Tipped

Pretty but useless

January 18, 2009

...for a vegetarian, that is.

This is hopefully just a bad first impression, but it seems like there's nearly nothing vegetarian on the menu. They managed to add meat or seafood (not fish sauce, but scallops or prawns or chicken) to every tofu dish. It seemed like I could count the vegetarian options on one hand (4 vegetable dishes?) in an otherwise very extensive and intriguing menu.

So, tonight's dinner: My companion had marmite prawns--I had an insipid lotus root/asparagus/carrot stirfry. They had luscious smelling coconut rice fried rice (with bits of meat); I had the steamed rice. The only dish on the menu that seemed to be designed with the existence of vegetarians in mind (and indeed, the only one marked with a 'V' on the whole menu) was a starter of averageish (but non-greasy) fried veggie rolls, fried tofu skins I didn't like (but my tablemates did, praising the 'ducky' flavor of them), and a lovely fried seaweed garnish. I'd go back for more of the garnish. If I had to go again, I'd eat beforehand. Somewhere else.

There is a reason to return, though: I would go back in a heartbeat for the lychee martini. It was fantastic. It, with the eyecandy of the food's presentation (again, especially my meat-eating companions'), were the highlights of my evening. I just wish I'd left it with the martini.

Keywords: cocktails, presentation, grumble

Chinese with zing, zest, and tazty!

January 16, 2009

Haozhan is a Chinese restaurant smack-bang in the middle of Chinatown in Soho, London. It’s a funny little place, wedged between a Chinese supermarket, and surrounded with traditional Chinese restaurants at all sides. We ended up choosing this restaurant over the others because it looked less traditional than others – sure, there were the classic, must-have paper lanterns, but it also looked modern, with a feel not entirely unlike the Bar Room Bar diagonally across the road – simple but modern furnishings, funky tunes (Manu Chao, Lamb, Aim, Rae and Christian and that ilk), friendly staff, and a great location.

The restaurant markets itself with ‘modern oriental dining’, which is a pretty good Ronseal approach to an explanation. The wine menu was small but well-chosen, they have a delicious selection of teas, but it’s the food which really sets the place apart.

Dishes you have grown to expect to come swilling in its own fatty juices are instead presented attractively at Haozhan. The dish I tried (which I was embarrassingly unable to pronounce, but it was a ‘number 31’ on the menu) was very, very spicy indeed, but without the Indian food classic of just piling up loads of spices. If there’s any truth that a good chef sets himself apart in the subtlety of his use of spices, then Haozhan’s top wok-stirrer is a genius: Spicy, yes, but with every individual spice perfectly chosen, mixed in, and individually identifiable.

Between the well-known dishes, you’ll find an occasional ‘chef’s special’ which is well worth choosing – Haozhan has a creative, inventive, and downright surprising approach to going for a Chinese.

To me, it seems as if Haozhan is to Chinese restaurants what 'gastro pubs' were to the standard-fare pub grub: proof that the cuisine still has life in it, and that it's too early to give up hope on a whole genre of food.

At £20 per head for 2 courses it ain’t cheap, but if you’re getting a bit jaded with the same-old take-away style Chinese restaurant food, it’s worth giving these guys a shot - it may just be the eye-opener you’ve been waiting for...

Keywords: chinese, asian fusion, oriental, creative, gastro chinese