Hutong

Beautiful view but did not appreciate the food. The vegetable egg rolls were the only thing I liked. Hot and sour soup tasted like chicken broth and was not enjoyable.

It’s been a while since I came here (l’ve been busy trying the Shards other restaurants) but I still like it. The view is amazing but that is true of all the restaurants at the Shard. I really enjoyed all the food. The crispy prawn roll starter was so good that a fight almost broke out over the last one. We also had a beef dish served over sticky rice & the Peking duck served in 2 stages which were both really good. It is a more expensive meal than the dim sum lunch special we got last time but if you take out the £100 on drinks then the food wasn’t astronomical.

Excellent view. Food complimented the view. Prices were more for the view than the food — somewhat on the high side. But overall it wasn’t disappointing.

Haid is fantastic as a server at the lounge. Probably the best bartender we have ever met or been served by! Fantastic location, excellent service and food and mixology!

I have been coming to Hutong since they opened up. Despite the fact I live in New York City, a trip to London for me is never complete without a stop at this iconic establishment. Admittedly one has to plan ahead and make a reservation but once seated for a table the culinary and visual experience is breath taking. On those instances when I could not be seated, the bar scene was lively even if service was a little slow.
All in all a good experience.

Ordinary food with ridiculously high price, Peking duck was not sliced thin enough. You can have the same taste or even better dim sum in most restaurants in china town. I don’t understand why it is always fully booked. not worth the money.
Service was good, staff are friendly and helpful. However we believed the water glass was not dried properly after wash, it smells.
Great view, but I’d rather go Aqua bar next time.

Pleasantly Surprised…
I had wanted to try Hutong for a while and my partner wanted dinner at The Shard so it made sense to get Hutong booked up!
I had heard mixed things, read mixed reviews and was in some ways a bit nervous as it’s a pricey dinner… I didn’t want it to be rubbish!
Luckily for me and my bank balance Hutong was great!
We had a great table in the corner with windows surrounding us and a great view over Tower Bridge. The restaurant is quiet and relaxed with staff always available but never pushy.
Food wise I think Hutong is better then Oblix, which is a good start. The prices are high but you get really good portion sizes. We went with the Half duck, the crispy beef, Prawn starter and Rice. I was a bit concerned it wouldn’t be enough but it was plenty! The duck comes over two courses-​a starter and then bascially another main so it’s two dishes really. We actually preferred the 2^nd dish of it.
Drinks wise, My partner is doing dry Jan so I thought I would join her and we went for two of the virgin cocktails… they were amazing and in some ways better than a normal cocktail, and half the price!
Overall I really enjoyed Hutong, the food is not ground breaking and there are much better/​cheaper options in London overall. But for high end, Chinese food in a great setting Hutong is right up there!
I think going with a group of 4 would be ideal to give you the chance to try more of the menu.

What do you get your mum who is impossible to buy for? Every birthday and Christmas is spent frantically thinking what to get her. So when my husband suggested taking my parents to Hutong, we booked immediately a late Sunday lunch.
Unfortunately we had the worst weather ever, pelting rain and really cloudy. But hey what can you do in winter. Despite the rain we were pleased to get a window table. The menu isn’t vast but we did struggle to pick. As there was 4 of us we chose the set lunch menu.
Monkfish and enoki mushroom soup — tasty, similar to sweetcorn soup
Dim sum dumplings: xo sauce and prawn, sea bass and shrimp, scallop and kai lan and pumpkin — I was sadly every excited to get my own bamboo steamer to myself (I get twitchy when I have to share food). They were really beautifully made and almost too pretty to eat. My favourite was the xo sauce and prawn dumpling.
Wagyu beef puffs — light pastry with a sweet tender filling, lush!
Prawn and cuttlefish in a pickled chilli sauce
Chicken, string bean and oyster mushroom lettuce wraps
Kai lan in ginger saucer
Egg white fried rice
The portions were very generous. The prawns and cuttlefish were delicious the right level of spice, but be careful of the the chilies I ate a really hot one. The kai lan was perfectly cooked and the lettuce wraps were delightful. The fried rice was nice and light and the perfect accompaniment to the dishes.
We had jasmine tea with the meal so with dessert my dad and James had a beer and I had a glass of bubbles to see the new year in. I chose the golden sesame dumplings with apple and cinnamon purée, my mum and James had the glutinous black sesame dumplings and my dad had the honey and ginger ice cream. My dumplings which I would call sesame balls were amazing! Hot crispy sesame coating with a light apple filling, my mum being mum said that isn’t Chinese, true but it was lovely. The glutinous dumplings which are very like moochi were delicious, soft and gooey with a lovely crumbly coating which gave a bit of texture.
My mum and dad were very impressed with the quality of the food and the generous portions. This isn’t always an easy task with my parents!
As I said at the beginning we had awful weather. During the meal, the rain slowly eased and the sun made a little appearance breaking up some of the cloud. If you came on a clear day or evening you would definitely get some fantastic views of London, and I have a real soft spot for a view of London. I would love to come back for cocktails on summer evening. There are also some lovely private dining areas, which would be fantastic for a large group dinner. Can’t wait for an excuse to come back!

