Mr.N and I were feeling in the mood for some dim sum or Japanese but neither of us fancied going all the way into the city. I thought I would ‘Foogle’- this is my term for using Google to hunt down a good and relatively local restaurant.

The result was XO. This understated chic Pan-Asian restaurant is hidden in the heart of Belsize Park, North West London. Belsize Park tube station itself is less than 15 minutes from central London. XO is part of Ricker Restaurants which boasts other trendy pan-Asian and Mexican joints dotted all over London including Eight Over Eight, E&O and La Bodega Negra.

The restaurant was vibrant with sounds of laughter echoing off the walls on the busy Friday night. As you all know, Mr.N is quite partial to tapas-style food and XO definitely serves that desire well. I ordered the rose petal martini and Mr.N had an Asahi. I love Asahi but my martini won.

We ordered the baby back pork ribs with black beans and chilli salt squid. Ok, I am not usually the biggest fan of black beans but, my goodness, these were incredible! The pork literally fell off the bone, it was sensational, honestly. The squid? To die for. Sometimes you order squid in a restaurant and it’s overly rubbery and tasteless, you’ve been there, haven’t you? This was crunchy and fiery with that chilli really hitting the back of your throat. The last time I had squid this good was in Florence and, quite frankly, Florence is too far to travel for great squid.

We had the yellow tail sashimi with citrus dressing- a dish that never fails to impress. We also got the duck, watermelon and cashew salad. The last time I had this was at Gilgamesh a few years ago and I remember falling in love with it. I wish more places had this salad on their menu, the sweet watermelon works so well with the aromatic and rich duck.

For our main dish we decided to try the roasted whole sea bass with wok fried noodles. I would have gone for the black cod (you know my love affair with black cod by now) but, the dish is £35. Now, when I can order black cod in places like Sushi Samba or Dinings for almost half the price, I just can’t justify paying so much for the same dish. Our sea bass came with the head, eyes, the whole lot! The couple next to us actually ordered the dish without the head, would you believe! Poor fish. Mr.N and I just picked away at the fish, dipping it into the accompanying rich red sauce and noodles. For a moment I felt like we were back in Thailand, it just felt and tasted so authentic.

I know that Mr.N is really happy with a restaurant when he insists on ordering two desserts. We ordered the white chocolate and passion fruit parfait and the chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream. Both were very tasty but the chocolate fondant was probably left in the oven a few minutes too long.

Would I come again? Yes, without doubt! I actually really want to try the other Ricker brand restaurants, most are pan-Asian with slight variations on the menus. XO is a great place with a buzzing atmosphere, the food is exceptionally good and it really isn’t far from central London.

Food: 10/10   Atmosphere: 10/10  Value: 9/10*

*taking into account the black cod price

If this restaurant were a fictional character it would be…..Harvey Specter, Suits-  Slick from start to finish, charming and exceeds expectations.