The Chinatown restaurant did not reopen following lockdown last summer and was at one point used as a production kitchen and staging location for Bao’s successful meal kits service.
Conceived as a more upmarket and ambitious counterpoint to their smash hit steamed bun concept Bao, Shing Tat Chung, Wai Ting Chung and Erchen Chang launched Xu on the Chinatown end of Rupert Street in 2017.
Styled on the teahouses of 1930s Taipei, the two-storey site featured a specialist tea bar and numerous private dining areas with mahjong boards.
At launch the restaurant served a menu that included a scallop-based take on cheung fun; pan fried shengjian bao; and taro skin dumplings stuffed with Taiwanese sausage dressed in green chilli oil.
Larger dishes included shou pa guinea fowl will (a whole rotisserie-cooked bird stuffed with ginger and star anise and served with the head on for two to three people to tear apart with their hands); char siu pork; and Mangalitza rib rice (pork ribs mixed with rice and spices and steamed on a bed of sweet potato).
The restaurant was critically well-received but struggled to find its rhythm, undergoing a number of chef changes and menu overhauls.
The team wrote on Instagram: “The time has come to sadly pass on the news that Xu Teahouse and Restaurant will not be re-opening. The restaurant holds a special and fond memory in many people’s hearts. Our friends at Quo Vadis agree and are helping to send of Xu in style.”
The Xu Farewell Party will be held at the Dean Street restaurant on 10 November.
