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Cha Cha Moon
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Budget choice
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RUNNER-UP - BEST DESIGN
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By Charmaine Mok. Photography Michael Franke
Hong Kong is a city of discerning diners and top-class restaurants. But it’s also where, in a metropolis full of food-loving nomads, a simple bowl of soup noodles is king. It’s a telling sign when some of the most humble street-side mein dong (mein = noodle; dong = stalls) rank alongside glittering fine-dining hotspots in popularity. One of my favourites is my local family-run caff on a side street in Shau Kei Wan, in the Eastern district of the island, that does the best fish ball noodles in town. Likewise, over in the grubby end of the glamorous Central district’s Soho lies a filthy little joint (that nevertheless attracts crowds at all hours of the day) that profits from its legendary beef brisket noodles. All over the city there are hole-in-the-wall noodle shops that only do one dish, but they do it damn well.
Cha Cha Moon is Hong Kong-born restaurateur Alan Yau’s take on a mein dong. But instead of focusing on the myriad of noodle dishes found just in his home town, it’s a culinary journey careening around all corners of China, plus neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia for good measure. There are beef noodles from Taiwan and prawn noodles from Penang, while Sichuan dumplings and Singaporean char kway teow sit alongside spring onion pancakes from the north. To the moon and back, indeed.
Six months ago, Yau claimed that the inspiration behind opening Cha Cha Moon was a lack of decent Chinese soup stocks in London. So, to test the waters, we sampled two classic varieties from the soup noodle category: roast duck, and wonton. The former had an unctuous and flavoursome broth; while not helped by a somewhat ghastly greyish hue, it was full of the umami taste, punctuated by the surprising medicinal aroma of tiny red wolfberries. Fresh, al dente noodles were spot-on, transporting us back to the noodle bars of Hong Kong.
The benchmark dish, wonton noodles, was a let down. Far from the delicate dumplings their name suggests (‘wonton’, in Cantonese, literally means ‘swallowing clouds’), ours were filled with stodgy chicken and had thick, heavy wrappers. If the menu had made the distinction that these were Shanghai-style wontons (which indeed are heavier than their Cantonese-style counterparts), it would have been easier to understand.
Things picked up, though. Zhajiang mian (a northern dry noodle dish) had us picking at every last little morsel of minced pork, mushrooms and bamboo shoots, while the kitchen’s take on chicken fen pi, a Shanghainese cold noodle dish, was inspired by the use of jasmine tea-smoked chicken. The traditional sesame dressing, while slightly too watery, was spiked with hints of wasabi and sweet red onions – elements certainly reminiscent of Yau’s trademark culinary cunning, where the results are neither too shocking nor bastardised, yet different enough to delight.
With all dishes currently priced at a mere £3.50 (Update: the prices have risen at both branches, with dishes averaging around £5), we seemed to be guinea pigs for this new opening. Yau was omnipresent during the first few days; he stuck to the kitchen pass, observing diners and rattling off both compliments and criticisms to his battalion of chefs.
It is certainly admirable of Yau to throw the door wide open on Chinese noodle culture, and he hasn’t merely recreated a quintessential Hong Kong-style caff. That’s fine with us, but we feel the eclectic nature of the menu hinders the restaurant from truly delivering the best of these well-loved classics. There’s a lot of potential in this hip and cheerful operation, but for now, it has nothing on my local mein dong.
FEBRUARY 2009: The second branch of Cha Cha Moon, located in the Whiteleys Shopping Centre, is now open.Time Out Issue 1971: May 29-June 4 2008
Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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Details
- 15-21 Ganton St, Soho, W1F 9BN
- Area: Soho
- Tel: 020 7297 9800
- www.chachamoon.com
- Category: Chinese
- Travel: Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus tube
- Times: Open Mon-Thur 12noon-11pm; Fri-Sat 12noon-11.30pm; Sun 12noon-10pm
- Price: Meal for two with drinks and service: around £30
- Credit cards: MC, V, AmEx
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went for dinner here with a group of friends. i can definitely say i have not eaten such disappointing restaurant food for as long as i can remember. i had a chilli noodle dish that was bland and cold. i could have easily created something far tastier at home. none of my friends enjoyed theirs either so it wasn't just me with an unfortunate dish. i couldn't believe the size of the queue when we left.
will not be returning- hare and tortoise or wagamamas are far, far better.
