Three interesting new places in a busy week

 We find ourselves in Kingston and are heading towards the Giggling Squid, a reliable favourite. As we walk along Charter Quay by the Hogsmill River tributary, we pass a Chinese restaurant which we've never been in because it always looks empty. But today, despite it being a Monday, it is very busy, with several tables occupied by Chinese people.

So we change our minds and decide to give Sanxia Renjia a go. We're shown to a window table with a nice view and quickly order a bottle of French SB at £30. It comes promptly, served by a very smiley waiter.  It is quite a big place, but sectioned off into smaller areas so that it doesn't feel daunting. 

The menu covers both Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines. There's also a substantial dim sum section. The Sichuan section offers several Clay Pot and Dry Pot options, but the aromatic crab with ginger and spring onion from the "Traditional Chinese" list has caught our eye.  Because of this, we decide just to have one starter between us - a pan-fried pork dumpling.  Typically there are three of these, making sharing trickier. They are very lightly fried, but very well-flavoured.

We had asked when ordering whether the crab came whole, and were assured that the kitchen will have cracked it open for us. The main shell with the brown meat had been, but the crab claws and legs hadn't so we had to ask for the crackers to get at the white meat. With the sauce (loads of ginger) on, it all got rather messy, but we were well-supplied with napkins and little moistened towels - the spicy sauce option would be very challenging I imagine. 

Along with the crab we had the cumin lamb (marked "hot and spicy") and fried rice with tobiko, prawns and scallops. The lamb was indeed covered with chilli pieces, but if you avoided those it wasn't too spicy otherwise.  Tobiko it turns out is a golden coloured fish eggs concoction (Wikipedia tells me it is flying fish roe) piled on top of the rice. There were plenty of prawns, but scallops were hard to find, probably cut up very small. 

With a second bottle of wine and 12.5% service (which has been friendly and helpful) the bill comes to £140.  Certainly worth another visit. 

A couple of days later we are meeting up with T&K in town.  T has chosen The Seafood Bar on Dean Street, as he knows some of their Amsterdam branches through his nephew who lives there.  It's a nice bright place, not very busy on a mid-week lunchtime.  We order some wine - a light, fruity Chardonnay at £36 - from the chatty waiter, who introduced himself as Florian. 

The menu is quite remarkable. As well as several kinds of oyster, there are loads of permutations of fresh seafood - Fruits de Mer, Mixed Grill, Combinations, Plateau - and a few other dishes from the Plancha.   B has seabass ceviche to start, which she raves over. She follows up with a Plateau - crevettes, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel rillettes, poached salmon, seafood salad. Unsurprisingly, she can't finish that. I have clams with white wine, garlic and cream sauce to start. This is a big warming bowl in a sauce commonly linked with mussels. My main course was gambas, grilled with salsa verde and chilli - have a dozen of them.  Full of flavour, with the chilli being quite subtle. 

T&K have scallops with mushrooms and chorizo and tempura oysters, in attractive shells, to start. Both looked very good. Their mains were a massive fruits de mer and filleted lemon sole. We also have some truffled chips, plain chips and mixed salad. 

We have three bottles of wine in all; service is an unusual 11.5%, making the total £326 for 4.  Definitely a good place for seafood lovers. 

Finally, on Friday evening we meet up with S&L. They like their cocktails, so we go first to Blind Spot at St Martin's Hotel. They have a range called "Spin the Globe" - unusual combinations named after various cities. A particularly odd one is called Kingston (Jamaica) which includes Guinness but comes out transparent. When we ask about this, we're told that the coconut juice combines with the stout to make it clear - very odd.

Then we walk up St Martin's Lane to Gilgamesh which S had booked because she'd received a 50% off food offer.   Named after the Sumerian king/demi-god, it describes itself as "pan-Asian".  By coincidence, I was catching up on the Observer the day before only to find a Jay Rayner review of the place - he clearly didn't like it at all! 

Admittedly, the headline "It's a weird trip" is accurate enough. We were shown downstairs to a corner table where the decor is relief depictions of Sumerian scenes. As it's quite early, there aren't many other people in as yet so they accommodate our request to turn the music down (Sade and ambient music), apart from two rather severe looking heavies at a large table nearby. 

Ignoring Rayner's comments, we press on with the prawn crackers - both white Chinese and brown Thai versions - and a rather good salsa.  We'd checked the wine list in advance and managed to find a Spanish Macabeo/SB for £38 - after that it gets scary. 

For starters, we had the cocktail glass full of popcorn shrimp (which was great), soft shell crab (quite meaty), a rich duck, watermelon and cashew nut salad and a couple of steamed dumplings off the dim sum list. 

For main, B and I share a deliciously tender "shaking beef" fillet chunks and a baked seabass fillet. S's Thai green chicken curry was a bit ordinary, but L's beef rendang with roti was also really good - a serious kick to it.  We also has some jasmine rice and pak choi. 

