Shopping along Oxford Street at the holidays is a completely bewildering time. The mayhem, the chaos, the must find last minute deal.
Over the years, it’s a place I’ve learned to avoid at weekends and holidays. However, sometimes you want to go and see the lights, the action and well, to nab that deal on a handbag. So you venture in.
When the shopping is over, you’ll find yourself absolutely starving. The best bet is to avoid the street vendors. No that waffle dunked in Nutella is not what you need. It’s about time I introduced you to Chi Kitchen, tucked just out of the way, giving you peace and quiet from Oxford Street, a mere stone’s throw away.
Chi Kitchen is located on the ground floor of Debenhams and is part of the collection of delicious restaurants I’ve been frequenting lately, Mango Tree, Pan Chai – all excellent. I’d had yet to try out Chi Kitchen, so when they invited me to give their Christmas menu a go, who was I to turn it down?
We headed in on a Friday night, so we knew we’d be looking at a busy scene, it was absolutely buzzing. The staff were whizzing around looking after tables, families in for their Friday night meals out, solo diners grabbing something to refuel before hitting the shops for round two, couples on date night. It’s an eclectic mix.
Once we were seated, we immediately ordered our drinks, a cool glass of Chardonnay for me obviously, and a beer for Joe.
Because we were trying their set Christmas menu, there wasn’t much for us to do when it came to ordering. We didn’t need to look at the menu, we knew exactly what was on it’s way. Isn’t that ideal? For people who take a hundred years to order anything, this is like a dream come true.
First came out the appetizer plate complete with the following: Chilli Prawns Deep-fried prawns with chilli, curry leaves, garlic, onions, spring onions, walnuts and salt & pepper, served with chilli lime sauce. Sweet Potato with Mixed Berry Mayonnaise. And Turkey Sliders Minced turkey sliders with salt & pepper.
The turkey sliders were excellent and we also really enjoyed the prawns. To be honest, we were happy with the entire presentation. Yum. Also that chilli lime sauce is a thing of dreams.
Our mains were presented shortly after and included three dishes. The Turkey Insal Grilled turkey with a kalamsansi sauce. Choo Chee Prawns Grilled prawns with a choo chee sauce. And finally, Yuzu Salmon Baked salmon with Japanese yuzu mayo sauce. Each dish was complete with the accompaniment of Egg fried rice with snow peas.
I was partial to the giant prawns. I’ve also always been a big fan of Egg Fried rice and Chi Kitchen delivered. This was so, so good.
Naturally, the Chi Kitchen Christmas menu wouldn’t be complete without dessert. Bring on the Walnut Chocolate Brownie with Clotted Cream & Custard Chocolate brownie and vanilla clotted cream, served with blood orange and star anise custard. Delicious.
While I was head over heels for that brownie, Joe was less of a fan. It’s not that sugary, which I loved and I think he wished there was more sweetness to it. Still, I found the flavour to be exactly what I was looking for. Weirdly, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.
Shockingly, after our meal we weren’t stuffed. We both felt relatively good, as if we’d paced ourselves quite nicely. Isn’t that a refreshing change from the usual, we rolled ourselves back home?
Finishing our meal, we tried two of the cocktails, a Mojito and a Raspberry/mango concoction. Chi Kitchen’s Christmas menu is currently available from £28 per person. I have to say it’s definitely a fun alternative Christmas menu and a great spot when you’re out and about doing the Christmas shopping.
After such a lovely experience, we both said we’ll definitely have to head back in to try their sushi menu, it looked fantastic.
Kelly xox
Chi Kitchen
334-348 Oxford Street, London, W1C 1JG