As I sit here writing I am about one week into a three-week business trip taking in seven cities spread across the whole of the United States. And the itinerary does not include New York or Los Angeles, both of which I lived in for a while, so rather than catching up with old friends in the evenings I am either heading out on my own or, more often than I should, getting dinner in the hotel.
So hotel restaurants are on my mind. More particularly not the high-end luxury hotels which, in London as elsewhere, have reclaimed their historic role as incubators of extraordinary places to eat. Think of the quality and variety available at recent openings like the Peninsula or OWO in London.
Rather I mean the 5 or 4-star hotels that are the mainstay for business and well-heeled (but not hedge fund-rich) tourists. These are not cheap places by any stretch, and the clientele are not poor, but good grief I could write every menu before I see it. It’s the same offerings of seared tuna, onion soup, sliders, salmon, burgers, scallops, filet steaks and a stab at oriental with pad thai or even sui generis “noodles”. Oh, and a stab at being edgy with “cauliflower steak”. Often at about £20, which really annoys me as even at Waitrose I can get a whole cauliflower for £1.25. Do they think vegetarians have a “stupid” sign on their heads?
But not all hotel restaurants are the same, and I am sitting here looking out over the Houston skyline (no, I don’t like Houston much either) dreaming of the Chinese Cricket Club at the Hyatt Regency by Blackfriars Bridge.
Now, to be fair, this is not the sort of restaurant that would normally trouble one’s soporific moments, but it should, because it is streets, if not miles, ahead of what most other hotel restaurants are up to (again, I’m talking Hyatt Regency, not the Savoy). And I know it’s not the only one – think the always superb Pem at the Conrad St James.
Now there is a backstory behind the name, I guess there has to be, which is that it is in honour of the captain of the Shanghai XI cricket team, Feng, who in 1857 travelled to England with his bride Xiu, arriving at the nearby Blackfriars docks. The couple then made their way to Limehouse to open the very first traditional Chinese restaurant in the capital. Not a bad story.
However, the food does not need the backstory to sing its own song. The selection of dim sum is excellent: Royal Har Gow is delicate and subtle, with prawns in a crystal skin wrapper. Excellent vegetarian Xiao Long Bao with black truffle and shimeji and very unusual Pear Dumplings filled with chicken, shrimp, and bamboo shoots being among the offerings.
For our main courses, we had excellent wok-fried beef fillet With black pepper sauce, really good quality beef and the right amount of tingle on the tongue. Also spicy creamy prawns. Who does not like spicy creamy prawns? All very good, high Chinese at non-scary prices.
But the main event here is smoked Peking duck. Theatrically presented under a glass dome and swathed in smoke, it was the right side of perfect. Alongside the pancakes, hoisin sauce, cucumber, and leek, there was also pineapple which unexpectedly worked, giving a satisfying sweet and sour taste which just fits with crispy duck’s skin.
Finally, like many, I rarely order a pudding in a Chinese restaurant, but here you have to order the cricket ball. I’ll say no more but just order the damn thing and I promise you won’t regret it.
So what do we have here? We have what more hotels should try and do – which is something interesting. I can get a club sandwich anywhere, and sliders should be banished back to whichever midwestern hell they came from. You don’t even need the backstory. Just do what the Hyatt has done and back an interesting chef (here the excellent Tony Truong), do something different but excellent and trust your guests. As our editor, Jack Peat, recently noted apropos of food at football stadiums – make it better and more interesting and you will make more money too. Your guests will like it, as, frankly, will anyone else from the Temple to St.Paul’s who happens to be wondering where to get some top-notch Chinese food in the area. In short, it’s a bit of a winner.
The Chinese Cricket Club, Hyatt Regency Blackfriars Bridge – Chinese Cricket Club (hyattrestaurants.com) – 020 74388053
Related: Restaurant review: Scully St James’s