and just before normal people are going to bed.  So with the new appointment set for Sunday the call to Yauatcha with the question 'Do you have a table for 4 at 8.30pm' was met with a resounding 'Yes'.

As you may have deduced from reading any of my other reviews I am a, what marketeers would not bracket in their targeting as 'Likes to try new things', more of a 'Feels comfortable with what he knows'.  So this clearly wasn't my first experience.  I first went to Yauatcha on expenses - not mine I hasten to add but it had given me the exposure to a classic London restaurant.  Despite being able to get a table when we wanted, this was Sunday night and the place was busy, the kind of busyness that most restaurateurs dream of (I know I have).

My friends, who have entertained both Lisa and I, 5 years ago and me more recently on my own (Leo promotes events in the Philippines part time and has brought me over to DJ for some great gigs over the last 5 years).  Leo and Mariella have taken me to some spectacular Chinese restaurants in the Philippines so this seemed like a good idea for a return match.

We took ordering duties on a 50:50 basis, and ended up with a pretty fine collection of dishes.  Apparently, and this I loved, Mariella had heard that Peeking duck the way we do it in the UK is a 'must have'. Well I am pleased to say that it lived up to expectations but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Yauatcha is known for its dim sum and a very impressive list of dim sum it is and not the freeze dried, steamed, Wing Yip variety (although nothing particularly wrong in that).  We kicked off with some favourites from the shui mai family of dim sum, definitely higher up the evolutionary chain of dim sum's; these were wonderfully light with very delicate, translucent rice-flour skins.  This is the test of the skills of the dim sum chef as they are dammed hard to make.  Traditionally dim sum was served with tea, in fact started its life as a tea tasting and food was then introduced once the Chinese discovered that tea aided the digestion and not make you fat when you drank tea and ate together, I find wine does that for me!  Have a look here if you want to know more History of Dim Sum. We chose Scallop shui mai, Blue swimmer crab shui mai, and Pork and prawn shui mai.  Next up was King crab dumpling and tobiko caviar and the delicious Soft shelled crab and salted egg croquet.  The main event was the Peking duck done the usual way and stir fry rib eye beef in a black bean sauce, beautifully cooked.  We broke with tradition and did not drink tea but indulged this fantastic food  with my favourite choice, with spicy Asian food - Gewürztraminer, from Spain of all places, (and I can't remember the bloody name!) which was delicious.

All in all we were very happy to have taken our friends, experts in this cuisine and not be let down, but then again we shouldn't be given this restaurant has held a Michelin Star for 5 years (mind you they give them away now!).  It once again re-enforces my belief in the tried and tested as a safe bet, this wasn't an earth shattering experience but then again we were there to meet old friends and have a good time and good food and wine was a bonus.  That and the fact that it was less than £40 per head.  I have no hesitation recommending Yauatcha.