Cha Cha Moon

Je suis venu à Cha Cha Moon en compagnie de ma compagne lors de notre voyage à Londres. Situé dans une petite rue sympathique, c’est un restaurent charmant et original. Le décor est diffèrent des restaurants asiatiques habituel. C’est une décoration moderne, minimaliste et très agréable. Les cuisines sont visibles, on peut voir les cuisiniers en action et sentir milles et une saveur.
Le choix de la carte est varié. On en trouve pour les goûts. Les plats sont merveilleusement bien présentés, savoureux et très généreusement servis.
Ce restaurent m’a beaucoup plus. Le rapport qualité/​prix est excellent, je recommande fortement !

I’ve been here before but when I went yesterday I decided to order BBQ pork choi something… oh never again! It was awful… very chewy with disgusting sauce. To look on the bright side though — there are other tasty things like the baby ribs mmm nomnom.

Casual atmosphere, good food variety. Located in great area of the city

At least the experience was the same from start to end: thoroughly disappointing.
When we arrived, it took them a good 5 – 6 minutes to seat us, after lots of prompting of the maitre’d…even though it was evident there was lots of space.
We then waited again for our order to be taken, after hassling various members of staff… many of whom promised to come over «in a sec».
When we finally got the food it was bland. Both in looks and taste… and rather unsurprisingly they forgot a dish. Which we chased. And were told they were busy and it was coming.
Eventually, after we finished the rest of our food, they chased and realised it wasn’t coming. The only highlight was the 25% off the menu they gave us.
A thoroughly disappointing experience; will not be going back. Ever.

Very good. It sits in a courtyard of many restaurants in SOHO, so we stumbled upon it. Quick and very polite service. I had the Singapore Fried Noodle, which came out quickly and was very yummy. You get a healthy portion of the food for a reasonable price (I believe my plate was £8.50). Highly recommend.

With seating aplenty including seats designed especially for dining for one together with the lack of welcome upon arrival, Cha Cha Moon feels almost like a canteen in the realms of Carnaby Street shops. This ‘canteen’ opens up onto a courtyard shared by neighbouring restaurants and has the view of a somewhat open kitchen.
The watermelon and lime drink was refreshing and thirst-​quenching. The Turnip cake, Chinese chive, Chinese salami, beansprout, spring onion and egg sounds more illustrious than it was but is edible nonetheless. In stark contrast the Ribs in tangy sauce may sound boring but actually turned out to be a meaty portion and tasty. The Thai chicken curry is a mild green curry served separate to a bowl of rice — this was well presented and nice enough. The seafood Singapore fried noodle is your average vermicelli with bits of seafood and vegetables — yet a hefty portion it has to be said.
All-​in-​all Cha Cha Moon seems like a good location for a quick pre-​theatre meal or lunch that is inoffensive, reasonably priced and served without much ado.

I love trying new food and drinks so an invite to Cha Cha Moon was certainly welcomed. Cha Cha Moon describes itself as ’ a Chinese noodle bar that goes beyond noodle pop culture and in to the soul of regional Chinese cooking. It delves further across Asia to give you both authentic and classic dishes as well Regional dishes.’
I was impressed by the atmosphere as we strolled through the restaurant; it’s very large yet it feels welcoming and homely. I really enjoyed the light features and long benches.
We were lucky enough to have some warm weather so sat outside in Kingly Court, and it wasn’t til after the meal it began to cool down, we got rather lucky! As it was hump day we thought a few cocktails wouldn’t do any harm and ordered a Hidden Dragon, a Shibuya Casual; Lychee, sake, martini bianco and a Wen Wen;Peach, raspberry, and vodka.
They were incredible and priced at £6 these are great value for Central London.
We ordered two tasting platters to really get a feel for the food.
The first a a Seafood Platter; King prawns in chilli sauce, soft shell crab, prawn guotie, coated calamari, prawn wonton, and Chinese seaweed. The prawn wonton was my personal favourite as I love these but never think to order them when I go out, it made such a change to ordering Spring Rolls! The partner in crime was quite partial to the calamari!
And second the ‘Innovations’ ‘Tasting Platter: Steamed yum buns, Szechuan brisket, crispy duck, spiced lamb, mint dipping sauce, Hoisin & Sweet chilli sauces, pickled vegetables These steamed yum buns were amazing! Not something I tried before. They are of dough like consistency with a sweet flavour and you fill with the filling of your choice. I chose crispy duck and hoisin sauce; it tasted rather like a larger, thicker pancake. I know for sure I will be returning for them!
I finished up with the backed banana desert, I’m not one to turn down a banana themed desert! Served at the perfect temperature to dive on in I was far from disappointed, in fact I wished there was more!
Cha Cha Moon has such a great diverse menu, lovely staff and being only minutes from my office I’m already planning a lunch trip with the girls to get some more steamed yum buns!