This is a place to go when you have out of towers visiting London, our friends took us here and we were happy that we didn’t have to buy tickets to see the view from the Shard. The service is good. The food is predictably good. We ordered the fried crabs and veggie dumplings both of which were sufficiently good. Then we had try Ma Po Tofu, string beans, spicy fried rice and the beef wrapped in lotus leaf. My favorite dish were the string beans, the spices on that were bang on. The beef looked very fancy but was just good. We also had a chocolate tart for dessert, we felt that the tart shell was undercooked and they were really good, taking it away and not charging us. Overall we had a good time, the view is unbelievably good and the ambience is trendy. Go for the whole experience. The food by itself might not be a draw

Great view, okay service, and sub-​par food. We ordered Peking Duck (half), spicy shredded beef, and spicy pork dumplings. Still waiting for the spice to arrive from both the spicy dishes, and the duck was extremely sweet; add the sweet plum sauce to the supplied pancakes and you find yourself drinking water and eating boiled rice to assist in absorbing the sweet flavour. This was definitely not traditional Chinese cooking; and at a £110 price tag, not worth the exercise.
The views are enjoyable and our waiter was extremely friendly. But still, for the price, two people can have a more enjoyable dinner elsewhere and not feel as if the pocket book has been raped upon completion.

My lady took me here for my bday. Great birthday surprise for London. We enjoyed some soft shelled crabs, ribs, fried rice and noodles. I must say every dish was delicious. The crabs were spicy but very good. And the ribs had me licking my fingers in public. The staff was very friendly. And the view was breathe taking. So between the ambiance, staff, food and experience. I have to give this place 5 stars.

Not worth it. Best part was the cocktails, at 17 pounds each they should be. The staff here is what’s lacking. They forgot my order twice and what was brought out wasn’t spectacular. We ordered the set menu, and the only good item was the dim sum. The crab was limp, the beef dish wad flavorless and dry, rice was hard.
For the price this is nothing like hakkasan so go there if you have the desire for upscale chinese. This place is a bust.

I took my little sis here for her birthday lunch as a treat. It was a fantastic treat indeed! It absolutely blew us away from beginning to end.
First, we had a seat right by the window (there aren’t actually that many, so I was really pleased that they had taken into consideration that it was a special day.) The view was stunning and almost stopped any conversation as it was so interesting. It’s a great height — high enough to see for miles, but low enough to actually see details.
The service was friendly. They took on board that it was my sister’s birthday and made her feel really special. They were helpful with recommending dishes, extremely flexible and just lovely.
The food was scrummmmmmy! I don’t usually like chinese food, but I loved everything we ordered. We had:
Crispy peking duck rolls (very crispy!)
Baked Wagyu beef puffs (my sister’s favourite)
Rose champagne shrimp dumplings (my favourite — so tasty)
Sautéed crispy shredded beef and chilli (recommended and oh so naughty, but good!)
Tofu with chilli sauce (not actually as hot as advertised — it came with a health warning! — but really delicious!)
We had a bottle of viognier, that was both extremely reasonable (almost cheap!) but absolutely delicious.
The only criticism in ordering was that there was so much literature to get through and different options. We were spoilt for choice, but our waiter helped us make some excellent choices!
We were running out of time, but decided to go for coffees as they smelt amazing! With our coffees, they served my sister a bowl of ice cream and a happy birthday chocolate! It was such a sweet touch!
We loved it, and I highly recommend going on a Saturday lunch time — nothing is too busy (unlike weekday evenings) and you actually get to see the view in daylight.

