Situated in the heart of the city of London, Yauatcha City is the latest addition to the Hakkasan Group’s portfolio of Chinese restaurants. Based on the dim sum tea houses of China, Yauatcha City offers an all-day dining experience for the local city folk and keen foodies like me. The original London Yauatcha gained its first Michelin star within a year of opening and has maintained it ever since, so visiting the new Yauatcha City location was always going to be a magical experience.
Joined by May from Red Velvet London, we wined and dined on some of the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. I’m scared to say that the dim sum very, VERY, narrowly topped that which I ate at Hakkasan (aside from the duck and pumpkin rolls, they were something else), but the differences between Hakkasan and Yauatcha are quite notable. Yauatcha has a much more modern, clean feel to the restaurant with a Western influence to the service. The waiting staff were polite and subtle in their approach, except the sommelier who was encouraging me to down my cocktails and start on the wine. Safe to say, the night ended with me asleep on a bus.
Anyway onto the review! Just as a disclaimer I was invited by the PR team at Yauatcha to visit for a review. My meal was paid for but all opinions here are my own. Thank-you to May for providing a selection of images for this post. 
Where
Yauatcha City, Broadgate Circle
When
Wednesday evening, 8pm-12am
What we ate
- Starters: Black pepper and Wagyu beef dumpling (黑椒和牛蒸餃), Scallop shui mai (帶子釀燒賣), Char siu bun (蠔皇叉燒包), Har gau (筍尖鮮蝦餃).
- Mains: Truffle pork belly rib (黑菌花腩骨), Crispy sweet and sour seabass (酥炸糖醋海鱸魚), Egg fried rice with long bean (豆角蛋炒飯), Gai lan with oyster sauce (芥蘭菜),
- Desserts: Pomegranate yoghurt, Cassis and violet grand macaron
What we drank
- Cocktails: White Lady cocktail (Gin, Triple Sec, Lemon Juice, Sugar Syrup, Egg White), Mai Tai cocktail (Bacardi Rum, Orange Curacao Liqueur, Lime Juice, Almond Syrup, Sugar Syrup)
- Wine: Sylvaner ‘Sylvacello’, Cave de Turckheim 2012 (White, Alsace)
Highlights
- Throughout our time at Yauatcha we were treated with respect and given the best service.
- Our cocktails were really inventive as we asked the barman to surprise us. I have never drunk egg whites and this is something I would definitely do again.
- The dim sum at Yauatcha was exemplary. May is from a Chinese background as applauded the dim sum we were served but also pointed out the regional differences she had experienced. The venison puff (which was not on the online menu) was absolutely delicious with a great mix of rich flavours and light pastry. The char sui bao were pillowly soft and packed with gorgeous pork meat in a light sauce. May laughed at me for dipping my bao in soy sauce!
- The scallop shui mai and har gau were both soft and sweet with an extremely thin pastry and delicious filling. I was expecting the scallop to be chopped rather than in large slices but either way it was great.
- The main course of truffle pork belly rib was out of this world – seriously it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. The flavour was rich with umami, sweet, sticky and incredibly addictive. The texture of the meat was super soft and just fell apart at the touch of a spoon.
Lowlights
- I was not a fan of the sea bass. We didn’t realise this came deep fried in a batter (as you can see it just states “crispy” on the menu), and it felt a little like fish and chips. The sweet and sour sauce was nice though.
- The gai lan, despite having a lovely flavour, went cold a touch quickly so we had to gobble them up very fast!
Overall
I would thoroughly recommend visiting Yauatcha City for a special occasion meal – perhaps an anniversary or special birthday. It is rather pricey but you truly are paying for excellent quality ingredients and mastery cooking. It would be great to visit again for a dim sum tea on a Sunday afternoon as per tradition and experience the restaurant in a quieter setting. Get the truffle pork belly rib while it’s still there!
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