Desserts followed - Asian banana crumble and chocolate fondant (very gooey). 

Part way through the meal, the room started to fill up. Six or seven very scantily dressed young women joined the heavies' table. Several other tables had an older man surrounded by younger women - though I suppose that was true of our table too, though the dress code was very different!  And as I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for the others  to come back from the loo, more young ladies in impossibly short skirts were coming down the stairs.

We had 3 bottles of wine and service was 12.5%. The discount offer saved us £100, leaving the total at a very reasonable £260 for 4. Even at full price it was worth it for the experience!

Birthday celebration weekend in Chester and the Wirral

 After celebrating my 70th with friends at the Oxo Tower on the day, we are heading up North to see my brother and the rest of his clan. Due to diaries, we can't all get together on one day, so instead we have two successive lunches.

We travel up to Chester on the Friday and meet up with G&S at The Botanist near the cathedral. I'm a bit reluctant at first as the live music downstairs was very loud, and the stairs to the first floor restaurant looked rather steep. But the others were already there, so we head on up to join them. 

The music is much more manageable up here - guitar and keyboards, quite good. It's a very quirky space, with lots of side rooms. Our table had a view downstairs of the cocktail bar. I had tried to book in here for lunch on Saturday, but they said they didn't have room, which seems surprising. 

The menu is also quirky, featuring its "Famous Hanging Kebabs". B chooses the Thai Red Prawn with coconut rice, while I go for the lamb kofte and fries. G&S go for the 3 kebab sharing option, prawn, kofte and chicken. This comes with a pile of chips and some coleslaw.

Our kebabs come on a single blade, with a sauce that you could pour through some holes at the top so that it drips down over the food. B and S agree that the prawn kebabs are very good, the spiciness building as you went on. The others are good too - a fun experience.

The desserts are also unusual featuring chocolate chip dough. We decide to go for the sharing option served with strawberries and marshmallows, ice cream, crumb and popping candy plant pot. The presentation of this is fantastic too, a multi-layered basket with the dough in a hot skillet at the bottom.

B and I share a bottle and a couple of glasses of Chilean SB, while S has a South African Shiraz and G Timothy Taylor Landlord.  Service has been good and friendly, happy to take photos of us. G&S insist on paying so I don't know how much it was, but I think that  for such a good evening it was probably well worth it.

Saturday lunchtime, we are meeting B's and A's families at The Yard, literally next door to our hotel. With G&S that makes 13 of us.  B had quite a tough time making the arrangements, and when we get shown downstairs to our table it's only laid up for 12. The waitress was under the impression it had been booked for 17 and then revised down - which was never the case. Anyway, by squeezing tables together, they do manage to arrange to add another place. 

We had had to choose our food in advance, which is never ideal, but those arrangements did work well, with the right food coming out promptly. However, choosing drinks was more problematic, as they had to re-stock - no Guinness, neither of our first two choices of red wine available, and later they had run out of coffee beans!  And they had been slow to take drinks orders, as they were serving a 40th birthday group nearby.

The food, however, was said to be good by everyone.  I had black pudding with boiled egg in a crispy wrapping and spicy chutney, B had chicken salad, which came with jalapeno peppers and was on the large side. Other choices included bruschetta of salmon, gammon terrine with quail's egg, onion soup, and breads with hummus etc. 

For main course I had seafood pasta - 4 prawns, several clams - while B went for sea bass on pea risotto. Both were lovely. Others had steaks, cod, chicken and three other different  pastas. 

Several people were choosing desserts - chocolate pots, ice cream, sticky toffee pudding - so I decide to have an affogato: ice cream, espresso and amaretto. Very indulgent. 

We'd had a couple of bottles of Grillo, and a third choice Nero D'Avolo. No dishes were more than £25, so overall it was a very reasonable price. 

In the evening we head to Sleepy Panda for a Chinese.  There are just two other people in there, and it was all rather dark. Nonetheless we take a seat and order. Some prawn crackers are delivered. We start with some dim sum: prawn dumpling, pork dumpling. For mains we have crispy beef chilli birds nest - deep-fried beef, tasting just of chilli sauce, in a crispy edible basket - and mixed seafood hot pot. The latter just has a couple of prawns and a lot of yellowy parcels. When we ask it seems these are Japanese tofu, or cheese tofu. Not unpleasant but not seafood. 

With one bottle of Chilean SB and 10% service this comes to £78. Service has been fine, but it's not somewhere I'd recommend.  

On Sunday we get a taxi to the Wirral, The Ship in Parkgate. There we are seeing E's family - just E&E and three of the kids, plus close friends A&J - 11 in all. G&S booked us into a private room in the centre of the restaurant. It's very pleasant because it has windows to look out on the rest of the place, so it is light and not remote-feeling or corporate. 