Quick friendly service, modern but warm interior & most importantly great food, well prepared & reasonably priced. Highly recommended

Terrible. The restaurant looks nice inside and the cocktails were nice however the food was quite revolting. I chose the crispy duck and noodles. First it was gelatinous fat and soft skin — so not exactly crispy along with congealed block of noodles with no sauce. You can imagine that was rather difficult to swallow. It did however come with some miso soup which rather tasted like wotsits. Nevertheless that was the best thing on the plate. As if that meal wasn’t a surprise, wait till they show you the bill. Definitely won’t be returning.

I always enjoy going to Cha Cha Moon. It’s casual and nicely decorated. The service is great, the food is good and portions are generous.

Nice Asian-​Fusion style restaurant.
I stumbled across Cha Cha Moon one weekend after walking around Carnaby Street.
Fancied eating out after a long day in London so after a quick look at the menu outside myself and my partner went in.
It was quite busy but I asked to sit somewhere where we weren’t wedged between 2 groups of people, the waiter was fine with that and let us sit where we wanted. It’s quite similar in price to Wagamama’s and the layout of the restaurant is similar too.
We had baby-​back ribs to start — they were absolutely delicious and just fell off the bone. The duck lettuce wraps were really nice too. I went for the rib-​eye beef in black bean sauce for the main, which was very filling! I like generous portions but even I struggled to eat most of my main.
My other half went for chicken fried-​rice which I guess is pretty standard, but he really enjoyed it. We chose our food from the set menu which was 15 pounds each, so a little more than some places but still a good price in my opinion.
I also had an asian mojito (essentially a mojito with lemongrass) — it was nice but nothing exceptional. The staff were friendly and we had a pleasant evening.
I’d definitely recommend it if you like Asian food — Wagamama’s fans will love it.

Back in the day, when Cha Cha Moon first opened, we used to go for work lunches a lot. At least once a week. But then they were going through an «introductory» menu whereby nearly everything was really cheap — we’re talking under a fiver for a large plate of noodles. So it was really popular, all the benches were packed full and you were easily in and out in 45mins and well-​fed in the process.
The introductory menu lasted for 6 months it seemed — but no longer — and that was several years ago. Now, the same plate of noodles is upwards of £8, with most mains around the £10 mark. My favourite, Singapore Noodles, is one of the cheaper noodle dishes but seems to have lost a whole lot of punch. No sliced, fresh chillies — no chilli oil offered either. In fact, the whole thing seems so much more bland than it used to be. The Chicken and Duck Lao Mein dishess were also both highly regarded back in Cha Cha Moon’s early days but whilst they have changed less over the years, they’re still far less appealing at £9 a go.
As a result of their unchanged appearance and menu over the course of the last 6 or so years, the whole experience feels tired. A huge room with barely any light, and nothing but rows of bench seating felt interesting a while ago, but now just feels like a darkened Wagamama. Gone is the buzz of a business lunch crowd, with the eaters sparsely scattered throughout — mostly tourists who didn’t reach Chinatown where you’d undoubtedly get better Asian cuisine (ok, not «Asian Fusion» as promised here) for a fraction of the cost.
It’s not *bad* per se — the lemon tea is delicious and the duck lao mein is still tasty — but it used to feel like a bargain, and now just feels overpriced. Only 3 stars: Soho is awash with far better, brighter options.

Would not recommend this place: it looks nicer than wagamama but it isn’t. Great location and decent starters but fairly disappointing mains: I went for crispy duck with noodles and there really wasn’t anything to it, none of my friends were happy with their selection either.

Asiatique de Carnaby Street!
Le concept est assez industrielle malheureusement
(plat sans goût et service à la chaîné!)
Ambiance cantine cool! (on mange tous à la même table), prix raisonnable!
Je crois qu’il faut tester les autres établissements autour de celui-​ci dans la petit cour intérieur entre Carnaby Street et Kingly Street!

