The Verdict
XU holds a Michelin star in Soho for the BAO team's Taiwanese restaurant — the same culinary intelligence that produced BAO's small plates applied to the specific Taiwanese culinary tradition through a 1930s aesthetic whose lacquered wood, Tong Lok club reference, and specific visual identity communicates the historical moment in Taiwanese culture that the kitchen's food references.
The Taiwanese menu at XU communicates the tradition's specific culinary identity: the clam xiao long bao whose filling and broth communicate the Taiwanese kitchen's specific relationship with shellfish; the oolong tea eggs whose slow preparation communicates the tea culture's integration with daily food life; and the specific preparations that demonstrate the Taiwanese tradition's synthesis of Japanese, Chinese, and indigenous culinary influences.
One Michelin star for a Taiwanese kitchen in Soho communicates what the BAO group's specific culinary intelligence achieves when it is applied to a more formal expression of the Taiwanese tradition: the same knowledge that produced BAO's accessible small plates, applied through the tasting menu format's extended engagement.
Why It Works for a First Date
The XU 1930s Taiwanese aesthetic — the lacquered wood, the club reference, the clam xiao long bao — creates the first date setting that communicates knowledge of a culinary tradition that London's mainstream dining culture has rarely acknowledged at the Michelin level. The aesthetic communicates intelligence. The food confirms it.
Also in London
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