Langan's Brasserie, London, UK

We have walked pass Langan's Brasserie a couple of times before decided to try it. In all those occasions, the brasserie looked very busy, full with local business people. That gave us a good impression. What's good for the local must be good for us...

One Saturday, we made a reservation and managed to get ourselves a table for lunch. Not so busy this time. First impression when we entered the Brasserie was warm and welcoming, but as soon as we noticed that they laid paper table cover, that reminded us to a back street chinese restaurant, we started to feel less than pleased. 

Trying to distract ourselves from criticizing the paper table cover, we're going through the menu. There are quite a large varieties of Anglo-French food served there. Wine selections also quite large and prices seemed reasonable too. One starter in particular that caught our attention was the Spinach souffle with anchovy sauce. So we ordered that, to be followed by Tagliatelle with smoked salmon, also a portion of Poached skate with capers. And we chose a good bottle of Montagny 1er Cru white wine. 

The Spinach souffle was indeed different and well made. Just slightly dry as it gets colder, so we had to keep topping it up with anchovy sauce. Quite a delicious starter, indeed.

The Tagliatelle was very tasty too. The flavour of smoked salmon and dill cream was well blended with well cooked pasta. The portion was rather generous though, it's best to skip starter to be able to enjoy it thoroughly.

The poached skate was slightly less satisfying. The meat was tender indeed, but in comparison to the pasta, portion of skate served was small and it tasted blend. And considering skate is a very delicate type of fish, to us, instead of poach and drench it with creamy capers sauce, we would rather have it simply pan fried to retain the flavour.

When it comes to dessert, you may have noticed that we often order Creme Brulee at many restaurants we went to. Simply because, although it is a very common dessert like Tiramisu, but only few restaurants are able to make and serve Creme Brulee correctly. So, we put Langan's into a test. And as predicted, the Langan's Creme Brulee was not up to our standard. It was served cold and showed very little effort to present it nicely.

Let's get into a fact, Creme Brulee can be pre-prepared. It can be made hours before serving time, then just leave it to set and chilled. And to serve it, simply sprinkle some caster sugar on the top, spray with a little water and blow torch it to caramelise it. Finishing touch that takes less than two minutes but makes a lot of difference. 

So, it really disappoints us to be served cold Creme Brulee in a popular restaurant like Langan's. Our other dessert, Orange and coconut tart was just as disappointing. Grated coconut mixed in the tart was hard to chew, no taste of creaminess whatsoever. We were not impressed at all.

Overall dining experience in Langan's was average. Which it should have been very good, considering it's location and reputation. The service was slightly above average, but we noticed that the cleanliness was poor, especially the floor. 

Would we recommend this restaurant?? Yes, we would, although we must warn you not to have high expectation.


Langan's Brasserie
Stratton Street, Picadilly, London, W1J 8LB
Phone: +44 20 7491 8822
Website: http://www.langansrestaurants.co.uk/brasserie.html

Sake No Hana Japanese Restaurant, London

Although not entirely true, we categorize sushi lunch or dinner as healthy and guilt-free meal. The sushi/ nigiri/ sashimi are healthy indeed but in most cases we could not help to enjoy them with a good bottle of chilled sake (Yep! We are guilty!!). We simply find it 'incomplete' if we just have the sushi with hot ocha or soft drinks. On top of that, as we do not read Japanese characters, it kind of a challenge that we could not resist to choose sake by pointing finger randomly, not having a clue the difference from one to another. Yet we never get disappointed. 


Hardly get disappointed by the sake it does not mean we never get disappointed by the quality of sushi. We are very passionate when it comes to good sushi, so we can be quite fussy. Based on our several visits to Sake No Hana, we can now safely say, this restaurant is one of the finest. It serves high quality food, fresh and consistent in maintaining quality. 


We had edamame to snack with. We then normally would go for white miso soup, but since we have not tried red miso with clams, this time we ordered a couple of those to taste. It was ok, but we would rather stick to white miso with mushroom. Snow crab tempura was very good, so fresh we could taste the sea and the batter was amazingly light. 

