Recently opened in October 2012, Le Chinois offers modern Chinese cuisine in an exclusive setting on Sloane Street. Located in the Millennium Hotel, Knightsbridge, you enter the restaurant by an imposing white spiral staircase. The restaurant has a warm and welcoming ambience, furnished in dark wood with deep red and gold hues provided by the soft furnishings. Decorative lanterns, orchids and large oriental art works on the wall all add to the ambience and complement the food perfectly.
A warm welcome, bottle of wine (Chenin Blanc £25.00) and some prawn crackers helped to us to relax as we sat down to examine the menu and settle into the atmosphere. Master Chef Chan Kwok, who has led the launch of Le Chinois, has succeeded in creating a menu that should appeal in equal measure to international clientele and die-hard fans of traditional Cantonese cuisine, such is the breadth of choice.
The restaurant prides itself on Dim Sum, for which there is a separate menu between 12:00 and 5:00pm daily, and with this in mind we ordered the Deluxe Dim Sum Platter (£8.00) to start. A platter of delicious sesame prawn toast, spring rolls and other popular dim sum whetted our appetite for what was to follow. The choice of starters and soups is impressive and ranges in price from £6.00 to £11.00.
The selection of main courses is equally broad, with many traditional meat, seafood, poultry and vegetable based dishes, as well as some new and exciting flavour combinations and some ingredients I have not seen before. Main courses range in price from £11.00 to £38.00 with vegetable options starting at £8.50. If you find the choice simply too difficult to narrow down to one or two dishes, then there is a Chef’s sharing menu for £30, £35 or £40 per person giving you the chance to sample more of the menu. We were directed towards the house speciality: whole crab or lobster served in a choice of sauces. We opted for the Whole Fresh lobster cooked in spring onion and ginger (£38.00). As my partner and I intended to share, I could not resist the lure of my all time favourite dish: Aromatic crispy duck served with pancakes, spring onions, cucumber and hoi sin sauce. We ordered a half duck which is suitable for two people to share (£24.00), with egg fried rice as an accompaniment.
The lobster arrived; beautifully presented. Its delicate flavour set off perfectly by the spring onion and ginger. This was an impressive dish, which we both enjoyed immensely. Then the duck was presented and carved in front of us. The remaining meat was used to prepare an additional dish of wok fried minced duck served in lettuce. This was an unexpected surprise! I was not disappointed by the duck- I am in love with the sweet/sour flavour combination provided by the duck and hoi sin sauce, and the texture contrasts between the tender meat and crunchy vegetables. For me this is perfection in a dish!
It may be a little controversial to comment that Chinese cuisine, in my humble opinion, is less celebrated for its desserts than others. With this in mind, I was delighted to find some classic favourites amongst the dessert menu (£6.00 for desserts). My partner opted for Crème Brulee and I chose the Apple Tarte Tatin, served with ice cream. Other options include Banana Fritters and Red Bean Pancake with Ice cream.
If you are a fan of Chinese cuisine then this restaurant should be on your list, and I can almost guarantee that even if Chinese cuisine has not been a favourite of yours up till now, you will find something to delight your taste buds at Le Chinois.