REVIEW: A Chinese Christmas Feast at Chai Wu Harrods

Of all the restaurant in Harrods, Chai Wu is my favourite (just don’t tell the others). While Harrods is certainly leading the way when it comes to department store dining, something about Chai Wu makes it feel like the most serious of them all. Each time we’ve visited the food has been consistently good and the service has always been absolutely faultless. It’s no wonder this place is so busy. Filled with a crowd spanning from across the globe, all dripping in designer wears and the gangways filled with shopping bags galore. It’s all about decadence here and of course showing off, just a little anyway.

Located on the 5th floor amongst the women’s fashion super brands, Chai Wu aims to be a destination restaurant with a focus on quality modern Chinese cooking, but with a few twists and turns along the way. For the festive season, Chai Wu is serving an exciting Christmas menu of seven heavenly courses, priced at a reasonable £88 per person. Starting our #xmaswithatwist journey was a perfectly crafted old-fashioned cocktail and amuse bouche of avocado lobster soup. Both expertly put together and both big in flavour.

One dish I absolutely fell in love with was the scallops with a slab of fois gras in a red wine sauce. So much richness, decadence and more importantly – so much flavour. The dish was made even better with paired with the butteryness of some chilled Champagne – probably the only thing which makes fois gras taste even better. If that was at all possible.

One dish I was a little sceptical about was Chai Wu’s experimentation to go all Christmas on us with a black pepper turkey roll. Actually I have to give it to them, this dish surprisingly did work. Everything was well cooked and that pepper sauce was fantastic. I’m not entirely sure if it was my favourite dish of the night, but we still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Shitake mushrooms with baby pak choi in oyster sauce was a faultless dish and so juicy, with each piece of vegetable bursting in the mouth and leaking out that oyster sauce. Star course was the pan-fried Chilean sea bass in a spicy yellow bean sauce. The fish was flaking away at just the sight of my fork and that yellow bean sauce had such a depth to it. A real stunner of a dish. The egg fried rice with dry scallops and mixed seafood was the perfect accompaniment too.

Chai Wu’s consistency doesn’t stop with its savoury dishes – but right through to desserts and that very last bite. Our dark chocolate orange fondant was so well made and very well cooked. Soft and spongy, but gooey and melting on the inside. I loved the extra additions of fresh passion fruit and scoop of matcha ice cream.

Mini espresso martinis? Just another way to end what was an already fantastic meal. These after dinner cocktails really are the key to my heart.

We had such a fantastic evening at Chai Wu for its festive Christmas menu and  somehow this place gets better with each return. While the a la carte menu here isn’t exactly affordable to everyone, this Christmas menu certainly is and the perfect treat for not just Harrods shoppers, but for the foodie in you.

NB: I was invited to review and my meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.