Coutts Food

Hakkasan
8 Hanway Place, London, W1T 1HD. Tel: 020 7927 7000

Special Coutts Woman Offer: £40 per head for the lunch menu and £65 per head for the dinner menu – for information on set menus enquiries or bookings please contact the concierge team on 0808 1000 887.*

Hakkasan is frequently billed as "London's sexiest Chinese restaurant": an ultra-trendy, sophisticated, dimly lit underground cavern.

It's oddly located down a side street from London's Tottenham Court Road with bouncers outside. Inside, there is a buzzy cocktail bar perfect for a pre dinner drink, but its popularity means that the conveyor belt service only gives diners two hours at their tables. It’s a great place for speed-seduction though, pre theatre dinner or the blind date that you just aren't too sure about spending a whole evening with. The Ling Ling area of the restaurant offers a more romantic feel as it is full of lattice-work screens, oriental blossom and intimate booths, while the dining room is dark, square and simple.

The restaurant, which gained its Michelin star in 2003, attracts a young, wealthy, good-looking crowd. The sophisticated modern Chinese menu gives customers a real opportunity to splash out (Peking duck with Royal Beluga caviar, whole abalone) or eat more standard-priced dim sum (from £3.50) and mains such as noodles and jasmine tea-smoked chicken. Diners comment that Hakkasan's Chinese fusion food is 'divine'.

Asian-influenced cocktail ingredients – lemongrass martini (gin steeped in lemongrass and lime leaves), ginseng margarita and variations on sake, to name a few – have helped make Hakkasan a hit, and it has now opened branches in Miami and Abu Dhabi. Although other restaurants have tried to imitate its food and atmosphere, members say Hakkasan is a unique experience.

INSIDER TIPS  

• Hakkasan has restaurants in Istanbul, Miami and Abu Dhabi, and is set to open in Dubai and Shanghai in Spring this year. A second London branch of the famous Chinese restaurant is scheduled to open on Mayfair’s Bruton Street early next year.
• Make sure you taste the signature Hakka cocktail, 'E' made with vodka, coconut, lychees and passion fruit, as a pre dinner drink at the bar.

Michael Caines at Abode
107 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1. Tel: 0161 200 5678

Close to Manchester's Piccadilly Station, and only a 15-minute walk from the Apollo, Michael Caines' restaurant at the Abode Hotel is the 2008/09 winner of the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Restaurant of the Year, among others. Caines won two Michelin stars for his work at Gidleigh Park at Dartmoor, but here in Manchester, he and executive chef Ian Matfin present modern European cuisine focused firmly on the North West's best produce and ingredients.

The restaurant has the best two or three-course lunch in the city, thanks in part to prompt, time-conscious service and an exhilarating ‘amazing grazing' menu, which is also available in the adjacent Champagne and Cocktail Bar.

The grazing items, considered the best way to experience a range of Caines' cuisine in one sitting, are sampled with small measures of various wines. The menu changes according to the season and availability, but if you visit soon for lunch you will likely encounter a bracing tomato and fennel soup with chive crème fraiche, or roast sea bass with roasted vegetables and gazpacho sauce.

In the evening, you can still graze, albeit more expensively. The à la carte menu is reasonably priced, considering the proficiency of the quality and service, and vegetarian and tasting menus are available. Diners with dietary restrictions will find the staff knowledgeable and accommodating.

Some feel slightly let down by the understated décor and the lack of natural light in this basement venue. However, the emphasis on elegant, locally sourced dining is usually considered fair compensation.

INSIDER TIPS:

• Lovers of pizza, pasta and other casual fare may enjoy Bar MC, situated upstairs
• Watch for special events, notably 'Evenings with Michael Caines'
• Sommelier Michael Sokolov's wine list is arranged by grape type rather than by country or region, coaxing diners to choose a wine they might not otherwise consider.  

Celebrating love in London this month? Coutts Woman's top five romantic restaurants are…

• Andrew Edmund, 46 Lexington Street, London, W1R 3LH. Tel: 020 7437 5708
• Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley , Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7RL. Tel: 020 7235 6000
• Clos Maggiore , 33 King Street, London, WC2E 8JD. Tel: 0207 379 9696 
• Chutney Mary , 535 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW10 0SZ . Tel: +44 (0) 20 7351 3113
• The Ritz restaurant Friday and Saturday dinner and dance evening , 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BR .Tel: 020 7493 8181 

Or celebrating Chinese New Year? Then try one of these favourites…

• Hakkasan , 8 Hanway Place, London, W1T 1HD. Tel: 020 7927 7000
• Kai Mayfair , 65 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2QU. Tel: 020 7493 8988
• China Tang Dorchester, Park Lane, Mayfair, W1K1QA. Tel: 020 7629 8888
• Bar Shu, , 28 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 5LF. Tel: 020 7287 8822
• Ming Jiang , Royal Garden Hotel, 2 - 24 Kensington High Street, London, W8 4PT

The Coutts Woman restaurant reviews have been provided by the Coutts World Concierge Service, delivered by Ten Lifestyle Management. Coutts World Concierge can make restaurant recommendations and bookings all over the world, as well as often secure the best tables and last minute reservations not publicly available. For more information or help with a specific query call 0808 1000 887 or email  diningclub@tenuk.com. If you would like to find out more about the Coutts World Card and its benefits, please speak to your private banker.

* Not valid 12th - 14th Feb