Drinks service is very swift - we are into our first bottle of SB, a Pato Torronte from Chile - before the others arrive. For some reason, the specialities are Czech dishes, so I decide to go with both. The starter is Smazeny Syr - deep-fried camembert with cranberry and dill. Very nice but especially Czech really. The main course is Hovezi Gulas - beef goulash with dumplings and pickled red onion, inexplicably billed as "light bites". The beef was tasty, but I couldn't get half-way through just one of the dumplings. 

B goes for the wild mushrooms on toast, which I'd also been considering. There's a good mix of mushrooms in a creamy sauce together with a truffle parmesan crisp. Her main course is blade of beef, more like pulled beef in red wine gravy. 

The camembert was a popular choice. Others included chorizo croquettes, parsnip soup with Bombay butter, a gooey mackerel pate and some bread and oils. 

There were roasts on the Sunday menu - we had chicken, beef topside and forestiere Wellington. Also mushroom risottos and seabass. 

Desserts included limoncello tiramisu, raspberry ice cream, brownies and sticky toffee pudding.  Also a cheese board. 

Finally someone had kindly arranged for a birthday cake for me - not the full 70 candles fortunately!

Again a very reasonable bill (10% service, 4 bottles of wine and various beers and soft drinks). And very good, efficient and friendly service.  

Later, back in Chester, we cross the road and fetch up in Gate of India.  We get a very nice booth; warm feeling throughout. Overwhelming choice on the menu. Papadums come with a huge array of dips, including three types of hot lime pickle. We have a lamb tikka and a meat samosa to start.

These are followed up with chicken dhansak, prawn jalfrezi and pilau rice. Both the lamb and the chicken were in slices rather than chunks, but both were tasty. The prawn dish was seriously hot 

Total came to £95 including service and a bottle of very nice Burgundy. 

Busy February

February was a very busy month for eating out, as we went to 10 different restaurants during the month. They were mostly old favourites that I’ve reviewed before, like Chez Bruce (featuring devilled lamb’s tongues), The French Table for Valentine’s Day and Italian Taste (mussels) in Surbiton, The Good Earth, Esher (sizzling lamb) and El Pirata tapas off Piccadilly (very tasty rib-eye).

First up was a fairly new branch of Sticks n Sushi in Kingston, though it has much the same menu as the others.  It is a big place, but was pretty full so we ended up with seats in the window, watching the world go by John Lewis. Wine service was a little slow because of that, though it hadn’t been rapid when we went last time. We had the spicy edamame beans while we considered the order – one of the better examples. Then we had salmon carpaccio (as opposed to tataki, quite thick, very tasty), hot and gooey crab croquettes, seaweed  salad, deep fried prawn bites and tuna tartare bites with avocado.  These were followed at a sensible pace by the iberico pork, duck meatball, and scallop and bacon sticks. Total bill including two bottles of SA Chenin Blanc (at £30) was £150 – pretty good value.

We planned to meet up with A, K and K’s new squeeze C. They suggested Café Rouge upstairs at Victoria station, so we trot along arriving as they do to find that Café Rouge no longer exists. In its place is a take-away with just a couple of basic tables. They negotiate a table and we were just getting our heads round the menu when it transpires they don’t serve alcohol!  So we head off to the Nova complex across the road and fetch up at RailHouse Cafe. The menu here is a little unusual – mainly bowls with add-on skewers plus a few “plates”. I have the chicken schnitzel with mushrooms – a good, sized piece, still moist inside – plus some chips. B has skewers: prawn and chicken skewers with a mixed salad. Our share of the bill was £140 – not cheap for what we had.

J,D and I had a bet on revolution in China – and I lost. So after buying them drinks in Wetherspoons, we head to a Uyghur restaurant for lunch - Karamay Uyghur near Fenchurch St station. It’s an odd little place upstairs, with a stage for a band – presumably a social space for the community. People were leaving as we arrived, so we ended up the only ones in there for most of the time. The dishes feature noodles – described as linguine or spaghetti – and several have serious chilli. I have lamb ribs with noodles and some grilled vegetable dumplings on the side. Very good slightly spicy; J has lamb skewers and D spicy (3 chilli) tenderloin. We each have a couple of bottles of the national beer – Wusu. All this comes to a very reasonable £44 a head.

Although we’ve been there a few times, I haven’t reviewed Giggling Squid in Kingston before. There are branches in Esher, Wimbledon and many others too. We’re meeting D and her new pal J. We order some Chenin Blanc – J is driving so doesn’t have anything – and some of their very good prawn crackers while we consider the menu. They specialise in Thai “tapas”, but we generally also order some dishes from the starters and mains lists too. D and J order curries which come with rice and salad. We have one bite salmon, pork dumplings duck spring rolls followed by soft shell prawns and caramelised pork with rice. Our share including wine comes to a very modest £100. Definitely on the regular visit list.  

