Photo by rightee
Nian Nian Yuo Yu, Mom and Dad.
Happy Chinese New Year to you folks. I’m not doing much this year and I’m not going out to China Town - at least not on the first couple of days, I’m sure it will be packed to the brim with people. I haven’t been home for CNY in gosh, seven years now; I could remember mom’s abalone and broccoli – her CNY eve special.
Personally, I would advise against eating chinese on CNY simply because restaurants will be completely packed out. Although, if you don’t mind the queues and you want to feel the CNY buzz, then there is not better time to go eat chinese than now. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of London chinese food, I think it has dipped in quality in the last couple of years. Royal dragon used to be quite good, the har kao was spot on and their mandarin style steak was really great ( alot of wok heat ) , but ever since they refurbished in ’05, it has been converted into a karaoke spot serving bland food.
Yuck.
Heck, even Hakkasan has dropped it’s standards. I know it’s still got a stellar reputation but the Hakkasan of today is NOT the Hakkasan that was owned by Alan Yau. They used to serve these great big scallops the size of my fists in a claypot … now it’s turned into some sort of mangled fish ball. And I will not for the life of me understand why they took the lobster tail wrapped in cucumber slices and served in a clear lobster broth off the menu. Now it’s just stuffy, overpriced and horrendous. They’ve even replaced the melon creme brulee with some azuki bean filling. Sigh. Yes the decor is still very chic and cool but the food is pretentious, expensive and their sweet and sour pork (£15.00) tastes worse than wong kei’s ( £4.00 ). If they keep cooking the way they are, they will soon go the way of Lee Ho Fook.
Anyway, enough bashing, I really shouldnt be doing so since it’s CNY, if you really want to go chinese, then here’s are some places to check out:
- Mandarin Kitchen Whole Lobster stir-fried and cooked in a sauce of your choice and served on dried noodles. I think it costs about £20 and is big enough to be shared by three or four. Go here for dinner.
- Four Seasons Not the one in Bayswater but the one in Leicester Square. It’s catching up in terms of quality with it’s Bayswater hq and it’s less packed out and the staff are friendlier. Go here if you are looking for Chinese BBQs. I would personally go with soya chicken (drumstick) with rice.
- Royal China Dim Sum You can’t go wrong with the Royal China franchise when it comes to dim sum; the dinner menu ain’t great though, but dim sum is very good.
- Yauatcha If your pockets run deep, then I’d suggest dim sum at the Yauster’s flagship tea house ( Yauatcha is a play on Yam Cha which means drink tea or dim sum depending on who you speak to ) . I like it here, the tea is great (albeit pricy) and the congee with century egg reminds me of…
- HK Diner Huge portions, The £10 sweet & sour fish fillets were great, try the yam flavoured pearl milk tea, and the seafood baked rice. I’d go with the stir fried ho fun with beef (dry) too.
- Mayflower This one is gaining abit of a reputation. When it gets busy the staff are almost as rude as four seasons. Is it good? Yeah it’s not bad for dinner, is it the top of my list? No, but its worth a look.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been trying that hard to find new places to eat chinese, I’m sure there are more ( maybe you can recommend a few for me ) and maybe I should be doing a review on one during CNY.
I still have 14 days to live up to that, till then Happy Chinese New Year!!
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Tags: chinese new year
Happy Chinese New Year Kang! 心想事成 (particularly for any restaurants you’re dying to go to…. haha).
I was just at Mandarin Kitchen last night… lobster e-noodles, yum yum. But it was more than £20 on my visit – more like £34 as they slap on a ‘depending on season’ price tag on it. Worth it though!
I have to say I am still a big fan of Hakkasan (although it is probably a year since I have been there). Maybe as non-Chinese I have fallen for an anglicized version of Chinese food?
Hmm – Maybe I can share some favourite Chinese restaurants.
Hung’s on Wardour Street is a favourite – they do great king prawn dumpling noodles. I also love their beef brisket soup noodles, especially as you can have them with tendon and tripe.
I also like the Peninsula Restaurant in the Holiday Inn in North Greenwich – great dim sum and it reminds me of being back in Hong Kong.
There seems to be an insurgence of Sichuan restaurants too – I particularly like Baozi Inn (although it is Sichuan / Beijing) and I’ve heard lots of good things about Snazz Sichuan and Chilli Cool. They’re both on the list.
I agree with you. I do think Chinese food in Chinatown used to be better. Any suggestions for vegetarian Chinese food?
I went to Mandarin Kitchen last night and have been going for the last 20 years! It has dropped in standards of late but last night it was back to its very best. Food was second to none and very quick and efficient. We had the crab instead of lobster, a cheaper alternative. And totally packed too!
Of all the ethnic cuisines, authentic Chinese really does it for us. Los Angeles’ best comes from Chinatown…especially the dim sum!
[...] Where to eat chinese food in London… and Happy Chinese New Year! From http://londoneater.com/ (tags: food chinese) [...]
Gong hei! Gong hei! No Pearl Liang kang???
Hi Kang! Lovely to see your visit!
Bugger. I wish I were in London to celebrate the new year today. I made yummy stir fry for my loves, but still… I miss London.
Wanted to give you an update. I changed my url to hungrybella.blogspot.com, which means your link to that Wolseley photo may be dead. Here, I did the paste work for you
http://hungrybella.blogspot.com/2007/09/wolseley.html
Bon appetit my friend.
Char – 新年快樂!! Wot?! £34 hmm…. ok I am going to wait till after I get back from Taiwan to eat there in that case.
Gourmet Chick – that’s probably when it was still good and before they changed out the menu. I havent been in about 6 months though so I could be wrong, but definitely it used it be so much better under Alan, the new owner just ain’t doing chinese food justice at all.
Lizzie – Remind you of HK is a pretty big compliment – I got to try that place, I’ve been having strange dreams of har cheong lately.
MsMartmite – Hmm, I’m not sure if a vege only chinese exists in london, certainly not that I know of – I keep thinking noodles and tofu at baozi inn, thats the only thing that springs to my mind.
tehbus – oh, i’ll have to try the crab as well in that case! I love Mandarin Kitchen !
The Duo Dishes – you guys must have much better chinese food than here in london – Ive heard legendary things about chinatowns in the states!
Gen – haha.. ok, pearl liang is no.7.
Bella..Bella – Hope you’ve been well, really looking forward to your blog updates! I’ve changed the url to the new one, hope it helps!
What? Where’s my favourite on your list, Pearl Liang? Delicious dim sum, lovely dinner items too. I have to revisit Baozi Inn soon, as I haven’t been in ages. Yauatcha’s still a favourite of mine though…
happy chinese new year to u =)
i went boazi inn yday (review up soon maybe, im soo behind in everything)
but i like mayflower coz its not that pricey and good for a family meal. And service is always good when we go….
dude – awesome list although no Pearl Liang? I know I only went there on Helen’s reccomendation but seriously it’s awesome and tasty and cheap – 10 of us ate for a tenner a head and every dish was to die for!
hi
can anyone tell me wher ei can find either a authentic Hunan restaurant or a Hot pot in London.
i have spent many years in China and miss it so much
PLEASE HELP