RETURN TO LOCAL CHINESE

 

It’s farmer’s market day and we’re considering where to go afterwards. The last few times at Gordon Bennett were a little disappointing, so it’s a change of scene. We think about Boat, a local Japanese, but we haven’t researched the menu enough to know whether that will suit. So we go to Naturally Chinese, on a corner nearby, where we had eaten only once before.

Now, I’m not against technology per se, though I have been falling behind a bit lately.  Here, they expect you to pull up the menu on your smartphone using a QR code. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. So they lend us a tablet to scroll through the menu – and then write down our order on a paper pad! Technology is fine if it improves the experience: ordering beer from an app in a crowded Twickenham pub was good as you avoided the scrum at the bar; a touch-screen table-top menu was less successful, as it had become greasy. Here, the menu is laid out well-enough, but unlike with a paper menu you couldn’t get a simple overview of what was on offer.

Anyway, we knew we wanted dim sum, which they advertise as a speciality. When we came before, the selection had seemed very limited, but now there is a good choice. We order two classic steamed dumplings - crabmeat and pumpkin, crystal prawn – and also steamed Shang Hai dumplings (pork in a “soup pocket”, with spoon provided). All fresh and interesting, not too much pumpkin. These were preceded by pork spring rolls in rice-paper – more like little sausages – and salt and chilli squid, good and crisp. We also had “thousand shreds” prawn – prawn wrapped in crispy kataifi patry, served with salad cream – which is impossible to eat politely, as you scatter pieces all across the table.

All the dim sum have been good, but we do feel we need a little more. So we decide on Singapore noodles and a beef dish (without looking again at the tablet). The friendly waitress talks us through the beef options, and we opt for ginger and spring onion. The noodles is a large portion, with plenty of chicken and shrimps, and a rather dominant curry flavour.   Beef rather ordinary.

We’ve had a couple of bottles of SA Chenin Blanc (£22.40 each), so the total has crept up to  £120 – a bit more than we’d normally pay for a dim sum lunch. But it has been enjoyable (attentive service, prompt arrival of dishes) so I’ve no doubt we’ll be back.