Taking advantage of the leap day, we meet up with G at the Ivy City Garden, off Old Broad Street. It’s a huge place, and at 1.30pm is very busy (and noisy) with several work groups. There are loads of plants around and a very odd wall sculpture featuring a lizard eating its tail. We arrive first and order Chilean Viognier (£38). G arrives 5 minutes or so later – and we still haven’t got our wine. After quite a long chat a waiter arrives asking if we’re ready to order, so I ask about the wine and G orders a gin (Monkey 47) and tonic.

The menu has several sections to it – a February specials list, and also an Ivy Asia list, that I focus on. B’s starter is very dramatic: it’s a crab, brown shrimp and avocado tian from the specials list. It arrives served in a silver plated crab-shaped platter, complete with a spicy sauce poured over it, and for some reason a jug of dry ice!  It tastes good too. G has the cheese souffle off the “Ivy Classics” list served in a bronzed pan which she polishes off with relish. My starter is chicken skewers (three) with bang bang peanut sauce, which has loads of nuts and a good chilli kick (effectively an above average satay).

Topping us up with drinks has been erratic, with some empty glasses. But when we order the second bottle the senior waiter seems to get the idea. Or maybe it’s because now, around 2.30pm, the place is starting to thin out a bit.

For main course I have the Keralan duck curry with sweet potato. It’s quite a light, sweet curry, not that hot. But the duck is tasty. B has Mexican-style Flat-iron Chicken (again a February special). This comes with a nice salsa, and quite spicy guacamole.  This is a rather large portion. G simply has a Sirloin steak.

We don’t have room for dessert, finishing our wine while G has a cappuccino. The dessert list does look good though. Service charge is an annoying 13.5% taking the bill up to over £270.  That’s pretty pricey, but the food has been good.

  

Esher Chinese

 We are in Esher for a showing of "The Great Escaper" in the Everyman. Someone had recommended a Japanese place, but that seems to have closed down, so we try the Chinese, the Good Earth. There are other branches in Wandsworth, Knightsbridge and Mill Hill, and a few "Express" outlets too. 

It's a smart place, with lots of red and gold, some classic Chinese pictures on the walls. Although there is only one other couple in, we are asked if we have a reservation, but then given a nice table in the window overlooking the High Street. The chopsticks are elegant, in fancy wrappers, there is a classy glass tray for dishes in the centre of the table (lazy susans on larger tables) and to B's great amusement we are presented with two little buttons, which when doused in hot water expand into hot towels. 

I'd looked at the menu beforehand, and it seemed quite expensive - £20 for soft-shelled crab starter, £25 for sweet and sour pork. The wine list wasn't so bad, so we settle on the French Viognier at £34. Fortunately though, there is also an express lunch menu at £18.80 for two courses and a range of dim sum dumplings at £5 per portion. 

So we decide on a combination of the two. From the express menu we order lettuce wrapped chicken and spicy lamb with lemongrass, egg-fried rice and vegetables. Dim sum dumplings were scallops, and prawn and chive. I also throw in a Dragon's Whiskers prawns from the starters list. 

The lettuce chicken and Dragon's Whiskers come first. The chopped chicken comes with some vegetables and a tasty sauce (billed as plum sauce, but lighter than that). A bit messy to eat, so the hot towels come in handy. DW is large prawns in shredded pastry, also rather messy, but certainly tasty. The dumplings come next. Scallops are really good; the wrapping is a bit heavy on both, so the chilli sauce is welcome. 

Finally the lamb, rice and vegetables, all served on one beautifully decorated plate on the glass tray; our starter plates have been replaced with smart blue and white bowls and plates. The lamb is good and spicy, with clear chilli flakes in it. The rice has identifiable pieces of scrambled egg, and the good range of vegetables (peppers, carrots, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms and something that may or may not have been celery) were all fresh and deliciously al dente.  

Unusually for us we treat ourselves to a dessert. Harking back to many years ago we order the toffee bananas. These are gorgeously crispy with sesame seeds; B reckons we should have had ice cream with them, and tells the couple at the next table, who duly order that and agree.

The waiter has been smiley and helpful without intruding; wine glasses topped up efficiently. The place is quite large, but has filled up a little while we were there. No background music.  

With a second bottle of wine, the bill goes up to a bit over £130 - with an odd 13% service charge. That's fine, but I imagine an evening meal from the main menu would be much more. Admittedly, the portions do seem to be quite large from what we saw at other tables, but I think our lunch deal worked pretty well. If the Japanese doesn't open up again, we will probably go back. 

A Hampshire weekend

 

The train strike means a change of plans for our short flit to Hampshire; we are driving down instead.  We decide to break the journey to Lymington for a lunchtime snack. I’ve researched Alresford off the A31 near Winchester as that is about half-way. Finding somewhere to park is a bit of a pain, but we end up at the Watercress Line railway station car park.

