HUŎ Chelsea — Restaurant in London

HUŎ Asian restaurant in Chelsea is a true gem. Firstly, let's talk about the interiors - absolutely gorgeous! The atmosphere is calming and chic, setting the stage for a delightful dining experience. The driftwood colors and bleaching timber banquettes create a light and soothing design, perfect for intimate gatherings or smaller group meetings. Their menu is a culinary journey through clean, fresh, and healthy Asian food, featuring carefully selected dishes from China and Southeast Asia. What sets them apart is their commitment to preparing everything from scratch, drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese, Thai, Malay, and Singaporean disciplines. The bar at HUŎ offers Asian-inspired cocktails, alongside an impressive selection of Japanese whiskies, vodkas, and craft beer. For those looking for a more laid-back experience, a reduced food menu is available for counter dining. Now, onto the food - exceptional is an understatement. I started with the Kaleidoscope Dim Sum Basket, a burst of flavors and colors that set the tone for the evening. The Wok-fried daikon cakes with bean sprouts were a delightful surprise, so deliciously traditional that I couldn't resist having more. Moving on to the mains, the Thai sea bass fillet with chili lemongrass was a standout - fresh, tasty, and simply divine. The Thai green curry with prawns was equally delightful, bursting with flavor. The stir-fried morning glory with garlic was a perfect complement to the other dishes. As a self-proclaimed picky espresso martini enthusiast, I must say that mine at HUŎ was excellent! My friend enjoyed a proper Aperol Spritz. The team at HUŎ was incredibly kind and helpful, guiding us through the menu and ensuring we had a memorable dining experience. This restaurant has now secured a spot in my top list...

Had dinner with friends and family last Tuesday but the foods and service were so awful that I had to write an email to them last Wednesday. The management clearly does not bother as I haven’t received any email since.

First of all, the staffs were very unwelcoming. They did not smile nor greet when we arrive but sort of in a bad mood which was written on their face. Then we had to request 3 times to get steamed rice for our baby which we think it was unacceptable as it did not require anymore cooking but we had to asked for it repeatedly because our baby was screaming as she had waited for foods for more than half an hour (the restaurant was pretty empty with us being the second table to arrive and order at that time). The biggest let down was of course the foods and I will just list out them as follow:

Fried daikon cake was extremely salty. We grew up eating daikon cakes and were so excited when we saw it on the menu (we even took a picture of it out of excitement and the the fact that we haven’t been able to travel home and have it for two years) but it was such a disappointment;

The crispy squid was very dry and rubbery so it was hard to chew. Was it made of dried squid? It just did not taste fresh and was the worst squid I’ve ever had;

We found egg shell in the hot & sour soup;

The szechuan prawn was very salty;

The kamheong prawn did not bring out the flavour at all;

The watermelon mocktail was almost tasteless and again was the most bland mocktail I’ve ever had and you charged £8.50 for that?!

Any Chinese restaurant could do...

Excellent food badly let down by the service. NOTE: Restaurant pays staff from the service charge on already inflated prices, we recommend avoiding until staff get a fair deal!

We visited on Valentine's Day and the tone was set immediately when our first interaction came with a reminder we'd need to vacate the table in 1.5 hours! A drinks order was then taken and spilled over my girlfriend's jumper. Our food service was slow, possibly due to the volume of Deliveroo orders being taken in an already-busy restaurant. Spicy scallops, Rainbow dimsum selection and Thai Red curry (prawn) were all excellent - among the best we've enjoyed on London. Spicy vermicelli noodles (chicken and prawn) continued the flavour fest, but offered poor value for money.

Our second drinks were slow, plates between starters and mains were replaced without new napkins, and finally our bill was presented before dessert orders were invited. Overall, staff at this restaurant are struggling under the pressure of owners clearly putting profit before customer service. Staff remarked that the service charge was their salary payment when we asked for it to be removed. Until staff are given a better deal, we'll not be returning. 4 drinks, 2 starters and 2 mains priced in at £140. That's more than enough to pay staff a decent wage and turn a profit. Though not for Huo...