Hutong at The Shard

Hutong London, a restaurant located on the 33rd floor of The Shard, is the younger sister of the well-established in The Hutong restaurant in Hong Kong. Diners access the restaurant via a dedicated lift (that also serves Oblix and Aqua Shard) from the base of The Shard.

The décor uses similar design from the Hong Kong restaurant, there is a strong use of dark wood which reminds you of a cage. I like the wall of lanterns as it leads to the washrooms and you can oversea the other side of the river with the Walkie Talkie building looking right back at you. The restaurant features beautiful views of London (on the other side of the restaurant and we were given the view of ‘London Bridge station’. There is a bar on the east side of the building and a dining room which sits 130 diners on the west side. There is also an open kitchen for those who enjoy watching their dishes prepared.

The cuisine is inspired by the dishes you find in Northern China, they are primarily focused on using heavy spices and if you are a diner who doesn’t appreciate food that are ‘too hot’ then there are some options available, but do let your waiter know prior ordering. The starters ranges between £8 to £15, main courses between £24 to £35 and desserts at £5.50 to £6.50. As an individual who enjoys spicy and hot foods I was happy that there is a heavy influence of Sichuan spices, however as a common knowledge many dishes would not contain as many chillies as their counter-part restaurant in Hong Kong as many diners in the UK, do not prefer their dishes to be too spicy.

Wine enthusiasts might not be happy with the wine list, although it is short and sweet, there isn’t a very large choice of wine, although, I did notice some Rothschild and other prestige wines too. There is a selection of steamed dim sum for starters which would make great starters to your meal if you are there for dinner; they also have a dim sum menu and on Monday’s to Friday’s between 12noon to 2.45pm there is a choice of any four savoury dim sum for £28 per person.

We ordered Minced Pork Dumplings in Hot and Sour Sauce, Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup, Hutong’s Spicy Fried Rice, Golden Tofu filled with Minced Prawn (Hutong’s special dish) and Chingkiang Fried Eel. You could taste a hint of spice in the Minced Pork Dumplings, our waiter had to double check which ‘minced pork dumplings’ we wanted as there is also a dish named ‘Spicy Minced Pork Dumplings’ but not in hot and sour sauce. It was tasty and the hint of spice really made me hungrier than I was at the time. The Hot and Sour soup was a little disappointing, I would prefer the soup to be a little more spicy rather than sweet, I have always had hot and sour soup as a child and having visited a number of places I remember the ingredients and what it should taste like.

As it was a vegetarian dish, I would prefer it to have shiitake mushrooms as well. Hutong’s Spicy Fried Rice was tasty, as it is supposed to be a named dish I would have higher expectations and I do enjoy the dish very much. The prawns tasted nice but I was surprised with fennel seeds in the dish too; the dish was appetizing and great to eat in the warm. The restaurant was very warm with very limited air conditioning which usually makes people uncomfortable especially eating Sichuan and spicy foods. The Golden Tofu filled with Minced Prawn was delicious. I minced prawn sweet but not over filling and the chilli sauce lifted the overall flavour so it wasn’t bland. The best dish and I was glad this dish was chosen, was the ChingKiang Fried Eel, I wouldn’t have imagined that eels could be battered but this was a surprise and I assume the sweetness came from honey, because it was a little sticky but it tasted comforting.

There was no desserts ordered because of the filling dishes, but it does feature a few comforting Chinese desserts but only if you have anymore space in your stomach. The dinner tonight was for two but it was enough to fill three people’s stomach. The warm environment because of the Shard’s glass structure and open kitchen it has put me off moving onto the desserts.

The service was pretty much hit and miss, the table for two was booked for two, exactly two weeks beforehand as the restaurant is often fully booked unless you prefer having dinner at 10:30pm whilst most people would be enjoying a cocktail or at home ready for bed. I phoned up a week before the meal requesting for a window seat if possible and whether it was possible to wait by the bar and having a drink if I arrived early. The response was that there is ‘no requests available’ for window seats and we will be seated wherever there is a table spare by the window. It was very fair I suppose but from my experience of booking a table I was always told that it was possible as long as there is a space in time which sounded more friendly than the lady on the phone. I was the first person on the seating because the booking system was slow I thought my booking was lost so I booked a table for both 18:00 and 18:30 which was the earliest seating and being the first diner in the second seating I am sure there must be a window seat. I was also told that I was not allowed to enter the restaurant for drinks as I will be seated at my reserved time in a very prompt manner and therefore I was requested to wait outside. I was disappointed by the telephone manner of the restaurant especially with the Hutong is a part of the Aqua Restaurant Group, I will expect the conversation to be very pleasant but it wasn’t. I did cancel the 18:30 booking as I was sent text messages by the Hutong to confirm my booking which I believe was pretty handy as I do not fancy speaking to someone every time just to confirm a table, however the computer system should have recognised my name, mobile number and e-mail address before the text message confirmation e-mails was sent; if it was a manual system the staff should have noticed the issue.

I arrived at 5:45pm and I was offered to have a drink at the bar before the meal or I could choose to sit at the window seat. It was hardly a window seat to be fair but it was better than in the middle of the restaurant and I couldn’t help but think that the management should be made aware that the service is very hit and miss. Our waiter was friendly and attentive; when we was ordering the meal but not very towards the end. The restaurant wasn’t very busy as well. We were presented our bill in an old china-style jewellery box but we waiter a while before the waiter came to check.

Overall, the meal was delicious. The atmosphere wasn’t very atmospheric and the service could be improved but it was a success but not worth the hype unfortunately. You pay for the food and the view (if you are lucky) but the atmosphere and service wasn’t worth the price.

Visit The Hutong at The Shard

Service: 2/5
Atmosphere: – 3/5
Food: 5/5

The Shard, Level 33, 31 St Thomas St, London SE1