Is Hutong at The Shard in London Worth the Money?

Love it or hate it, the towering, jagged sharpness of The Shard is here to stay and now defines the London skyline.

Undeniably, it's a big, tall, tower, offering unparalleled views across the city in every direction.

One way to experience the view from The Shard is to visit the viewing platform – at a price, of course. Alternatively, there are a number of restaurants within the building which also offer pretty good views.

One of these is Hutong – a high-end restaurant that specialises in the cuisine of northern China.

By any standards, Hutong is not a cheap night out. It's not the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to, but for me it's definitely in the special-occasion-only bracket.

I won't bore you with the details of what our special occasion was, it wasn't anything specific like an engagement or a birthday, but I wanted to treat my boyfriend Liviu to something a bit out of the ordinary so I decided to take him to Hutong.

I'd looked at the menu when I made the booking. I knew what it was going to cost. It was a price that I was happy to pay for a special occasion restaurant experience.

Was it worth it? Almost.

The wow-factor

The restaurant entrance to The Shard is discrete. A temporary-looking security check is slightly confusing to navigate, but then you're left to your own devices to jump in a super-fast but super-smooth lift to the restaurant floor.

Being inside The Shard gives you a definite buzz. As you emerge out of the lift, the views are breathtaking, overwhelmingly post-card perfect.

Hutong opens at 18:00 for the dinner service. It was a Sunday and I'd booked a table or 18:00 – partly because I liked the idea of an early meal on a Sunday, partly because I thought we might be able to see a spectacular sunset, partly because that was the only time available.

We arrived slightly ahead of 18:00, but the reception team were friendly and efficient and we were soon seated in the restaurant's bar enjoying a cocktail.

After only a few sips of our aperitif, our table was ready and we were ushered through – a perfect table right next to one of the glass walls. Most tables within the restaurant seem to have almost uninterrupted views, but our was particularly good.

You couldn't fault the service. We were served by a couple of different waiters during the meal – everyone was friendly, efficient, and knew their stuff.

We started with the wine list. Plenty of expensive options on there, we settled on a Malbec that was about as inexpensive as it got. Malbec is an easy wine to drink and goes well with spicy food, so it was a sensible choice.

Iberico pork dumplings with Sichuan garlic sauce

We both love dumplings, so it was an easy choice to share a serving of pork dumplings to kick things off.

Roasted Peking duck – served in two stages

Liviu isn't a huge fan of duck, but I talked him into ordering a half-serve of Peking Duck as it's one of my all-time favourites. The chef carved it at the table (as most restaurants do). The pancakes were a little dried out, but once you put the duck with the cucumber, spring onion, and sauce it was all pretty tasty.

Once you've finished the first stage of the duck, the second stage is the remainder of the meat, shredded up and served with lettuce (in which you parcel up the meat). This was less tasty to be honest, a bit bland and uninteresting.

Red Lantern – Crispy soft-shell crab with Sichuan dried chilli

We easily agreed that our main dish was going to be the soft shell crab. We both love soft shell crab – done well it's a real revelation. Apparently this is one of Hutong's signature dishes, and the waiters all commended us on our good choice.

This looked spectacular when it was placed on the table – a big bowl full of red chillies with the pieces of crab nestled within. We eagerly fished out the dry spicy crab with our chopsticks and happily crunched away.

Really good.

Mango pudding with fruit salsa, mandarin sorbet

We didn't really need a dessert, but felt as if we should at least try something to share. We were debating a few options when our waiter suggested the mango pudding. It was a good choice – a smooth pudding full of flavour and freshness. The perfect way to finish a meal.

The cocktails

We had too many cocktails, but they were good.

We started the meal with a the Old Peking Fashioned: “Peking duck infused Hennessy cognac, roasted sesame syrup, chocolate bitters, angostura bitters, chocolate and sesame seed popping sanding pancake.”

After dinner we moved back to the bar and opted for an Espresso Martini. We had such a good window-side table in the bar that we didn’t want to leave, so we ordered another cocktail. I can’t remember what that one was, but it was good.

The verdict

Hutong delivered an impressive meal. I really like this style of food, and what Hutong is serving is good – but it's not particularly ground-breaking, or exciting.

There's also nothing remotely cool about the experience.

If you live in London you'll know where to find a better bar, you'll know where to find a better restaurant, you'll know where to find better Chinese food.

What you're paying for at Hutong is the view.

Hutong is perfect if you're wanting to impress someone from out of town, a business associate, a potential client, someone you can splurge your expense account on.

It's also pretty good as a special occasion restaurant for those nights when you just feel like surprising your boyfriend with something that's a bit out of the ordinary.