Hakkasan Awards

Hakkasan Restaurant Review:

The landmark Fontainebleau resort hosts the first U.S. outpost of London-based restaurateur Alan Yau's Hakkasan. The décor is cinematic with ornate lacquered Chinese screens and private booths with carved wood panels to create an elegant enclave in the rooftop restaurant. The menu offers modern takes on Cantonese cuisine. Executive chef Ooi Soon Lok executes the dishes with the help of his kitchen staff stationed at flaming woks controlled by foot pedals so hands are free to shape dim sum dumplings or stir-fry ostrich in spicy sauce. Appetizers include jasmine tea-smoked ribs, crispy duck salad and braised Australian abalone with black truffle. Entrées range from earthy clay pot chicken to char-grilled silver cod in Champagne-honey sauce with fried lotus root. Finish with a Western-style coffee panna cotta with popcorn ice cream. Dinner is expensive, even if one forgoes the $198 Peking duck with Petrossian caviar. But a prix-fixe weekend “Yum Cha” lunch enables one to experience a dim sum platter and four other dishes for $28, a bargain in this stylish place with a diverse menu of new-world wines and saké.