I had family visiting from America and thought it would be nice to visit the shard for a few drinks. It was everyone’s first time visiting and we decided to try Hutong on the 33^rd floor.
Upon arrival we were approached by a server who offered us 2 tables for 2 as there were no table of 4 available. However we noticed a table of four opening up and decided to stand at the bar and wait. We were then told by the server that we needed to move so she could «do her job without us in her area». I understand that she wanted us to move but she could have said it a bit nicer.
We moved to the table and ordered some cocktails, I got a NuWang (pronounced New Wong) the drink tastesed of cucumber, elderflower, and a kick of Chili it was very nice and very refreshing. My sister ordered their take on a Bloody Mary and she enjoyed it despite it being quite small.
Overall the view is amazing, the drinks are flavourful but very expensive. I was a bit put off by the service and I will probably try the other bars in the Shard before returning to Hutong.

Located on the 33^rd floor of The Shard, Hutong was bound to be a novelty restaurant; requiring early reservations and penalising £40 per no-​show. Is it worth it? Well the answer is a little contradictory as I found it highly underwhelming but was surprisingly not very costly as I paid only £35 per head for dinner.
Firstly, the restaurant is horrifyingly difficult to find as signposting is distinctly lacking and useless. Testament to this is I found myself going up the escalator from London Bridge underground station with other strangers in pursuit only for us to all find ourselves realising there was no entrance from there; you must go around The Shard on the ground floor to find the necessary lifts. Someone actually went into the Shangri La Hotel entrance of The Shard without realising this was incorrect and was only told after already having gone through their X-​ray security. The calamity does not end at finding the entrance: welcoming staff simply point to a lift, I ask what floor to go to and they say the 32^nd and it turns out the lift only has one button but when you press the button an annoying automated message blasts that «this lift is automated you do not need to press any buttons, the lift will move in 12 seconds». Upon reaching the 32^nd floor you may again find yourself at a loss as there are little directions between The Oblix bar, The Aquabar and Hutong and other unlabelled doors.
Finally arriving at Hutong, I discover there’s no cloakroom which is a little surprising given the nature of the restaurant but this would be permissable had I not later realised that the wooden dining seats are the type with wide arm rests which are inadequate at holding up coats and actually uncomfortable and awkward to eat from as the legs collide with the bottom of the table and all they have is a row of low-​hanging hooks upon which coats have been hung hither thither and are hard to find in the dark. There is random placement of a red lantern on some tables and not others and there is little by way of decoration of the restaurant even for a normal day but given that my visit was only the week after Chinese New Year the lack of decoration was truly disappointing. Yes they had a tree with lucky red packets hanging from it (which I’m told has been there for a long time) but the tree is not lit up and is rather dark and gloomy like the rest of the room and service. The wine list has no non-​alcoholic options and there are no drink options on the main menu either. My friends and I asked the waiter what Chinese Tea is available and picked one from the options the waiter offered only for it to never present itself as clearly the waiter didn’t even process the order.
Our starters included ‘Shandong shredded chicken with homemade butterfly buns’ (the chicken was cold but came with a pleasant gravy whilst the buns were neatly decorated like an oyster shell) — nice enough but not as good as what you might get at Flesh ‘n’ Buns; the ‘Tiger prawns with Sichuan chilli sauce’ (served tiger prawns that had either been diced up into chunks or were barely the size of normal prawns and were drowning in what seemed like a sweet chilli sauce, not akin to ‘Sichuan’ style); the pork and fennel seed dumplings (were seasoned well inside but looked like a heap of soggy mass from the outside).
As for mains: the best dish we ordered was ‘Pan-​fried whole Dover sole in coriander-​vinegar sauce’ — the fish was well cooked with crispy bones on the outside. Next best was the ‘Crispy de-​boned lamb ribs marinated for 24 hours, braised and deep-​fried’ — this had a good texture and pleasant taste but was not exceptional. Other dishes we tried were ‘Kai Lan vegetables’, ‘Crispy Chilli Beef’ and ‘Prawn stuffed tofu’ — all of which seemed very average to me. Incidentally, boiled rice is not even listed on the menu but you can request it. Although we didn’t order any roast duck I can tell that the duck is roasted in-​house as the uncooked duck ready for roasting was hung up in front of the chopping station.
Overall the food was nothing to boast about and my traditional Chinese parents could cook these dishes either to the same effect or better. Furthermore, there must’ve been too much spring onion and garlic in all the dishes as it left me with an unpleasant aftertaste, lasting even till the next day. The most creative aspect of the entire restaurant (food included) was the décor of the ladies toilets which had old-​fashioned doors opening up to the London skyline. Hutong seems a poor copy-​cat of SushiSamba in that it has a bad replica of a tree and is situated over 30 floors up and it borrows Hakkasan’s choice of a dark restaurant with black ceilings and simple setting. Although it shares some similarities to these restaurants in design, Hutong does not deliver enough in terms of originality, quality of food, service and comfort; its location and descriptions on the website seem to build Hutong up but in reality it is a big let down.