Cha Cha Moon is knowingly serving non-​vegetarian dishes to vegetarians. I am vegan and asked the staff what I can eat, and was told that I could eat only one dish on the menu… without the sauce. There are a number of «vegetarian» items listed so I asked why I couldn’t eat any of those sauces, and they said there is chicken powder in every sauce! None of the vegetarians I know would be comfortable with that.
Cha Cha Moon also sits in the category of restaurants that refuse any substitutions. They finally agreed to change the noodles in a dish from egg to rice, which gave me a plate of some vegetables and plain noodles (all of their sauces are pre-​made so they couldn’t just omit the chicken). I mixed up hot and soy sauce at the table myself, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t particularly tasty.
By the way, normally I wouldn’t stay at a place like this but everything else was closed, I was with a hungry group and we had walked for ages so I couldn’t make everyone leave. No one else in my group was impressed with their food either (various beef and chicken dishes).
Frankly, I think in this day and age with so many amazing restaurants to choose from, ones like this with rigid policies and a disregard of the customer won’t survive. I hope this one doesn’t — I’m truly disturbed that Cha Cha Moon is knowingly serving vegetarians meat products. Bottom line, it is unethical.

Great location, Wagamama style seating but it’s darker and more stylish. I missed the 2 for 1 cocktails, but I’m sure I’ll be back– I enjoyed the chicken crispy noodles!
It’s sort of awkward entering from the door near The Diner/​Zebranos, you have to find your own way past the kitchen and end up in the middle of the restaurant.

Very average «Chinese» food which is not great value. It follows the Wagamama template of course with it’s take on Asian food so expect that level of flavour and authenticity. It’s a wonder why this place is here when Chinatown is close by.

We were a big fan of this restaurant when it opened and loved their Seafood Ho Fun (other dishes were not up to standard). We tried again last Sunday and it was just not good. Some of the Ho Fun was dried out and really hard — they must have been left out in the open for a long time. It is fundamental to cook noodles correctly as it is a noodle bar and it is just not acceptable to get partially dried out noodles. Everything was greasy and the sauce lacked flavour — where was the black bean? The service was very slow; the place was empty but it took them ages to serve us. We look at the neighbouring table and two sets of couples left half of their noodles. Their Singapore Noodle looked really boring and Beef Ho Fun looked super greasy. I don’t understand why the quality plunged as all the chefs looked like Chinese. There are so many nice restaurants in SOHO, so I don’t see any point eating anything in here.

Amazing buzz when it opened a few years back… since, it’s become a no better than Gerard street eatery serving stock fare with a take the money and run attitude.
Nice location though in quaint courtyard off Carnaby street.

L’ambiance du lieux colle parfaitement au sujet, la cuisine ouverte ajoute une touché populaire au lieu. Nous avons pris un curry malais, bien relevé, excellent, mais ma femme n’a pas été convaincu par les nouilles sautées Hongkong style végétariennes. On recommande le cocktail sans alcool pomme citron citronnelle, vraiment top !

Das Restaurant haben wir mit dem Qype-​app gefunden (mit der Umgebungssuche).
Beim eintreten war ich etwas überrascht über das Konzept, da es etwas von Kantine hat. Aber auch in Kantinen gibt es gutes Essen :-)
Also Platz zugewiesen bekommen und die Karte studiert. Da ich von den Namen/​Schreibweisen nichts zuordenen/​vorstellen konnte hab ich einfach mal was bestellt was Zutatentechnisch schmecken konnte.
Das Getränk war schon mal sehr lecker mit der blackcherry coke.
Mein Hauptgericht war Bun Chay, das meine Mom zu Hause auch schon oft gemacht hat. Sehr lecker. Die Fischsosse war nicht ganz so kräftig wie daheim aber auch sehr gut.
Die rice cakes waren als Sideorder auch nicht zu verachten. Schön würziges Topping darauf.
Was mir wirklich nicht so gut gefallen hat war die Aufmachung. Die Lichter und die ellenlangen Bänke, ohne das man wirklich vom Tischnachbar abgetrennt war.
Sonst war es ganz gut.

