Straits Kitchen at Pan Pacific

Lovely food, amazing service. We all enjoyed our dinner on Sunday night. The food isn’t traditionally Peranakan. There are hints of Asian flavours but they are not very strong. I would recommend ordering small and medium plates and sharing them. The dip for the keropok was delicious! All the dishes were done well. Our favourites are the scallops, salmon, miso aubergine, beef croquettes, crab pappardelle, beef skewers, cauliflower. Desserts were far less interesting and we def did not like their take on cheesecake. It felt like a hard granola bar with dabs of whipped cream cheese. It would be nice to see something with gula melaka on the dessert menu. Cocktails were good and if you like it spicy, go for the chipotle reverie. I really enjoyed that.

There are very few meals that have left me feeling nauseous and on the verge of throwing up due to heaviness and lack of balance — unfortunately, this was one of them. The meal was overwhelmingly rich, dominated by fatty cuts of meat with little contrast or freshness to balance it out. The restaurant is located on the first floor of the Pan Pacific Hotel, just a short walk from Liverpool Street. You enter via a wooden spiral staircase lit beautifully, leading to the Maitre’D. The staff were welcoming and took our jackets before showing us to our table. We had booked the five-course tasting menu through Time Out, which included a glass of sparkling wine. The meal began with a complimentary prawn cracker served with a chilli dip — a pleasant start. Chilled Native Scallop Soy, chilli, red curry crisp (75 kcal) The scallop dish was light and nicely marinated, though the scallops were sliced in half, so the portion felt quite small. The soy-based sauce was subtle and enjoyable. Next came two dishes served together — an odd choice that didn’t work well: Jimmy Butler’s Pork Skewer Char siu glaze, plum ketchup (269 kcal) The pork skewer was coated in a rich char siu sauce but was extremely fatty and heavy. Cornish Crab Pappardelle Laksa emulsion, green apple, caviar The pasta was more Italian than Asian in flavour and rather bland. The caviar added a nice visual touch but little in terms of taste. Serving both dishes at once felt confused, and the lack of greens made the course feel unbalanced. Hereford Beef Short Rib Sweet soy & stout jus, hibiscus onion This was the richest and heaviest dish of all — very fatty, with only a few bites eaten before it became overwhelming. We ordered a side of vegetables, which helped a little, but the overall meal was far too meat-heavy and lacked variety. Ice Cream Sandwich Vanilla, soy and sesame caramel centre (230 kcal) A small but interesting dessert. The flavours worked well, though the sandwich was quite hard and difficult to eat straight from the freezer. Service throughout the meal was attentive and professional. Overall, while the presentation and service were good, the food was uncomfortably heavy and unbalanced — far too focused on rich, fatty meats with very little freshness or lightness to balance the flavours.

The 5-course experience exceeded my expectations: tremendous pappardelle in spicy broth and short rib! Prompt service, meal completed in about 90 minutes but it may take even 2hrs if you are not in a rush. At £59 it is a good deal too. Things to improve: ice cream sandwich was a bit of a mess, the nearly frozen core was detached from biscuit base and chocolate layer on top, so when you try to dip into it, it will fall apart. Decor is standard Nordic modern but lacks character, it looked like a boring hotel restaurant. Smart casual dress code applies as it's a luxury hotel. In short, go for the 'experience' tasting menu but the whole menu is a breath of fresh air in London.