I would go back in a heartbeat, so allow me to quickly explain 3 stars…
(a) the place is AMAZING in terms of views and ambiance through the door. There are very few better and more accessible venues to soak up such a view on a clear day or night.
(b) You can get in dressed relatively casual, and don’t need a reservation — a bit of a secret that most don’t know about the SHARD
BUT
© The drinks (as expected) are WAAAAY over-​priced
(d) It’s nearly impossible to get a seat in the evening
(e) people stalk for seats so even if you’re in there, you have to play a game for 30 minutes to sit anywhere, and inevitably get into a British fight (read: uncomfortable staring match, tension in the air, but do your best to pretend like it’s not there while stealing the occasional harsh-​but-​not-​obvious glance at the perpetrator of your misery) over seats.
(f) The bartenders act like you’re not even there, and it takes FOREVER to get a drink even if you’re first because they’re just not really that good or fast at pouring drinks.
(g) the urinals have this weird thing in the evening where the external glass of the building reflects the view of the people standing right next to you (and you to them…) from *ahem* non-​traditional viewpoints that should typically reserved for Soho bars.
(h) and the big standing table by the bar moves — NO LEANING! So not only can you not get a seat without eye-​fighting, you cannot lean unless you team up with all of your fellow seat-​stalking foes (unlikely as it might be) to strike the perfect balance lest someone’s extra 5 lbs of pressure sends you all for the floor… until, of course, a seat pops up, and then you best be on your game, because this cake walk only ends in two ways: you getting your seat, much to the displeasure of your leaning coalition of fellow post-​holders, or you end up face-​down being trampled by angry bar elephants awaiting their snout-​wetters now for 30+ minutes.
Good luck, my future seat-​seeking foes… good luck.

Despite being located on Level 33 of The Shard, we didn’t hold the highest of expectations for Hutong. It was breathtakingly pricey for one thing — causing a bit of blind panic on my part at the sight of the menu, but I kept reassuring myself that View from Shard costs £25 for the privilege. I admit View from the Shard is twice as high up as Hutong but actually I felt the panorama looked very spectacular from the 33^rd floor. You were high enough to see the whole of London spread out before you, but still low enough to see a good level of detail albeit from the unnatural vantage of South to North. Yes I am a north Londoner born and bred.
So once the menu came, and we stopped distracting ourselves with the view (which took a while — there’s so much view to be distracted by) there was much confusion and deliberation about what to order. Most dishes are quite highly priced, and the whole meal came to about £50 a head (without booze). We reckon with quite careful ordering you can get it down to £35.
Tip 1 for Hutong on a budget — the portions are big and the staff do not warn you of this — we had so much left over at the end of the meal. Order less than you think you need.
We ordered half a crispy duck as a starter — which is meant to serve between 2 and 3, and costs £30 — but actually it was plenty for four (or more) of us to eat — and after they carve it, they bring out the rest in a second delicious sitting. I highly recommend this on both taste and one of the better value menu items.
My friend ordered the grouper broth for his main — a spicy fish soup which was too much for him to finish after filling up on the duck starter. And warning. If something on the menu is marked as spicy, then it is woah mamma scorching hot — like this dish.
Tip 2 — the price doesn’t necessarily bear any resemblance to yumminess or the size of the serving. I ordered one of the cheapest items on the menu the jade tofu. At £9.50 it was also one of the best things we ordered and a decent size too. In illustration we also ordered the crispy deboned lamb at £31, and were so disappointed by the lack of seasoning or taste.
Tip 3 — drink tea or juice. Although yummy, cocktails and virgin cocktails are phenomenally pricey. Tea has the vantage of being refilled with hot water at no extra cost — the gift that keeps on giving.
Loved the kai lun main and most of the veg dishes, but very much disliked the tasteless veggie soup noodle side. We also weren’t impressed with the fact they refilled their Aesop soap in the bathroom with lesser inferior smelling products, and the ladies toilet doors being so tricky to manœuvre and operate. However the boys do say they get to pee with a view so bonus points for that.
Overall the food was better than expected and you get a pleseant dining experience with the views, but now I’ve been there, done that and eaten at the Shard I am in no rush to return.

