Chai Wu is a contemporary, high end Chinese restaurant located on the 5th floor of Harrods – a luxury shopping destination found at the heart of Knightsbridge. Harrods just floods back memories for me as I used to work in this building for 3 years and service has always been top class! I was Aftab’s (Fresh and Fearless’ review is here) plus one for and I was so happy to be his blogger date for the evening! I’ve tried my fair share of Chinese dining – from street food, mama’s cooking to Michelin stars so I couldn’t wait to sample Chai Wu’s selection of Pan Asian dishes from their menu.
The ambience was cool, dim lit and cosy with tables accommodating for couples, dates and large groups. We picked out a table where we could get a good lighting for our giant cameras so we sat under a spot light (aka no birds eye view pics). I made sure my appetite was at its optimum that evening and I could not wait to sample as much of the menu we could. Filomena, our waitress for the evening recommended a lot of dishes for us and we had a feeling our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Let the munching begin:
For Starters we enjoyed the Alaskan king crab sweet corn soup – this is one of my all time favourite Chinese soup dish. It’s very traditional and I grew up drinking/eating this sweet corn soup since I was a kid. It’s very easy to make and something that always reminds me of my mum and home so I was so glad to see this on the menu. How it tastes? It didn’t disappoint – my mother would approve! The portion is perfect for 2.
Traditionally you will find pork puffs triangular shaped and I have definitely noticed that luxury Pan Asian restaurants are going for the rectangular form. Deviating from the triangle I really enjoyed the wagyu beef puff – it’s always a treat when it isn’t char siu pork however – I’ve always preferred the traditional pork puffs where you will normally find them in every Chinese dim sum restaurants.
When dining at a Chinese restaurant you must have dim sum! Even if you’ve had it once, twice, three times – I am Chinese and I just love having dim sum on my table. I feel weird if I don’t order at least a dish or 2 and th most common dim sum that I can’t resist is Shui Mai. Here at Chai Wu, we indulged in Beluga Caviar Shui Mai which was top notch.
Who doesn’t love a show piece when dried ice gets pored over your Dragon Roll! Aftab absolutely haaates sushi and we tried to convert him, here at Chai Wu! We eased him in with a ‘cooked’ roll as raw fish might just set him off! We ordered the crispy tiger prawn roll: tempura prawn, avocado, chives, ohba, yuzu mayo, black and white sesame and shichimi powder with unagi sauce topped with green tobiko.
Our conscience can feel a little guilty if we don’t order greens; Gai Lan is a traditional Chinese vegetable; it’s a bit like Chinese broccoli. I tend to like my bland and steamed with a bit of salt but it was ok. Every luxury restaurant seem to serve theirs a little on the oily side but I guess it’s down to personal taste (some Chinese people just love it super bland like me).
Ok now this one here is special! Have you heard of that crazy story where some cows in Japan gets 5 star treatment, massaged, fed beer and probably listens to Mozart? This is it; the Japanese miyazaki striploin of beef (150g) – juicy, medium rare was recommended, chewed as I imagined them getting massaged and fed beer! A first for us to try and I definitely recommend it if you have £170. Served clean and minimal garnishing so you can enjoy the full platter of undisturbed striploin beef.
What I Wasn’t a Fan of:
Crispy smoked chicken: Aftab and I didn’t quite like this dish. It was served in a martini glass and we didn’t understand the concept of why it was served this way – the chicken itself was nothing amazing; I can only describe it as battered chicken. I say it’s something for the small kids but other than that it was my least favourite dish of the night.
I get that the menu is Pan Asian but I am not a huge fan of Chicken Satay in general. It didn’t blow my mind but Aftab looooves Chicken Satay with peanut sauce wherever he goes so I get happy when I see his smile when his satay arrives! Awww Aftab you cutie.
Sweet and Sour Chicken in Dragon Fruit: looks really cool and colourful but this is one for the Instagram! Correct me if I am wrong but I usually try to stay away from sweet and sour as this is something the western loves to eat – although rarely a Chinese person eats this. There were a lot of fried dishes that evening so we were not able to enjoy this dish fully but top marks for presentation. I just personally don’t eat sweet and sour chicken if I want to try something authentic.
Sea bass with 3 flavoured sauce: bless Aftab when he asked me if we have to eat the boned fish! I should have lied and watch him tackle the meatless sea bass. The boned fish is just for presentation and the flesh has been shredded to one side – again another fried dish which we couldn’t stomach down as we were getting very full. I’ve always preferred my fish steamed so it wasn’t for me.
Korean Lobster that’s wok fried with spicy honey sauce. Again, I’m not big on too much fried food and it was a shame that the lobster was fried as we couldn’t quite taste that fishy lobster!
Saved the best to last, guilty pleasure at its finest – green tea chocolate fondant! Takes about 15 minutes to make when ordered and it was soooo worth the wait! Probably one of the best green tea chocolate fondant I’ve had in a long time! Without hesitation this would be the one thing I come back for in Chai Wu! I even contemplated ordering another one but the store was actually closing! I am so annoyed that we had to share one hehehe!
Overall dining experience has been an 8/10 – the service was undeniably perfection and we absolutely loved Filomena! If you see her please say hello to her because not only will she get embarrassed but she loves her job so much she will give you 100% of her love and attention! I cannot wait to come back here and thanks to Aftab for bring me along! Chai Wu also does Chinese style afternoon tea which is on my list to go! For more updates; you can also find me on twitter, facebook and instagram.
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