There’s a choice between The Swan and The Bell. The Swan looks a little pricey, and The Bell does scallops, so that’s where we go.  It’s very dark inside, with only large tables remaining – they were quite happy to sit us at one of those. The other diners fit a very narrow demographic, making us the youngest in there I suspect.

As we are going out to dinner later, we just have two starters to share and a bottle of SB at £18. We are waiting quite a while – half an hour – and I’m just ready to ask the waitress where our food is when she arrives with it.  There are four scallops, with roe, but they’re a little tough, probably just been de-frosted. Our other dish is billed as lamb kebab, but it’s more of a kofta. It is nicely spiced though, so pretty good. Total bill, including optional service comes to £43.

Dinner is at Chewton Glen with J&E, a Relais & Chateau hotel and spa. The taxi drops us at the entrance, with its immaculate displays of flowers – petunias, I’m informed. We’re a little early, and as it’s a lovely evening, we decide to go for a drink on the terrace before dinner – 2 large Sauvignon Blanc and two tonics. It’s a very pretty area with a view over the croquet lawn.

Eventually we go on in to the restaurant. It’s a bright airy room with lots of windows, many of which are open in the early evening warmth. Our table is by the wall though, which is fine. The first task is to find something affordable on the wine list. At first sight this is going to be a challenge as there are several in three figures. Eventually however I do find a few at around £30-£35, and select a Sicilian Grillo at £30, and a glass of Malbec at £15 for E.

The menu is quite extensive and interesting, without being over-creative. There’s a good selection of breads. For starter I choose the Devon dressed crab, with radish and celeriac. This comes as two good sized quenelles, and is very full of flavour, with both white and brown meat. B has the salmon sashimi with edamame beans and ginger, which is good. J seems happy with her smoked salmon – another good largish portion – and E’s duck liver “pressing” disappears quickly.

My main course is lamb cutlets, three with Portobello mushroom and triple-cooked chips. Mint sauce arrives as well, rather dry actually. But the cutlets don’t really need it as they are succulent and juicy. B has the sweet and sour Asian salad with added Asian beef. This is rich and sweet, as well having something of a kick from the wasabi peanuts, sesame and chilli.

J orders the roast pork from the trolley. This is something of a theatrical performance, with the big silver hood folded back and a huge knife to carve good slices off the huge joint. She says the meat is very good, but is less impressed by the crackling which, apart from the first bite, is rather soggy. She summons the waitress to complain, who seems at a loss as to what to do. She offers to ask the chef to try heating it up, but that wasn’t likely to work, so it’s just left.

 E has the wild sea bass, filleted with asparagus, and the two of them share a portion of green vegetable and new potatoes.

 J declines dessert, just having coffee and petit fours – some good macaroons. I have a honeycomb parfait, which is very creamy and chunky. Both B and E order salted caramel ice cream, and both opt for just one scoop – we’re not sure what the form is really, whether they expected them to have two different flavours. Both finish it off, but agree that it was more sweet caramel than salted.

 The restaurant has filled up, with several people going through to a private room. Oysters are popular, including at the table next us where a sugar daddy and his friend enjoy them with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier rosé.

 I had looked at the menu online beforehand, so when the bill comes I don’t actually have a heart attack. It is pretty eye-watering though, close to being the most I’ve ever paid. It’s not helped by the fact that the two glasses of SB on the terrace were £24 each!  At this level it’s hard to say whether that is “value for money”.  It’s been good, and service has been fine, but it’s not Michelin star quality.

 The next day we are off to Winchester to join V for her 70^th birthday celebration, along with a dozen or so others. We’re staying overnight at the Hotel du Vin, a change of plan from getting the train home that evening. Crawling along in traffic, I manage to spot the sign for their car park and try to work out the parking system. Eventually we do get in to find our allocated, named, parking space – at £10 extra.

 We then wander down to the rendezvous for lunch – The Wykeham Arms. We’re the first to arrive, order our wine (£29.50 for a NZ SB seems a bit steep in a pub) and sit at the re-purposed classic style desks in the bar. The others are at “Whethies” it seems!  When they arrive we go through to another room with one large table. It’s a Fuller’s pub, which means that on a Sunday the menu is dominated by roasts. We’d been asked to order our food in advance, and we pay for drinks separately – the very able and welcoming manager, despite looking only about 14, is confident she can manage that with us ordering at the table, but I go back to the bar for ours.

 We’re surprised to find that apart from V we are the only ones to order a starter – a shared plate of charcuterie. This impressive board includes four different meats, including bresaola and chorizo, plus olives, cornichons, bread and salad.

 B had been irritated by the limited choice for mains, and opted for a rather unusual pea and mint ravioli. She enjoys this, though it is very modest. I have the roast beef which like all the roast comes with huge a Yorkshire pudding, whopping roast potatoes, and tons of veg. On top of which there is cauliflower cheese and cabbage. The beef is fine, though not very rare, and supported by excellent proper English mustard and feisty horseradish.

