Bristol chef Larkin Cen is having a fantastic year. The Woky Ko founder was a finalist of the coveted BBC show Great British Menu and he will be expanding his mini restaurant empire to Birmingham next month - on top of the reopening of his flagship restaurant in Bristol city centre this week.
Woky Ko's Queen's Road site has been closed to diners since the beginning of the pandemic but remained in use for takeaways and deliveries. After a successful run of exclusive pop-ups, the restauranter has reimagined the menu to reintroduce authentic Chinese dishes and bring more representation to the cuisine in the UK.
Larkin has returned to the pass as head chef of the Queen's Road site this week. To celebrate, the restaurant was offering customers 50 per cent off their food bill to the first 200 customers during evening service for this week only.
Read more: Woky Ko's Larkin Cen to reopen Queens Road restaurant with half-price deal
The first-floor restaurant is above the kitchen and takeaway outlet hosting a mixture of standard tables and window-bar seating. With a cover of 30, it's undeniably intimate, which won't be for everyone, although it's spaced without feeling like you're on top of the other diners.
The top half of the menu was dedicated to sharing plates inspired by famous street food dishes you'd find trawling the food markets of Hong Kong. Head chef Larkin previously said the dishes are some of the restaurant's finest work to date.
First trying a Chinese classic, the vegetable spring rolls came in a neat row of three at £6.50. They were fat, crispy and enormous, packed with crunchy carrots and bean sprouts, and towered over any version from a Chinese takeaway. I could have had lashings more of the fermented chilli bean sauce, which was sweet with a hint of spice.
Woky Ko's won tons were on another level - perfectly cooked, stuffed to the brim with succulent prawns and expertly wrapped, leaving no gaps between the filling and the casing (£8.50). Another shining star was the handmade vegan bao (£6.50 for one), made fresh in the kitchen daily with an umami flavour from the mushrooms with crunchy cabbage adding more texture.
The main courses are plentiful if sharing plates aren't your thing. The mapo tofu dandan (£14.50) is a nod to the other restaurants, with a superbly rich broth flecked with a tingling chilli oil. It was screaming out for a bit more texture, however, perhaps with a bit more bean sprouts or adding pak choi.
I have it on good authority from my dining partner that the famous Sichuan hot pot did well to live up to expectations. After Larkin's TV successes this year, it deserves to be the most expensive dish on the menu at £18, flavoured with fragrant chicken and what must have been a dozen red chillis.
Admittedly, the mains were heavy on the heat, which didn't distract from the other flavours but may be too much for some people. The staff were hugely helpful and would be happy to accommodate spice preference where possible, no doubt.
Bedminster wine bar, KASK, has curated the wine list for the site's reopening, but I opted for one of the signature cocktails. Kugo - made with Jinro Soji (a Korean vodka), Prosecco and elderflower syrup - was a welcome relief after all of the spice (£9.50).
On a further visit, the fried chicken (both meat and vegan) would be tempting at £10.50 along with the intriguing satay fish balls for £8 per serving. The street food dishes triumphed and next time I would be tempted to stick to the small plates to try as many things as possible, accentuating the communal experience.
There is a huge amount of preparation and skill in this type of cookery. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into the menu that offers a distinct experience from the Wapping Wharf or St Nicholas Market sites.
Larkin even greeted diners at the end of their meal to ask for feedback on the new dishes, a genuine and caring gesture. Please note: Woky Ko's 50 per cent offer at the Queen's Road site ends on Saturday, September 17.
Woky Ko is located at 7 - 9 Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1QE and is open each week from Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm-10pm
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