Chef’s table
Taiwanese food is packed with flavour – now make it at home with the help of new Chinatown restaurant XU, from the team behind BAO London
Taiwanese food is packed with flavour – now make it at home with the help of new Chinatown restaurant XU, from the team behind BAO London
The Taiwanese trio behind BAO have come a long way from their steamed milk bun shack at Netil Market, Hackney, setting up a bricks-and-mortar spot in Soho in 2015 and another in Fitzrovia in 2016. Their latest venture, XU (pronounced shu), is a smart restaurant in Chinatown that celebrates the diversity of Taiwanese cuisine, from the home cooking of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes, to street food brought over from mainland China, and influences from Japanese and Dutch colonies.
XU is an upmarket space, complete with sleek and stylish interiors based on 1930s Taipei – baby-pink banquettes, a dedicated tea kiosk and a dark wooden bar with a mottled marble counter top.
Xiao tsai (small plates) and mian shi (meaning ‘wheat plates’) are stunning – plump carabinero prawns bathe in sweet and punchy XO sauce, melting short rib meat is served with bone marrow, pancakes and fresh, crunchy trimmings, and crisp chicken wings come with a sticky soy, sesame and sugar glaze.
Flavour-packed mains include super-soft sea bass topped with pickled red and green chillies, fragrant and tender chicken served in a large pot, and the now Insta-famous chilli egg drop crab presented in a crab shell. Don’t skip the side dishes, though – pork lardo melting into fluffy rice is cracking, and bits of pork, pickled radishes and fried shallots crank up a crunchy kale salad. xulondon.com