So I’m very open to trying out new places, I checked this place out on Unilocal Mobile and the average was 3 stars, so I thought ‘well it can’t be that bad then’ errr boy was I wrong! Yes it looks pretty cool but that’s about as far as it goes. The only thing that saved this place was the company I had with me.
I ordered a vegetable soup (if anyone has had the Saien Soba at Wagamama you’ll know that the soup is OVERLOADED with different veg and has a warm flavour to it. I cannot believe that the creator as Wagamama came up with this (he should hang his head in shame).
I am about to describe the soup (hold onto your hats) Water and 3 different types of vegetable, 0 veg stock… so to sum it up, I felt like I was having veg with hot water poured over it. Which I’d like to point out cost £7.50.
First and last time I will be ever visiting this joint.
Mr Wagamama I don’t get it!

I almost dont want to give this restaurant even one star because everything about it SUCKED. We decide on this place because it was bustling and seemed to have a cool vibe on a Saturday night.(one point for that)
No one approached us where to sit so i go up to one of the servers and he looked at me a little dumbfounded. Finally someone seated us, and we sit outside. Im freezing, so I ask to sit inside. I get a dirty look and a response «go there». umm. where is there?
So we ordered a bottle of wine, the grilled chicken /​egg noodles and chicken noodle soup. Soup was ok BUT sooo oily. and the chicken and egg noodles were not good at all. All in all, a pricey dinner for something that didnt even taste good. Going back? Sorry. Nope.

Ce restaurant idéalement situé est imbattable pour son rapport qualité /​prix.
La carte est très variée, les plats de ce restaurant chinois sont excellents, et copieusement servis.
C’est une sorte de cantine, donc bruyant, mais très bon.

Gutes chinesisches Fast-​Food. Sehr schneller Service, Essen geschmacklich top, Portionen groß. Definitiv einen Besuch wert.

Trawling through London shopping all day, we got a little hungry and thankfully found this place. Bustling outside with al fresco eaters, it looked really appealing.
Going inside the atmosphere is warm and the seating is set like a Wagamama restaurant — long tables/​benches. It wasn’t so packed inside so we enjoyed a nice chat but I can imagine that when it’s busy it’ll be quite loud.
Waiter service was friendly and informative.
Best point was that the food was cheap and yummy.
I would definitely come back here for another helping — you can’t beat the price especially for a meal in real plate in the city!

Ganz in der Nähe der Regent & Carnaby Street, direkt in der Ganton Street in Soho, in einem der Höfe befinden sich mehrere Restaurants und Lädchen sowie auch dieses kleine chinesische Restaurant. Es macht von aussen noch nicht so viel her und innen erinnert dieses doch deutlich an das allgegenwärtige WAGAMAMA. Das Essen war lecker und für die Gegend ungewöhnlich moderat (sprich halbwegs bezahlbar) vom Preisniveau her. Wie beim Wagamama wird das Essen in einer offenen Küche frisch zubereitet, so daß kaum die Chance besteht das Essen für alle zur selben Zeit zu erhalten. Hier verirren sich wenig Touristen hin, dafür sehr viele Kampfshopper und schicki mickis aus der Gegend. Das Personal war bis zur Abgabe der Bestellung auch ausnehmend freundlich, ab diesem Zeitpunkt allerdings unfähig eines Lächelns, eines Blickes oder Wortes… der Kunde ist ja schliesslich sicher. Die Rechnung am Ende zu bezahlen stellte sich als schwieriger dar als angenommen. Das Personal musste förmlich geschossen werden. Das ziemlich üppige Wechselgeld (schon blöd wenn man am Automaten nur grosse Scheine bekommt) wurde dem entsprechend auch gleich als Trinkgeld einbehalten und musste von mir wieder eingefordert werden.
Somit also die lookersche Punktekalkulation:
Ausstattung: 4
Qualität der Speisen und Getränke: 5
Preis: 3
Service: 1 (mal gütig das lächeln am Anfang eingerechnet, obwohl die Nummer mit dem Geld schon schräg war…)
Gesamtnote: 3
Fazit: Wer genügend kleine Scheine dabei hat und wem es egal ist, dass das Essen mit kantinenartiger Handbewegung auf den Tisch geknallt wird, bekommt hier sehr gutes chinesisches Essen zum halbwegs bezahlbaren Preis.
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