Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

Hakkahan is an absolute delight serving tremendous Chinese food in an informal diner setting but as one might enjoy in an expensive restaurant. The Hakka Han is not an area in China but a subgroup of Chinese people throughout Southern China, including Sichuan, Hunan, and Taiwan. The man behind Hakkahan is Ryon Wen, a Hakka man himself while the Head Chef Terry Yang, who is from the Sichuan province has worked in top Chinese restaurants in Dublin.
We were sitting outside on our visit being looked after by a delightful young man. Hakkahan’s menu allows for indulgence in a veritable feast of Chinese dishes at street food prices such as House Dumplings, Small Chow, and Mains but a few euro more. 

Dumplings and Small Chow included Beef Siu Mei, the popular Prawn Har Gau, Roast Duck Dumplings, Pork Yuk Sung, and Sesame Prawn Sourdough – the hipster version of Cantonese prawn toast.   

We kicked off with Dai Zi, a stunning quartet of sizeable emerald green wrapped parcels, packed with chopped scallops, embellished with hoisin sauce, sesame seeds, and sprinkled with watercress. They were absolute mouthfuls of heaven for which I’d make a return visit to the ‘Batter’ alone. Salt & Pepper squid had fresh crisp julienned squid in a feather light tempura style coating with onion, scallions and sesame seeds. The lightly crisped strips were superbly spiced with an underlying kick of chilli, not so much that it would frighten the horses, and were probably, we agreed, the best squid we’d ever had. The third small dish was a ¼ aromatic duck, which had the duck very finely chopped, served with the appropriate little Chinese pancakes, and fine shreds of cucumber, scallions and hoi sin sauce.

Moving on to the dozen or so mains which included stalwarts such as Black Bean Beef, Kung Po Chicken, Sweet & Sour Crispy Chicken, Basil Duck and Mala Spicy Lamb, we had Sea Bass which was as stunning and elegant as one might find in any expensive establishment. I always say no one cooks vegetables like Indian chefs and, when it comes to fish, no one cooks it like a Chinese chef and, at Hakkahan, two fillets of this delicious poisson lived up to this. Moist and delicate, they were steamed with ginger and scallions, sprinkled with sesame oil and light soy, and resting on choy sum and watercress. Sides included Yangshou fried rice, with pork char siu and diced vegetables; Chinese scallion bread or steamed rice. We shared the fourth option, stir fried noodles with egg, scallions and beansprouts.

There’s no lengthy wine list either to tax your brain or your pocket, it’s either red, white, rose or prosecco. It was white for us with a bottle of crisp fruity Donini Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC 2019 served in stemless wine glasses – which I have to say I’ve become very fond for casual home use – particularly I guess with my frisky Siamese cats running all over the place.

I loved Hakkahan and hope Ryon will bring a branch to Dun Laoghaire!

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