Weekends are going to get a whole lot better thanks to Yauatcha City. They announced recently that they will open for the first time every Saturday and Sunday with a brand-new Weekend Yum Cha brunch menu, naturally we were one of the first to sign up for what sounds like the perfect way to while away a few hours, as well as celebrate a friends belated birthday.
Yum Cha is the act of drinking tea and is inextricably linked with dim sum – so much so that the two phrases are used interchangeably. As a Chinese tea house, Yauatcha City offers the chatter filled tea house atmosphere, from its interiors and design, to the menu intended for sharing between friends and family. The new Yum Cha Weekend menu provides a variety of dishes that are suitable for brunch or lunch and designed to be shared between the group.
The Yum Cha menu is immediately a hit with us as it offers champagne as one of the options. There are three set menu options for the menu; the champagne one offers half a bottle each and is set at £58pp, the one below for £49pp includes wine (red or white) and for the tee total it’s £47pp, which allows guests to sip premium tea instead. To note, whilst one of us is a meat eater, my guest is a pescatarian so they were able to swap out a few meaty dishes for more suitable options. For those who are vegan/veggie fear not they have you covered too. And you can expect delish veggie dishes such as crystal dumplings wrapped with pumpkin and pine nut, mushroom bao buns, spicy aubergine, and crispy spicy tofu, amongst others.
As we settle in, Luis our helpful waiter guides us towards the welcome cocktails which include the Sencha negroni and Lychee ginger Collins, we both opt for the latter and sit back and wait for our feast to begin. The menu is extensive and we know we won’t be leaving hungry or thirsty for that matter needless to say one of us opted for the champagne version (me) whilst my guest chose wine.
The first course is dim sum and our selection includes, seafood black truffle dumpling and a scallop shui mai amongst two others which we inhaled so fast we cannot remember what they were (only that they were delish). We are left yearning for more and excited for what arrives next – for me it was a three style Peking duck and for my friend (off the veggie menu), the three style mushroom cheung fun. The food and drink flow dreamily and we find ourselves chatting away in-between delicious mouthfuls of bao buns which arrive next. I’m given the pork belly and steamed chicken bao buns but my friend has to sub this one for the mushroom and napa cabbage. Other than those two swaps for her the rest of the menu is pretty accommodating for us both.
When choosing the main I go for a classic, it’s been forever since I had a sweet and sour pork dish so that’s what I go for, whilst my friend chooses the steamed prawns. Considering we both generally find Chinese food a little bit stodgy we’re reminded again why we love it here so much – everything is light yet filling. We’re not at all surprised that Yauatcha (Soho) opened to critical acclaim and won a Michelin star, the food really is divine.
The menu is available every weekend from midday to 4pm exclusively at . Menus start at £47 per person and have options to include a half bottle of wine or Champagne.
Yauatcha City, 1 Broadgate Cir, London EC2M 2QS