Came here last night my birthday. We made the reservation 2 months in advance so was very much looking forward to it. It did not disappoint and had a lovely time. We had a great window table view. Service was friendly & gave good recommendations for food & if something was really spicy. It is pricey– but you are also paying for the atmosphere and view. We ordered a variety of food. As a veggie had a lot of options for me.
Food Ordered:
Vegetarian hot & sour soup: Really lovely! Not too spicy and had a lot of flavour.
Dover Sole & Coriander soup: My husband ordered this and really enjoyed it.
Vegetable Spring rolls: Enjoyed these but served with Chinese vinegar so can be quite bitter.
Vegetable Dumplings: Good but a bit mushy. Did not have a lot of flavour.
Ma Po tofu: Spicy but really good! I was advised before ordering it that it would be spicy so asked to do it lighter on the spice. It was still very spicy though.
Egg fried rice: Was really good– one portion is enough to share between 2
Lotus fried root: Was too spicy. Would not order again. Asked for light on spice but was still too unbearable to eat. I was quite excited to try it too after reading all the rave reviews. I love spicy food but this was too spicy for me.
Blueberry cheesecake: We shared this at the end– was lovely as blueberry was baked into the cheesecake.
We shared a bottle of the Zinfandel, Sebastiani, Sonoma County red wine. It was great & they kept it a perfect room temperature.
They have a bar as well to the right hand side that has a variety of tables that also have window views that are first come first serve.
It was a great evening– we will definitely return again for a special occasion.

My friend chose this bar for leaving drinks and this was a great bar. It did take a while to get served at the bar, but the cocktail I ordered (Golden Dragon) was simply delicious!
Great view (as expected), lovely décor and would definitely go there again.

The ride to the 32^nd floor, and one flight of steps to the 33^rd, was quick, to say the least. The view is overwhelmingly spectacular, of course. Tinsel town London looks gorgeous, the newly manhattanised City of London stands out, and Canary wharf can also be seen in the not so distant horizon.
The cocktail menu is interesting, super original and mostly delicious. £12−14 per drink. The Golden Dragon with a huge slice of dragon fruit is delicious, nicely tangy and refreshing.
The starters look good, but because issues with general consensus around getting plates for the table, we got the chicken with the little Chinese bread thingy, and a full portion of the Kung Po Chicken (which by the way, is not a starter on the menu, but is positively delicious.
The mains were not too bad, but nothing to write home about.
The sesame dumpling with an apple and cinnamon filling was not bad, the goner and honey ice cream was a let down.
I’d give more points to Hakkasan, but people have disagreed with me, so it’s probably a very very subjective assessment.

Magnifique et délicieux ! Le service est irréprochable. Les plats sont très bien présentés et en bonne quantité, la décoration est très soignée et la vue depuis les toilettes est à couper le soufflé !

Exceptionnel.
Je vous conseille les pinces de crabe frites presentées dans un grand pot avec du piment, et les lamelles de mouton grillés: absolument divin !
La vue est top! Parfait pour un diner en amoureux.