Cha Cha Moon. Version1.0

On Saturday 17th May, we took a visit to Alan Yau’s new establishment in Carnaby Street, Cha Cha Moon; the blue neon sign at the front of the dark exterior welcomed us. The first thing you’ll notice once you walk through the doors would be the light, red and transparent plastic-glass like wall which separated the kitchen and the hallway leading to the open plan layout of the restaurant.

The décor was very contemporary Chinese style yet sharing some similarity to Wagamama’s; everything was quite dim with only the kitchen and bar being lit up brightly. The seats, I must point out, are so much more comfortable than Wagamama seats though. They are cushioned! This is not the usual Chinatown fast food Chinese restaurant. This is Alan Yau’s (founder of Yauatcha , Hakkasan and Sake No Hana) latest mission on Ganton Street. But back to the menu, everything was £3.50 but this promotion will only last till the end of the month, May. We ordered Taiwanese beef noodles with mooli and pickled cabbages, spring onion pancake, Zha Zhang Mein, Singaporean Char Kway Teow, Black Cherry soda and Guava Collins.

The Taiwanese beef noodles were very nice; they were generous with the soft and tender beef although some pieces, I have to admit, were dry. The soup base, I thought, should have a stronger flavour because it tasted more salty than the strong beef soup base that Taiwanese noodles should have; although the mooli was quite nice, but not soft enough so that the beef soup could really sink into the mooli. The chilli oil that came with the beef noodles had more oil than chilli! The Singaporean Cha Kway Teow (which we had difficulty pronouncing to the waiter) was spicy hot! It was also salty and slightly sweet tasting; the Chinese fish slices were more floury than the nice ’springy’ texture that I prefer. Or the way it should be, since it’s called ‘yue dan’ in Chinese (literal translation would be ‘fish bounce.’) it’s not a dish I would personally order again on my next visit. The lovely pink drink I had was Guava Collins which was delicious and is a must order for anyone who intends to visit Cha Moon! It’s such a soothing, cooling, summery drink consisting of mint, coconut and guava! The spring onion pancake needed a little more spring onions but nonetheless it was a lovely dish. Oily, but not cloyingly so, instead it was just about right. I would recommend this dish and I will personally order it again next time I visit!

The Zha Zhang Mein looked odd when it was served: a whole load of dark looking sauce on some dry thick wonton noodles, served with a separate soup base. Having not had this before, I was quite stupified.. what was I meant to do? But it was decided that the soup base had to be added to the noodles, since they weren’t entirely cooked yet. The sauce was intriguing, with crushed soya, minced pork, chilli and sauce. Once the soup was added in spoonfuls, the sauce would dilute itself into the soup, so no wonder they served the components separately. I liked the dish, different from your standard dish but I’d probably order something else next time where there’d be more to ‘look at’ so to speak. My Boylan Cherry Soda was a gem though. I’d initially thought of going for the Afri Cola (I think it’s called that) but refrained thinking, how many ways can you make Cola different? So when this soda was served up in its original bottle, I was quite amused. You’re wondering how it tastes? Intense. I loved it. It was literally, cherry, and soda in a drink, did you expect anything more? My drink was slightly more expensive at 3.60 a swish, but it lasted me the whole meal which is what drinks are meant to do, unless you’re at an expensive restaurant which earns its profits on its drinks. I’ve done my research though, Boylan sodas aren’t available in the UK in any shop, unless you order online from Amazon.com at $30 for 6 bottles to deliver to your door. So any way you’re going to get a sip of this wowza drink is to pay a visit yourself to CCM or join me on my next visit.

Visit, version 1.0 to Cha Cha Moon. Next version will be coming up very soon. I think. And I hope he’ll add those lovely Hong Kong desserts to the menu……..

Written by Vivi and Dana.