StreetXO (London, UNITED KINGDOM) ★★★☆☆

We missed out on the chance to visit StreetXO when we were in Madrid last year so I had to make sure that we didn't make the same mistake twice, especially when their London outpost is just 15 minutes away from our hotel.



StreetXO is the culinary playground by world renowned Spanish Chef David Muñoz. Chef Muñoz rose to fame with the opening of DiverXO in his hometown Madrid back in 2007. After capturing his first star in 2010 and his second star in 2012, he surprised many by winning the elusive third star in 2013. Now widely regarded as the new El Bulli, DiverXO has quickly become one of the hottest culinary destinations in Spain.



StreetXO in Mayfair, the casual sister of DiverXO (and first branch of StreetXO outside Madrid), offers a more affordable, less intense and a very unique dining experience.



Pekinese Dumplings (£20.00) - Chef Muñoz cut his teeth at Nobu and Hakkasan so he's obviously very good at mixing Asian flavors into his dishes. His fusion approach was on full display with our first dish, crispy fried dumplings with crunchy pig's ear, alioli and pickles, served on a sheet of greaseproof paper dribbled with strawberry hoisin.



This was a very interesting East-meets-West dish, I thought with mixed results (interesting texture but flavor profile not so exciting).



Hot smoked hand-dived Scottish scallops (£16.00) - Next up was smoked hand-dived Scottish scallops served on creamy citrus ponzu, coconut and kaffir lime reduction in its own shell. I like the sharp acidity from the citrus ponzu and kaffir lime but the promised smoky flavors were nowhere to be found.



Croquettes "La Pedroche" (£16.00) - Kimchi, sheep's milk, wild salmon, tobiko black and Lapsang Souchong tea. Another very popular tapas here.



It was a very busy dish with a lot of ingredients (kimchi, sheep's milk etc.) packed inside a very small package.



"Chili King Crab" basque country style (£30.00) - Our last dish before we move onto dessert. This came highly recommended by our server who's from Singapore. Not surprisingly, it was one that came with a bit of Singaporean twist.



The king crab was done like a Japanese tempura with a thin and crispy batter.



It was served in a flavorful sauce made with coconut milk, chipotles, golden beetroot, crispy basil and Txakoli emulsion.



In Singapore, we usually dip our brioche in condensed milk or if we were having chili crab, then the brioche goes into the chili sauce. Here the brioche was sprinkled with milk powder (a contemporary twist) and we were asked by our server to dip it into the super tangy sauce. Not bad.

I am honestly out of words to describe our meal at StreetXO tonight. For any Londoners or non-Asian diners for that matter, it could very well be a fascinating journey with some interesting match of ingredients but for someone with an Asian palate, this is beyond avant garde (it's a little weird). I do like the cooking technique which was solid but not every single dish worked.

PS: When we first sat down, our server came over to brief us on some of their signature dishes. Even shed some light on the cuisine that was on offer. He described it as a "fusion fine-dining concept". Fusion it sure is but I am not sure about the fine-dining part. 





Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ££££
Address: 15 Old Burlington Street, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Closest Tube Station: Oxford Circus / Piccadilly Circus
Tel: +44 20 3096-7555
Website: www.streetxo.com
Opening Hours: 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon), 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Tue - Wed), 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 12:00am (Thu - Fri), 12:30pm - 3:30pm, 6:00pm - 12:00am (Sat), 12:30pm - 3:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Sun)