Mr. Xo Review
From Moscowiki
| Mr. Xo |
Cuisine: Chinese
Address: Druzhinnikovskaya ul., 15
Metro: Krasnopresnenskaya
Tel: 363-4833
E-mail: mr-xo@yandex.ru
Open from 12:00 until 23:30.
All major credit cards are accepted.
By Len Readle
The time for another review from me arrived, and about time too, it was on Saturday evening at Mr. Xo's which is a Chinese Restaurant with a Cuisine of Hong Kong and European mixture. It is located inside the entertainment center Arlekino, on the 2nd floor, not to difficult to find but well worth the effort to locate it.
My partner (who is very critical and difficult to please when dining out) and I arrived and announced ourselves, we were escorted to the main room area which was very tastefully fitted out in Hong Kong style, with a variety of different sizes of tables able to sit 2 to 12 people that were placed in an unusually sensible and effective manner.
We were served with complimentary pickled cabbage and radishes that were unbelievably delicious, this preceded Sake and Lemon with ice ($8), this, I thought, will give me a good start for complaint, I hate Sake, however the combination of the lemon mixed with the Sake in a cold glass was fantastic; the normal taste of the rice wine was complimented with the lemon and ice.
Our first course was Asparagus and Scallops ($19), the green on the asparagus was something from a photograph, it looked far too good, but the taste surpassed the looks, it was cooked to perfection, just crispy enough to complement the perfectly prepared scallops which almost melted in my mouth.
We then had what I can only describe as the tastiest Dim Sum ($9) I have had, even better than I had in Hong Kong some years ago, our portions consisted of 4 pieces, each with different fillings and came with a red spicy sauce and soy sauce.
The service so far had been annoyingly good the Peking Duck ($36)arrived, this was served in 2 dishes, the first dish was the skins cooked and served in a fashion I certainly have never experienced, our waiter (who is also a manger there) Evgeniy prepared and served us with the skins, sauce and greens on a deliciously thin rice pancake, Evgeniy placed the dishes in front of us almost as if he could read our minds, I was of course quicker than my partner and each new and clean plate arrived with more Peking dick wraps just as I finished the last one, I actually had to say enough otherwise I would have no room for any more.
The second part of the Duck, the fillet, was served cooked with vegetables and was simply fantastic, my taste buds thought they were overdosing and nearly caused my tongue to dangle out and lick the plate. Along side the Duck we were given Rice cooked in Lotus Leaves ($10), this was a first for me and my partner, my partner actually asked if we were supposed to eat the leaves, normally any self respecting waiter would scoff and scorn and berate you over his nose, Evgeniy explained patiently on the method of cooking and that the leaves were not supposed to be eaten, without sarcasm, far too helpful and professional for my liking.
There was no way they could top that meal so on to the desert, I was feeling rather full and sickeningly satisfied with everything and sincerely hoping for a normal boring ce cream ($8) as is usual in many places, again disappointment hit me like a truck doing 90, a sort of baked Alaska was served to us, only this was just to much for me, I couldn't contain my yummy yummy and slurping noises escaping my mouth, it was amazing, after polishing mine off I explained to my partner that her figure would really suffer if she ate all hers, of course I had to almost wrestle it from her, I was trying to be helpful and concerned for her health, eventually I won after threatening violence.
The meal and service was second to none I have experienced in Moscow, in fact I would place it in my top 5 World Restaurants, grudgingly of course.
The Restaurant itself although appears to be small has 3 separate rooms which can be sectioned off for privacy, Karaoke is also available for those who are inclined as well as TV and projector system, a good place for business functions and private parties alike.
The fish tank with Lobsters for your choosing is located at the entrance nearby the wine selection.
Overall impression, fantastic. Complaints, far too good, this will be a regular haunt of mine, my partner, who as I mentioned is very choosy, was as delighted as I was, except for the episode with the ice cream.
Try this place, tell them you heard about it on the Expat site and you may get even more special treatment.
13.08.03.
