The original Hakkasan, which opened in a Hanway Place basement in 2001, redefined what a Chinese restaurant in London could aspire to be. The Mayfair outpost, on Bruton Street just off Berkeley Square, takes the founding vision — Cantonese cooking executed with the precision and presentation standards of fine French dining, set within a room of considerable architectural beauty — and amplifies it into a room that can accommodate the full demands of a Mayfair clientele without compromising on intimacy.
The intricate Chinese lattice woodwork, the low lighting, the deep black surfaces and the careful spacing of tables create a dining room that has few equals in London for atmosphere. The room at Bruton Street spans two floors and is designed in the opulent yet intimate style that has become Hakkasan's signature: you are aware of the room around you without feeling exposed within it. It is a quality that is almost impossible to engineer and that no amount of money spent on a refurbishment can buy without the underlying architectural intelligence.
The cooking is Cantonese at its most accomplished. The dim sum programme — har gau, cheung fun, xiao long bao, crystal prawns in tobiko — is technically precise and uses ingredients that lesser restaurants would deploy as headlines. The signature Peking duck, served with a choice of sauces and available with caviar for those requiring the gesture, is among the finest renditions in London. The chargrilled Szechuan octopus and the smoked beef ribs with jasmine tea represent the kitchen at its most creative. The Signature Brunch at £55 per person is among the better fixed-price offers in the area.
The bar programme — cocktails, premium sake, curated wine — is serious and the room functions well as a pre-dinner venue. At £50–£80 per head for dinner, Hakkasan Mayfair is positioned at the premium end of its category, which is precisely where it belongs.
Why It Works for a First Date
Hakkasan Mayfair is engineered for seduction in a way that few London restaurants can match. The low lighting means you look better. The intricate wooden screens create a sense of enclosure that makes the conversation feel private. The food arrives in a sharing format that creates natural intimacy. The Peking duck ceremony — when the server arrives to present and carve — is a moment of theatre that breaks any conversational lull. The cocktails are excellent and arrive quickly. The room sounds like a room full of people who want to be there, which is exactly the right sound for a first date.
Why It Works for Impressing Clients
In a city where clients have eaten at French restaurants all week, arriving at Hakkasan communicates that your taste is broad, current, and not limited to the reflexive choices. The Cantonese cooking — unfamiliar enough to create genuine curiosity, accessible enough to not alienate — generates the kind of active engagement that French tasting menus cannot. The dim sum arrives and prompts questions. The Peking duck arrives and prompts photographs. The chargrilled octopus arrives and prompts conversation. Each course works as a dinner table event in its own right. Clients who have never been remember it. Clients who know it return enthusiastically.
Occasion: First Date
I had been twice before, always in groups. This was the first time at a table for two, in the corner. The room feels completely different at that scale. The screens create the impression of a private room that is not actually private. The har gau arrived and she said, "I have never had Chinese food like this." That sentence is worth more than any Michelin star.
Occasion: Impress Clients
My clients were Korean. I was concerned they would find Cantonese food a poor substitute for what they eat at home. The Peking duck arrived and one of them asked the server about the sourcing. Then about the sauce options. Then about the history of the dish in the Hakkasan kitchen. That level of genuine engagement with a restaurant is rare. The dinner ran two hours over schedule because no one wanted it to end.
