StreetXO

Incredible food, atmosphere and service!

Great food and service.

Amazing cocktails and just a refreshing approach.

I liked the look of Streetxo, so booked a table for lunch with a friend and I was taken aback by the really innovative decor and styling of the restaurant and its staff. Our friendly and very knowledgeable waiter talked us through the menus on offer and we ordered two dishes each. The green & white asparagus salad was so beautiful it was almost a shame to disturb it, but we did and thought it was fresh, clean and very tasty; the 'club sandwich' was a twist on the classic… in fact so twisted it was unrecognisable, but oh my goodness the taste was divine; my friend assured me that the crab dish was delicious; and my deconstructed/reconstructed lasagne was gorgeous. It would be ridiculous not to try a dessert, so we chose the chocolate ice cream and that was just ridiculously good. With a glass of wine each, we paid about £55 each and it was worth every penny. Did I enjoy it? Would I recommend it? I think you can tell that I did and I would. In fact, I've already booked to go back tomorrow and one day next week!

So I get a WhatsApp from my friend who happens to be in town and that could only mean one thing- Dinner and cocktails! So we had a reservation at StreetXO for 9:30 pm, which is a newly opened restaurant in Mayfair- so of course, as per usual, it was difficult to get a table. But we made it! Entering the restaurant, I was amazed at just how warm and welcoming the staff were. We were assigned a host and was taken to our table. Looking at the menu, there was so much choice and has I have not been here before I was spoilt for choice. Whilst deciding our food choices, we decided to go for a white wine, I normally go for Pinot Grigio, but their house white wine seemed to still hit the spot. We also ordered one cocktail to share, which looked and tasted absolutely amazing! The idea to share a cocktail is a great idea as the cocktails are so huge! So the first we ordered was the Pekingese dumplings to share, which were crunchy pig’s ear with strawberry hoisin. These dumplings were the bomb! I was a little hesitant at first, as I would be eating pig’s ear but the taste was just exquisite. Tip: Smother the dumplings in the Strawberry hoisin to experience the full taste of these sweet dumplings! I then went ahead and ordered the Iberian grilled pork belly with mussels and shitake mushrooms. I have to say that the combination of the pork belly and mussels are insane! What a great combo! Lastly, my friend ordered Korean lasagne XO style with Galician beef, shitake mushrooms and sour tomato sauce. I was thinking why come to a restaurant and order lasagne! However, this was no ordinary lasagne- This is StreetXO! This was probably the best lasagne that I have ever had by far! It was actually my friend’s dish, so I only tasted a few spoonful’s, but what I did taste left me wanting her leftovers. I definitely underestimated the lasagne, as it was crunchy, sour but left me with a sweet after taste. StreetXO does have a bar area, so if you cannot dine here, this would be a great place for drinks and cocktails, although if you do not dine here then you are definitely missing out! Overall, the vibe is great, whilst the food is unreal! It is that good! The service is slightly overbearing but you usually get that with most high-end restaurants, and it actually is a great value for money. Price: £££ What to wear: Smart casual Ambiance and hospitality: Super friendly and attentive staff.

Chef David Muñoz apparently runs one of the best restaurants in Madrid. Like so many others before him, having conquered his home territory, it is now time to take on London. Against this background, Muñoz is clearly going for something very different at his Mayfair venue. Whether it is good, however, remains to be seen. Many things irritated from the outset even prior to the visit. In particular, no website, so one is left guessing totally as to what to expect. A quick look on the internet shows several reviews, but mostly extreme (in both directions). My conclusion is Muñoz is aiming to shock and arouse controversy. This is fine, but not really the reason I go out to eat. Next, my concern centres on how to pronounce the restaurant’s name. My comrade and I, on arrival, our told ‘xo’ is supposed to sound like ‘show’, although it came out from our host’s mouth more as ‘so.’ Again, I was forced to ask, why would I come to a restaurant for a show; surely it is more for the food? I was also confused, arriving at 12h30 on a Friday lunchtime, why the place seemed to be deserted. After all, we are not in Madrid, where the fashion is to eat later, and this StreetXO is, supposedly, one of London’s current ‘on-trend’ restaurants. Like Alice in Wonderland, everything seemed a bit wrong and slightly surreal: not just an empty restaurant, but waiters dressed in straitjackets and a menu full of dishes with cryptic names and very liberal use of punctuation (excessive exclamation marks in particular). Perhaps this is why there is no website – if people saw the menu at the outset, they may be put off visiting. All in all, a bad start. The meal was somewhat redeemed by the food, although StreetXO undoubtedly puts more emphasis on presentation (show) than on substance. Our scallop was amazing, light and peppered with a spectrum of unique and different flavours. Beyond this, I remember display over precisely what I ate, the experience perhaps most epitomised by the pig’s ear dish. It arrived on grease-proof paper (a cost-saving technique if ever there were one) and came liberally adorned with strawberry hoisin, supposedly intended to resemble splattered blood. A nice touch, or just a joke, in slightly poor taste. I remember what it looked like, but not what it tasted like. Thinking back, three days on for our meal, I could make similar observations about the other dishes too. Full marks to Muñoz for inventiveness, if nothing else. At least, the meal was relieved by a great wine, Xi from Pingus, priced reasonably too. Would I go back? Well, only if just to demonstrate to an unwitting guest how diverse – and perhaps awfully wrong – the London dining scene can be.

A fun dining experience with great tasting food presented in a very interesting way, each dish so different. Loved all that we had - the dumplings, an absolute must, club sandwich, chilli crab (chipotle) and finally prawn suquet - this was enough between 2 of us. I understand some reviews about the sauces a bit cloying and same so choose carefully. I recommend not to order all the dishes if the restaurant is not busy (we went for lunch), they come when ready so we ended with 2 new dishes when not quite finished the first. Visually a feast for the eyes and taste buds, I wanted to savour every morsel. We tried a couple of cocktails, interesting too. Overall fabulous creative fun dining. Service was excellent too.

I was just taken here for lunch and a) I didn't order, my colleague did as he has already eaten here 4 times and b) there isn't a website so I can't look up the list of ingredients in each dish, so bear with me, my descriptions won’t do this meal justice. We sat at the counter so we could see the dishes being prepared, which I would recommend as it makes it a more fun/interactive experience. We had the peking dumplings, served on a sheet of paper with strawberry hoisin sauce liberally dribbled all over (a bit like a Jackson Pollock painting), with a slice of crispy pigs ear and a dollop of mayo - you are encouraged to pick them up with your fingers as it gets messy. Chicken wings (boned), smoked on the josper grill, with tandoori, spicy mayo, salad leaves and caviar – absolutely delicious. Squid cooked on the josper grill, Korean beef lasagne, which was extraordinarily good and the bao buns with pork filling and a fried quails egg on top. The staff were all very friendly, each dish is served by one of the chefs and explained in detail, and how they recommend you eating it, chopsticks, knife and fork or fingers! Each dish is beautifully presented. The staff are all dressed in what look like straight-jackets, lots of buckles and ties. This is a really cool place, there is music playing in the background but I suspect on a Friday/Saturday night it is a lot more buzzing than a Monday lunchtime. I really can’t describe how good this meal was – probably the best meal I have eaten this year, I have already booked for dinner next week to take the husband so we can sample the cocktails too. It’s not cheap, but definitely worth it. Go while you can still get a table as I think this is going to be hard to get into soon.