Kai Mayfair

Kai serves posh food with Chinese characteristics to a lofty international Mayfair crowd, yet manages to defy many preconceptions. Sure, it's costly, and the attractive dining room has a slightly corporate feel, but service is friendly and some dishes sing with innovation. The epic wine list name-drops epic châteaux like Hello! magazine drops royal names, though many vintages are off-years and seem listed more for prestige value than to match Chinese flavours. The Malaysian chef (who trained in Changsha, capital of Hunan) has created an intriguing menu that diverges from traditional Chinese culinary logic to cater for all tastes. Instead of crispy duck, vegetarians are offered crispy aromatic beancurd, complete with pancakes, plum sauce, cucumber and spring onions, but the flavour (not bad, though too highly spiced) was more reminiscent of smoky bacon crisps. Better was the 'phoenix and rising sun': flavourful chicken with organic honshimeji mushrooms perfectly contrasted with preserved chilli, and topped with tempura mushrooms - high-quality ingredients all. However, roasted pork belly with julienned apple, mint, sesame, chilli and rice wine went too far; supposedly British pub food in a Chinese context, it was jarring rather than clever, and expensive for a small amount of food.