China House

Critic´s Review

• Food: 4.5 / 5
• Service: 3.5 / 5
• Decor: 4.5 / 5

-By Rashmi Uday Singh

Leave outside (the big wooden doors) all your preconceptions about Chinese food and prepare to feast on authentic, robust and meaty flavours of China's provinces of Beijing and Sichuan. Five stunning open kitchens and four private dining rooms sprawl in this buzzing Grand Hyatt restaurant as a team of talented Beijing chefs work their wok magic. Walk past the open-air pagodas and garden as you journey to your table past lacquered screens, trellises, a profusion of details, shimmering, glassed-off island kitchens and dramatically lit cabins. Deftly and fastidiously prepared by six speciality chefs from China, dish after dish preens on centre stage. As good as ever. This Times Food Guide award winner continues to serve masterpieces. Must try the inappropriately named but tender and moist Beggar's Chicken, lovingly baked in a hard clay shell. Go for the Shanghai Soup Dumpling and, of course, the piece de resistance, the crisp yet yielding Peking Duck. Elaborately served in courses, caramelly crispy skin, pancakes, soup et al. The pungency of garlic hammers robustly. Be it Silken Tofu, hand-tossed Dan Dan Noodles or even some of the cold starters (Beijing's speciality). Plenty of delectable vegetarian choices. Vegetarians do ask for the Veg Claypot, the wok-fried Mushroom and Snow Fungus with Ginger and Garlic and the really spicy Schezwan Chilli Veg (with bean curd, lantern chillies and cashew nuts in seasonal oil). The China House Grand dessert disappoints. The impeccable fare falters in its seafood dishes and desserts. This house continues to buzz with glamour and celebs.