 We don’t have dessert, but it seems that is more popular with the others, the BBQ pineapple being a particular favourite.  Our bill is £60 plus the wine, so that worked out rather more expensive than I would have expected for a pub lunch.

 In the evening we decide we to go Chinese. I’ve come up with a place called Shanghai Papa, but I haven’t worked out exactly where it is, so we end up walking quite a way to get to it. Winchester on a Sunday evening is not a buzzing metropolis, but it is fun to spot the colourful hare statues around the place.

 The restaurant is pretty basic, mainly doing take-aways this evening. There is one table of three Chinese girls, but otherwise it’s empty, and they leave quite soon anyway.  We have the Shiraz at £19, a bargain and then turn to the starters. Soft-shell crab (obviously) and pan-fried pork dumplings, both good.

 Then on to mains – salted pork loin, kung po prawns and Singapore rice. The pork was thin battered pieces that didn’t taste of a great deal, but were OK. The prawns gloopy and spicy and the rice was full of chicken and small prawns. The portions were massive. We took the remains away – the rice will make two portions.

 With another two glasses of house red, the total comes to just £66 for a huge tasty feast. That certainly is “value for money”, though the ambience is hardly Chewton Glen!

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.

Chinese in Thames Ditton

It's been some time since we've been out for a Chinese meal. There weren't any good places around Purley, and London has been off limits. Now, after spotting it on a few walks, we are to try Han Fu, in Thames Ditton.  We exchanged emails about bookings, and eventually settled on 7.30pm on a Wednesday. It's a bit of a walk so we needed to be sure the weather was OK. 

As we arrive we see there are a couple of Chinese ladies sitting at the window table. It turns out they were there for take-away. Otherwise there are no other customers in the place. We get shown to a nice enough table - surrounded by perspex screens, it surprisingly feels like a very personal space. 

After a little confusion about Cab Sauv vs Sauv Blanc, we get our wine at £18. The young waitress admits she's only been there are couple of weeks. She brings free prawn crackers and chilli sauce.

The menu is interesting with a range of house special dishes. There are the usual staples too.   So we start with pork dumplings and king prawns in salt and pepper. The dumplings are big, gloopy, with a slight peppery tang. The prawns are also large, with a light batter and good chilli sauce. 

For mains we've ordered pepper chicken and dry-pot beef, supported by Singapore noodles. The head waitress checks that we like hot food!  Both dishes come covered in red chillies - but at least they are easily identified and put to one side. The pepper chicken is a bit dry, with (as you'd expect) peppercorns. The dry pot beef, despite its name, is more moist and tender. Both are tasty. The noodles come filled with ample shrimps and chicken pieces. 

There have been no other eat-in customers, though there has been a reasonable stream of people coming in for take-aways.  But we haven't been rushed through our meal - as Chinese places can tend to do - and the two waitresses have joined us for a lively chat at the end. Decor is simple - "Surbiton grey". Portions have been generous, enough for us to have a doggy-bag. I have it for lunch a couple of days later, and it is still very good.  With a second bottle of wine, and a genuine at discretion tip, it comes to £83. Very good indeed. We'll be back. 

Another very good Chinese

Another wine-tasting, and another Chinese with T&K, though this time we are in Westminster.  We often visit Dim T in Wilton Road after this tasting, but this year I’ve found a Chinese restaurant off Horseferry Road – Má La Sichuan.  It’s not as stylish as Yming last week, but smart enough with dark wood tables, oriental design screens and clumps of bamboo.                                    

As last week, we start off with prawn crackers and bottle of red (Primitivo, £26) and of white (SA Chenin Blanc, £26), but this time we only have one of each.  The menu here is pretty extensive too, with some unusual dishes, though without the name-dropping. There are several two- or three-chilli dishes, with the added boast “This dish can be made extra or super spicy.”!  Not for the faint-hearted.  

There are two soft shell crab options for T&B to choose between – they go for the three-chilli, red chilli crispy version, highlighted as a “special”. It certainly is hot, but with plenty of crab flavour too. We also have three dumpling dishes: “specials” – ‘Chao Shou’ which are chicken dumplings with spicy sesame peanut sauce (2 chillies) which is very interesting; “Northern Chinese Crescent Dumplings”, a more standard pork and chives dumpling – and a conventional steamed scallops dumpling, which for some reason takes longer to arrive.  

We steer clear of some of the more challenging main courses like fresh eel with lemongrass,  sliced pig intestines, duck tongue and spicy pig’s ear.  Instead we have the Gongbao king prawns, with sweet sour sauce and cashew nuts – good sized, firm prawns; aromatic lamb with cumin – rich and dense; fragrant black pepper rib-eye beef, which comes stir fried with edamame and asparagus; and, fragrant chilli chicken, a two-chilli special.  These are supported by some Singapore noodles and steamed rice.  