We ate at Cha Cha Moon in April when were were visiting London. My husband and I weren't sure where to eat. We had looked in traveler books but were just too tired to hunt down another restaurant. While I was walking around Whiteleys Shopping Cetre, I noticed Cha Cha Moon so we decided to give it a try. It had a modern clean feel with a few long tables. We could see the kitchen from our table. The food was brought to the table as soon as it was prepared. Our waiter was attentive and suggested several dishes. All of them were great!
I would recommend this restaurant and wish we had one in Austin, Texas.
Oh, and the prices were reasonable.
I attended the cha cha moon in Whiteleys.
Menu too small, no starters just main courses, no desserts
ridiculously small portion of noodles, left feeling hungry!
Myself and a friend visted last night for dinner and were very dissapointed. The location is great, the decor very modern and functional, the outside eating area looks like it would be nice on warm days, the staff were attentive and polite, although we were offered other patrons food or drinks on three occassions, the price for food and drinks was reasonable, drinks looked interesting but... the food was really awful. We ordered a noodle soup dish with chicken, a lamb curry with noodles and gyoza. The soup tasted as though they had added refridgerator cold packet noodles to warm water with some chilli oil, and the chicken was overcooked and dry. The lamb came as huge chunks difficult to eat with chop sticks, covered with bland sauce on the same packet noodles. The lamb dish also came (as a suprise) with what we guessed was white miso soup but its possible it was just meant for another table. The gyoza were OK but nothing like the delicious ones I've had elsewear. I won't be returning or recommending to anyone.
I had dinner in cha cha moon last week, was shocked to see the price on the menu has gone up a double compared to my first visit just after it first opened. The attraction of price and fresh and bustling envirnoment make the resturant unique and popular in soho area, £3.50 a course was a gem and delightful as i can afford to try both starter and main course even thought the portion of courses are rather small compares to any asian resturant in the area. I had a chili prawn chow mein rather too hot and blank for my liking, with a coke costed me £7.50, I left them £9 with my half empty stomach walking out of the resturant. I would go back for people watching but for a good meal with reasonable price, not cha cha moon again, no thanks :)
We were there about a week ago. There was some mistake in their order-placing system, and while my dish arrived promptly, my husband's arrived almost a half hour after mine. We thought they had forgotten it! Although the restaurant was almost empty, it took a long time for the many waitresses who hovered around our table to realize and correct this mistake. Sure, the food is good, but not exceptional enough to make up for this glaring and basic error. It kind of ruined our meal.
It was an unhappy experience at Whiteley Cha Cha Moon on 10th March 2009…
5 of us!
We felt so sorry for those hard work staffs, their great effort would be damaged by Cha Cha Moon’s TEA policy --- We left 5GB note as our thanks to the waiters but we won’t go back for begging some hot water add to our teapot.
How could you get your customs back, or get their help ‘mouth help’, if you treat them as some ‘’hote water beggars’’ in your Cha Cha Moon?
It is so pity to see Cha Cha Moon --a nice restaurant-- started in such a narrow minded way ---!
We were quite excited to try Cha Cha Moon as we are in Bayswater most Sundays - but were both disappointed. The menu was half the size than it was when I looked on line a few weeks ago, and most dishes were just under £5 going up to £7 – not all under £5 when I last checked. The spring onion pancake was tasty, but greasy. I had the seafood ho fun - the seafood was cooked well but the noodles were covered in too much sauce and was greasy. All in all the meal left a greasy and salty taste in our mouths for hours afterwards - actually prefer Wagamama.
visited the Whiteley's branch and would agree that the food is pretentious and service wasn't great either. They want to take your order the minute they hand you the menu and there's pork in the mooli - which isn't listed in the list of ingredients on the menu. Queensway is blessed with lots of great restaurants and if you want good cheap chinese food - I'll recommend 'Four Seasons'.
Give me the turnip cake and won't complain as some of the reviewer's below me!
Such philistines don't deserve the low pricing!
Is nobody's fault Louisa that you could not find the spam and egg sandwich! Is the mediocrity of the offering you are customed to!
Cha cha moon! I am on the moon!
And recently is getting better!