The most important part of the meal finally arrives, a tray of Otoro Nigiri that was melting in the mouth, Salmon Nigiri that was definitely high quality of fresh salmon, Ikura Gunkan fresh from Scotland, pops in the mouth, the best we have ever tasted. Could not stop just there, we ordered Prawn Tempura hand roll, we were expecting Salmon Skin but it's not always available during lunch time. We managed to taste both in different occasions and they were very good. On top of that we had Mango and Soft Shell Maki that turned out very tasty as well. In between enjoying sushi we shared a plate of seaweed salad served with pickled courgette, so gorgeous!


Still able to manage some dessert, we tried Coconut Charlotte (white chocolate, mint, basil, coconut and mango paste) that paired with a glass of chilled Plum Wine (Umeshu). Delicate sweet treat that was an ideal ending to a lovely lunch. 

Our only few criticism about the presentation of the restaurant is a little bit too bright and a little impersonal. But then it may come from the Japanese idea of simplicity. Service has been good to start with but can be a bit slow once we have gone through our first part of the meal. Apart from that, we certainly would go back there again.


Sake No Hana
23 St. James's Street, London SW1A 1HA
Phone: +44 20 7925 8988
Website: http://www.hakkasan.com/sake-no-hana/

China Tang at The Dorchester, London

This was one of those restaurants that we have not actually planned to visit yet we end up keep coming back for no other reason but because we were so impressed with the food. Our first visit was on one Saturday evening and the restaurant was packed. We were lucky to get a last minute table and were basically given two hours to enjoy our dinner. Not too happy about the idea being rushed, but never mind. 

And it was well worth the rush though.. 

We started with few selections of steamed dim sum. Prawn cannelloni, scallops, siu mai, and chicken and pork dim sum, served piping hot in a stack of bamboo basket. The steam that comes out the basket was so inviting! We could not wait to dive in! And for the first time, we could not find any fault about the food. We could taste that the all of the ingredients used to make those dim sum were fresh and even the dumpling wrapper was light, not doughy or pasty at all! To get the taste buds going, we normally dunk the dumpling in chili paste (not too much, if you are not used to it!) then eat it in one go. Have a glass of cold beer or any soft drink ready in case the kick from the chili paste stronger than expected. 

Between the dim sum and the main course, we had a portion of vegetarian spring rolls. Again, they tasted good, fresh and not greasy at all. It tasted even better with some pickles. 

A moment after we have finished with the spring rolls, our Peking duck arrived to our table. It will be served in two ways; with the pancakes and the rest will be minced up, stir-fry and served with iceberg lettuce. Honestly, our first impression was not too good, as the duck skin appeared to be very dark or burnt. We were worried that the meat will be tough and dry, but we were proven wrong. The skin was actually very crispy, no trace of burnt and the meat was juicy and very tender. We had to admit, it was the best Peking duck we ever had! The stir fry was quite good too, but we could actually just stick with the pancakes and plum sauce.

Our second main course were fried noodles with lobster, stir-fry bok choi and cantonese fried rice. We were fascinated by the way the fried rice was served. It came in a bamboo cup and a top that retains the heat and it actually gives a nice fragrant to the rice. The rice itself was well cooked, fluffy, slightly under seasoned to our taste but certainly not greasy. As no MSG used in all the food served at China Tang, we did not get terrible thirst at all. Such a pleasant meal overall. 

In several visits to China Tang, yet we still have not tried their desserts as we always end up ordering too much food to start with. Another reason to go back there again! 

Service was efficient and friendly, even during busy hours. The only person who was slow at the end was the wine butler, but we did not mind. Comparing our visit during lunch and dinner, we would actually prefer dinner while the restaurant gets really busy. Less flexibility for people like us who like to spend hours to enjoy our meal, but the atmosphere was great and also we did not get to hear the noise from the kitchen that can be quite noticeable when the restaurant is less busy. 

We strongly recommend this restaurant to all of you and let us know what you think!

China Tang at The Dorchester 

Park Lane, Mayfair, London

W1K 1QA

Phone: +44 20 7629 9988

Website: http://www.thedorchester.com/china-tang