Service has been good – unobtrusive and fairly prompt. With 12.5% service the total comes to £162. Oddly, if we had had 4 bottles of wine, the bill would have been almost exactly the same as Yming last week. 

Choosing between the two?  Yming was more stylish, and more convenient generally; its specials (we had one as starter and one as main) fewer but maybe more distinctive. Mal Sichuan was probably more authentic Sichuan, certainly with hotter dishes, with some adventure to be had if you’re brave enough!  We’d happily return to either.

Excellent Chinese in Soho

We are going to a wine tasting in Tobacco Dock in Wapping with friends T&K, and as tradition demands we are looking for some Asian food afterwards, mid-afternoon. Locally there doesn’t seem to be anywhere open, so some Googling is required.  We’ve never had a great deal of luck in Chinatown itself, so I look a bit further afield and eventually find Yming on the corner of Greek Street and Romilly Street.  

I booked us in for 3.30pm, but they say they need the table back by 5pm. So we decide to leave the tasting earlier, about 2.30pm, and grab a taxi. What we hadn’t allowed for was the Lord Mayor’s Show – many roads were closed, and those that weren’t were very busy. So it is gone 3.15pm by the time we get there anyway.  

There are only two other tables occupied when we arrive, which seemed a bit surprising. So we get a very nice table in the corner by a window - as it's on a corner there are windows on two sides, so it is very light. The atmosphere is very relaxing. The décor is a sort of pale blue/green, with cloths and napkins  - and waiters shirts - to match; even the chopsticks are the same colour. Much nicer than the usual garish red and gold clichés nearby in Gerard Street.  

The menu is huge, though they don’t do dim sum. As well as the usual range of starters and various main course permutations, there is a big list of wrap and of soups. There is also a “special” menu, with dishes recommended by notables such as Matthew Fort and Jay Rayner, and even a dish called Jonathan Miller’s sea bass. The wine list goes up in price quite quickly so we stick to the house Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, and Merlot at £21.  

The waiter comes over before we’ve really had a chance to get to grips with the menu, so as well as the wine we order some prawn crackers to keep us going while we decide.  Though we do take our time, the crackers don’t arrive until after we’ve ordered – though fortunately the wine was prompt! 

For starters we have “Phoenix Tail - big prawns wrapped in bacon” off the special menu, soft shell crab (a must for both B and T), vegetarian spring rolls and steamed meat dumplings. The Phoenix Tail was very good, big as advertised, full of flavour with a good portion of bacon.  The crab was quite good – enough meat rather than all batter as some are – but not a very large portion. The spring rolls (4), were also rather modest size, but the dipping sauce they came with was very interesting.  We’ve eaten all these before the dumplings arrive which was a bit irritating.  But when they come, there are again four in the steamer, very tasty and hot.  

It’s not a long wait for the mains. K chooses the Tibetan garlic lamb. This comes with  peanuts and a good hit of chilli – very succulent too. B goes for the simple steamed prawns with garlic, which are again large and don’t disappoint on the garlic front.  T’s choice is shredded duck, a slightly smaller portion, but again with plenty of chilli. I’m the only one to choose from the special menu, “Double braised pork in Hot Pot” – the one recommended by Fort, Rayner and Jonathan Meades, billed as “soft and tender”.  It certainly is that, a dark deep flavour. There are 7 or 8 large slices of belly pork, that yield to chopsticks easily and melt in the mouth. These guys know what they are talking about.  

We also have boiled rice and Shanghai noodles – quite thick noodles with shredded pork and vegetables, in a tasty, slightly hot sauce.

The first waiter was slightly distant in classic Chinatown style (though not as famously rude as some), but others were more friendly with the more mature guy sorting the bill almost genial. Maybe that’s because with 4 bottles of wine the total was £215 (incl 12.5% service) for the four of us.  

We considered whether it might be a good venue for Christmas and Easter get-togethers. There is a private room downstairs in a rather vile pink and rather close to the toilets – so probably not.  

We are finished eating by 5pm, and the restaurant is now full, with some people having been turned away, but they don’t bother us as we finish off our wine. We were impressed and will pretty certainly go back, but it’s definitely somewhere to book rather than just rock up.

February round-up

India Dining

It’s Valentine’s Day so of course we take our neighbour out for dinner.  We get a taxi over to Warlingham (about 20 mins), though parking is difficult and we have to jump out rapidly.  Naturally the place is festooned with red balloons, but we are offered a table where we can easily move them aside.


We’d heard of it some time ago as a place run by a chef who used to work at the Cinnamon Club. K&I next door had been before and liked it too, so we were definitely looking forward to it.
It’s quite busy, so it is hard to track down a specific server, but we get our wine (the house Merlot at £17.95) quickly enough. There are some more interesting/expensive wines on the list, but it’s not unreasonable.


