BIG FLAVOURS…
Park Chinois restaurant
Park Chinois, in London’s Mayfair, is Alan Yau’s most ambitious project to date, an extravagant homage to the dinner and dance venues of yesteryear that serves decadent Chinese food with a side of entertainment. Rumoured to have cost in excess of $19m, no expense has been spared on the dazzling ground floor restaurant, with galleried seating around a central dance floor that hosts live music and dancing on prime nights. An unashamedly excessive space, it’s dripping in swathes of crimson velvet and plump Chinoiserie, all moodily lit by fringed silk lamps.
Sashay downstairs and you’ll find Club Chinois, another lavish take on the ‘more is more’ philosophy, a bar that will transport you to the opium dens of downtown 30s Shanghai as quickly as you can order sweet and sour king prawns from your local Chinese takeaway.
Patrons are the classic Mayfair set of wealthy internationals and city suits, attended to by an army of liveried waiting staff, who have their work cut out explaining the vast menu that spans more than just China with whiffs of fusion and riffs on international dishes, such as the Park Carbonara, with udon noodles, sea urchin, 650 organic egg and pancetta. Intrigued? We were - and can promise it delivers both the weird and wonderful. Decorated with edible flowers, the noodles were mixed and served tableside, with briny flavours of the sea cutting through smoky pork fat and unctuous egg yolk.
If the Chinese whispers are to be believed, Park Chinois’ signature Duck de Chine is the best bird outside of Hong Kong. A whole duck served in the classic style with pancakes and condiments, it’s a feast for four that would have meant an exercise in gluttony for just the two of us, so we jumped straight into the deep end of the menu instead.
Dim sum, clay pot dishes, elaborate meat, fish and shellfish stir-fry’s and curries are all on offer, with a rich and imaginative selection of veggie options too. Deep-fried soft-shell crab is delicately coated in a crisp dusting of batter, making for a lighter bite than its adored squid counterpart. Dim sum fiends will be in heaven here, with plump steamed morsels of scallop shumai, morel dumpling, prawn wonton and har gau proving tricky to share, fired up by an excellent house-made chilli oil, prepping the palate for further feisty spice from the Chilean Wagyu rib-eye, stir-fried with salami. Forget your teeth, this meat simply melts in the mouth, in contrast with nuggets of fabulously nutty jerky and shards of air-dried chilli, all mopped up with sticky rice. A vegetable side of wild mushrooms with Thai sweet basil prompts a cry of delight from my carnivorous companion, while a stew of red prawns and shrimp is the only dish to fall flat.
Desserts are in a similarly outrageous vein, encompassing perennial favourites such as cheesecake, chocolate fondant and pannacotta, each with a delicious twist and sublime and unexpected presentation (we won’t spoil the surprise).
It divided the critics when it first opened, with its ostentatious attitude and highly conceptualized take on dining, but bizarre as it is brilliant, Park Chinois has become a highlight of London’s glamorous fine-dining scene. Here’s hoping it’s here to stay. Parkchinois.com