The name Yauatcha has no literal meaning, but a combination of Yau (of Founder Alan Yau) and Cha (tea). There could also be a play on the similarity of the words to Yum Cha which means to drink tea. Yauatcha is a one star Michelin restaurant from Soho, London, which had opened up shop in Bangalore a couple of years ago.

This Sunday Brunch was at Yauatcha, embodying a modern age authentic dim sum tea house, with understated yet sublime interiors. On a sunny afternoon, walking into their tinted glass enclosed space felt a blend of calm and relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant is a long hall with an open layout and visible large kitchen, and has all kinds of seating for private groups, singles and small families and large gatherings.

We had a pretty large set menu with some choices that day, and started off with their world famous dim sums. Har Gau is a traditional shrimp dumpling, transparent and pleated. Our dim sums were thin and translucent with generous amount of really soft shrimp inside. Then there was the Chicken and Prawn Shui Mai, again a typical Chinese dumpling, often served together with har gau. We also got the vegetarian crystal dumpling, and it looked as interesting as it sounds. It was translucent skinned and stuffed with veggies, a little sticky and delicious. The flavors of the dim sums were each unique and incomparable with anything else that I had tasted. Their portions for the dim sums were generous, and I was already half full in my first course!!!

Har Gau

Vegetarian Crystal Dumpling

Chicken Prawn Shui Mai

Next course were the stir fries, a fun dish to have and becoming increasingly popular everywhere, we got the Chicken in Black Pepper sauce, Crispy Lamb with Raw Mango, Szechuan Mabo Tofu. The chicken was a little mediocre, with the chicken not being too tender, nor the flavor very rich. But I quickly moved on to the lamb which was delightfully crispy and mildly tangy, lovely! But the winner definitely was the tofu, as soft as butter both under my fork, and in the mouth! It was spicy chilli and the best serving of tofu ever! We had these with chicken fried rice and veg ramen noodles.

Chicken and Egg Fried Rice

Szechuan Mabo Tofu

Ramen Noodle with Vegetables

Crispy lamb with Raw Mango

Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce

By now we were practically bursting at the seams, and thought maybe we should skip the dessert. Am I glad we didn’t! The chocolate hazelnut mousse was delectable, layered beautifully, with crunchy hazelnut around a dollop of vanilla ice cream. We didn’t have other options in dessert, but I didn’t have any qualms given the fantastic selection of dessert luxury we had!

The service was quite prompt and considerate, without the servers hovering around us. They have a splendid bar setup. Their signature cocktails however were a bit of a disappointment; the black river martini as well as the lychee martini seemed practically devoid of liquor. I didn’t care about this much after a 5 course meals, but well, nevertheless!

Lychee Martini and Black River Martini

It’s a must visit place for the folks around who like this cuisine, and want to experience a restaurant that is in itself a class apart. The pricing is steep. Currently they have curated a special tasting menu for Rs.888 and Rs.998 for vegetarian and regular selections respectively. Prior reservation would definitely be recommended.

Location:

Yauatcha MG Road,

1 MG Road Mall, 5^th floor,

MG Road, Bangalore

Restaurant website:

http://hakkasangroup.com/restaurants/yauatcha/

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