A melange of metropolitan chefs

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Chef Tong Chee Hwee grew up in Malaysia and he remembers the delicious meals his Hakka grandmother used to cook before he went to Singapore in 1982 to take up his first job in a kitchen. His talent for preparing Chinese food was soon noticed and he was working at the Ritz-Carlton when Hakkasan, having chosen London as the location for its first restaurant, wanted someone special to head up their operation. This was in 2001 and within a couple of years Chef Tong was rewarded with a Michelin star; they have carried on arriving annually.

The reception area at Hakkasan Hanway Place has calming blue glass and tranquil orchids in large vases but inside the restaurant the colour scheme changes dramatically. Darkness rules supreme and the large space, divided by latticed wooden screens, receives minimal decoration by way of black-and-gold panelling on the walls. Recessed spot lighting illuminates the tables and on the far side a long, long bar can be discerned, stretching the entire length of the 16-metre wall.

Chef Tong’s rare skill lies in preparing and presenting highly traditional Chinese dishes in ways that look and taste refreshingly modern but without succumbing to innovation for the mere sake of novelty. Crispy duck salad with Hoisin sauce is as Chinese as a dragon dance but when it uses four types of cress scattered with pine nuts and tiny pieces of pomelo it becomes light and airy, almost Mediterranean.

Or take dim sum itself, quintessentially Cantonese it may be but at Hakkasan do not even think they might be wheeled about on a trolley. Instead, you are greeted with a black plate bearing artfully coloured dumplings — green, yellow, white and orange – and a sprinkling of caviar on one filled with scallops. Shimeji mushrooms accompanying another is typical of the inventive flair Chef Tong brings to Chinese favourites hallowed by tradition. It shows again in his playful use of the colour gold, so important in Chinese culture, appearing on the plate at Hakkasan when lobster rolls come wrapped in razor-thin noodles of that colour.

That’s nothing, though, compared to a main dish of sea bass that is glazed in honey; the golden shine is a wonderful effect and detracts not a jot from the taste of the fish. Frangible deserts are even more photogenic. Chef Tong tells me his food philosophy is based on the importance of marrying colour, smell and taste. Dine at his restaurant and you will see, smell and taste  just what he means.

While Hakkasan Hanway Place, discreetly tucked away behind noisy Tottenham Court Road, is not easily spotted failing to notice the Shard, the ne plus ultra of vertical European architecture,  is fairly impossible. Anthony Garlando’s kitchen is on its 31st storey but he is used to travelling far and wide, if not always so high. He was born in Melbourne and after a spell at Michelin-starred Sketch in Mayfair took charge of restaurants in Dubai, Paris and Moscow.

But his menus at Aqua Shard, distain the international in favour of the thoroughly British. He is proud of having ‘toured Britain to personally choose some really great suppliers. From a cheese made only in Bermondsey to Welsh lamb from Rhug Estate and shellfish from Portland in Dorset, I’ve brought together the best of Britain on one menu’. The result: a starter where the humble pork sausage is enlivened by cauliflower piccalilli and rhubarb purée; a plate of steamed Scottish monkfish mercifully free of recherché sauces; roasted halibut accompanied by nasturtium leaves and a confit of orange peel purely for grace and colour.

Anthony Garlando’s challenge is to maintain high standards in a zeitgeisty setting which daily draws in punters from 7am for breakfast, through lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. His staff have to contend with customers from the bar who wander past diners to snatch photos of the view – a vista that stretches from the London Eye across to Tower 42. Come nightfall, St Paul’s Cathedral shines out magnificently as the capital of the capital – it is time to linger – enjoying one of Anthony’s Brit-style deserts: chocolate and lavender tart, strawberries and cream.

Aqua Shard has a rival in vertical dining, Sushisamba on the 38th floor of Heron Tower, serving an exotic blend of Japanese and South American cuisine in a wildly theatrical setting. The drama’s prologue is the ride in a glass box elevator on the side of the building: ear-popping and unnerving as you ascend skywards as effortlessly as an angel. The best views are in the bar area, not al fresco under the glamorous though artificial tree  but on the other side and in such alarming proximity to the Gherkin that the plate glass offers the comforting illusion that what is seen  might be a hologram.

The interior design of the restaurant  is just as spectacular – bamboo scaffolding arching overhead and a pink lightshade of gigantic proportions. Claudio Carduso, the chef, has been here since April 2013 and it’s a long way from his earliest food memory: “Doughnuts and candy floss – it was monumental. I was at a fairground with my family; it was as though I had won the best competition in the world.” His menu at Sushisamba is a little, shall we say, more sophisticated; Claudio’s favourites being the wagyu tataki with foie gras and fried quail egg, and moqueca (traditional Brazilian fish stew). As a Londoner, what is most startling about Sushisamba, besides its exciting menu and cold sake, the helicopter views and flamboyant design, is its location: surely this is Las Vegas, it can’t be London.

Back on ground level and in the once unlovely neighbourhood of Bermondsey there is a very  different  kind of restaurant, Zucca, where the chef’s menu is the sole attraction. Opened since March of this year, there are no majestic views and the internal décor presents nothing to write home about but when five different types of bread – foccaicia, rye, grissini, sourdough and ciabatta – arrive at your table you realise good food is the priority. Sam Harris, the owner and chef, knows this territory inside out, having spent four years as an Egon Ronay inspector and workouts at The River Café and Harvey Nichols.

The result at Zucca is a deft showcase of Italian cuisine: burrata and parmesan with raw peas that break crisply in the mouth; lumache (Italian for snail, the shape of the pasta) softened by squid and datterini tomatoes; roast hake with borlotti, cooked to succulent perfection; desserts like pannacotta and fresh gooseberries that explode on the tongue.

When I asked Sam what were his favourites on the menu, his reply reveals the level of dedication and commitment he brings to his job: “The sea bass carpcaccio is a dish that sums me up as a chef; the parmesan grissini took months to perfect, recipe wise – when I walk into the building the first thing I do is grab one of those to nibble on; and the last would be the ice creams. I often tell my team this, but every year we close for Xmas and New year, and during this time a few years back I worked for two weeks solidly day and night perfecting the base recipe which we now use. This included New Years Eve and Day … I remember being in the kitchen hearing all the cheers going on in the flats above the restaurant as it hit midnight.” Sam Harris and Zucca (Italian for pumpkin) have  – once an unthinkable proposition – put Bermondsey Street on the food map of London.

by Sean Sheehan