"The flagship restaurant of Steven Lee, probably the single person who has shaped London’s Indo-Chinese scene more than anyone else. Originally from Kolkata, Lee learnt how to cook Indo-Chinese at the legendary China Garden in Mumbai, another restaurant with split menu loyalties (one half Cantonese and the other being Indo-Chinese). China Garden is also the birthplace of the chicken manchurian, an iconic dish based on the staple flavours of the Bengali larder — green chilli, ginger and garlic — with soy sauce, vinegar and cornstarch replacing garam masala. Manchurian is on Hakkaland’s menu along with a litany of Desi-Chinese prefixes: sapo, soya wine, Tai Pai, Szechuan (always with a ‘z’), and Hunan — a sauce made from a huge amount of pickled ginger that has absolutely nothing to do with Hunan. Hakkaland has a large following outside the UK: customers can watch Lee’s appearances on Indian TV which are played on the wall while they eat flawless versions of Kolkata chilli chicken and Tai Pai (Taipei) paneer." - Jonathan Nunn
