Kai Mayfair

Spread over two floors, this swanky Chinese restaurant is decorated in red, gold and silver, with Chinese reliefs on the walls; tables are immaculately presented, seats are comfortable, and staff, friendly but relatively formal, are smartly attired. Kai aims to show the diversity of Chinese cuisine and the cooking is noted for its accurate timing, judicious use of spicing and seasoning, and its subtle combination of flavours and textures. Deep-fried soft-shelled crab, in a crisp batter with garlic, chilli and shallots, served with green mango julienne, and tender char siu with steamed pancakes and pickled cucumber can get a meal off to a flying start, followed perhaps by deep-fried prawns in a complex sauce of mandarin peel, yellow beans, soy, chilli, shallots, garlic and coriander, or tender marinated lamb cutlets with achar pickle. The menu opens with a page of desserts, showing how seriously they are taken here, and indeed 'mango, dragonfruit, coconut, sago', a combination of sorbet, mousse, jelly and foams, has been the crowning glory of a meal.