Yauatcha Soho | Dim Sum & Patisserie | Soho | Website
– reservations available –
It’s not everyday I’m invited to a Michelin star restaurant. I know, shocking right? I should have told you to take a seat before I made such a life-changing statement. Joking aside, even though I have visited several Michelin star restaurants, I do still get a little starry eyed when I walk in to one. I mean, any foodie would, right? So when Yauatcha invited myself and V.A to visit for afternoon tea, I was more than happy to accept. The Dim Sum and Patisserie has been on my list for several years now, but I’ve always been too absent minded to book.
We headed to the restaurant around 3 on a Saturday afternoon. I would like to add at this point that it was possibly the hottest Saturday ever…in existence. The sun was roasting us slowly, so the prospect of tea and cake in an air conditioned restaurant was exhilarating. Inside we were greeted by the maître d’ who showed us to our table. We were then given a small tour of the patisserie, where we were shown the new mooncakes that Yauatcha are serving up for the Mid-Autumn Festival. We chose to try both of the mooncake options available. Of course we took several minutes to stare in awe at the other worthy cakes on offer. It was difficult not to choose the most beautiful (which is pretty much all of them), however we managed to whittle our choices down to only three: Raspberry delice, Passion fruit mango dome, and Red fruits fromage frais.
The cakes were delightful. Each encompassed it’s own subtle flavours, however they all shared a light and airy texture. Perfect for afternoon tea, no? We paired our cakes with a pot of Classic Beauty Blue Tea (I love Taiwanese tea), and two cocktails; Lalu and Nashi Momo (Japanese pear AND peach? Yes please!). The tea was thirst quenching, and went down smoothly. A pot easily nourished us both, however I would gladly order a pot for one next time, as it was so refreshing. As for the cocktails…well, they were gigantic! And don’t assume that these cocktails were all style and no substance. In fact there was an abundance of flavour. The Nashi Momo was my personal favourite, as it shared the subtly sweet taste, and the slightly grainy texture of it’s namesake. I would order it again in a flash!
As for the mooncakes, they were smaller than the usual “family size” version, which made them perfect for a single serving. I wasn’t particularly won over by the mooncakes by themselves as they’re a little stodgy, however when paired with ice cream (an a la carte option, or a diy for at home) they were extremely moreish.
Price wise, Yauatcha isn’t as expensive as you would think; our bill came to a total of around £60. In my opinion £30 each is not much at all for what we received. I would gladly pay it. After all, I can see Yauatcha being a lovely place for friends to get together, chat and celebrate over tea and mooncakes. It certainly was when me and V.A went at least. It was wonderful to have our own mini Mid-Autumn celebration, even if it did feel like the Sahara outside.
Mooncakes are available at Yauatcha until the 27th September.
You can check out V.A’s post here and watch our first foodie video at the bottom of this post.