There is a special Valentine’s Day 4-course menu on offer, but we decide to go a la carte, which they are OK with. We get some poppadums (with nice chutneys), then order. K passes on a starter, so we share the chilli squid (deep-fried, with a good hit of chilli) and the yellow fin tuna between the three of us. The tuna comes as slices of seared tuna, along with a few pieces of tuna tartar – the seared tuna is good, but I’m less enamoured with the tartar.
For main course, K goes with the mixed tandoori grill – chicken, lamb, prawn – with a stuffed paratha. She says that is very good. B orders the Goan prawns (or “Gowan” as the menu has it), which are excellent: good prawn flavour, soft but not cotton-wool, and a seriously spicy sauce. I choose “Nihari raan” – lamb shank in yoghurt and spice sauce. This is fine, the sauce is delicious and the meat comes away from the bone easily, but somehow the combination doesn’t really work.  We also order rice, dhal and a garlic spinach dish.


We indulge in a couple of desserts. K chooses the gulab jamun, the sticky milk balls dish, and B the pistachio kulfi. Both good.


Service has been very good despite the busy evening. At one point a senior waiter took mock offence when after asking “didn’t I take your order?”, I reply “no, a young man did!”.
The bill presented was £136 – 10% service, 2 bottles of wine and a couple of cokes. It sounded OK, so I didn’t check it until later. They had forgotten to charge us for the poppadums and starters, but had charged us for an extra side dish and coke – on balance we were ahead! 
Worth the visit if there are enough of you to justify the taxi fare.
 

Chez Lindsay

I’ve reviewed this charming French bistro before, and again we are there with S&S. It may be that is not as much on offer as you’d expect, but we end up ordering just two different starters and two different mains between us. S and B love the whole crab starter, which of course takes an age to eat. S and I go for the smoked duck salad – good, not special.


Unusually we have all gone for galettes as mains – B for the gambas, and the rest of us for the fruits de mer.  We also have a crème brulee and a crepes suzette for dessert.
£244 for the food plus four bottles of Viognier at £25 and some water.  Happy to recommend that.

Red Farm

We’d been looking for a good Chinese centrally so when we hear of this place by Covent Garden we have to give it a try. It’s a tight small space with a long central table and a few others around the side. We get seated at a two-some table in what feels like a cramped place near the bar – nowhere to put coats other than the floor. The place is fairly busy with lively young people so, once we get used to the table, the atmosphere is OK.


It’s tricky to work out what to order from the menu – what is starter or main. Some dishes seem seriously pricey and dim sum are £10 a shot. In the end we go for a selection of starters/dim sum. We choose just 4 to start with.


The “pac man” prawn dumplings are unique – there are four different flavour dumplings plus a “pac man” shaped shrimp/potato fritter.  The individual dumplings are excellent, but pac-man himself a little dull.  The other dim sum is beef dumplings – spicy and slippery. We also have “Dingley Dell” pork belly – soft and full of flavour; and lamb skewers with chilli and cumin.
To be fair the dishes have been a good size and very tasty. We order another portion of the “pac man” a chicken dumplings, with mushroom and a duck gyoza.


Service was very slow to begin with. The head waiter apologised for the delay due to a technical problem – just before we got irritated.  In recompense he provided a tray of three vegetables, which were very tasty and didn’t charge us for the gyoza.


Wine wasn’t cheap either - £29 for a standard Chenin Blanc. The total of £136 (incl 12.5% ) was more than you would expect for an average Chinese dim sum – but then it was definitely well above average.  OK for small groups – not really a party destination.

Busaba, KIngston

We’ve been to this Thai restaurant on the river in Kingston before – in the summer when you could sit outside. Despite this remarkable February weather, this time we are inside in a very busy space.  We are offered one table close to a group of little kids, so decide instead to sit between two other tables, both of which were finishing up anyway.


Although the restaurant is busy, the service is good enough to get a wine order (Chenin Blanc at £22) in quickly, along with some Thai prawn crackers – so much better than the Chinese ones.
We share a Thai calamari to start – their “signature” dish with ginger and green peppercorns. It is remarkable, nothing like I’ve had before. The calamari is cooked just short of rubbery (no batter), and the sauce a mouthful of flavour. The peppercorns are on little stalks, infusing the whole thing. Top marks.


There are several main courses that sound very interesting, but in the end we go with chilli prawns and tamarind duck (which comes with rice) plus a “sweet and sour” cucumber salad.  The prawns have a serious kick and good flavour. The duck (which requires proper sharp knives to deal with) is also an impressive dish.  The only low note is the salad, which has far more lettuce and leaves and not enough cucumber for our taste.


With the usual 12.5% service (pretty much deserved) and a second bottle of wine, the bill comes to £97 – I’m pleased with that, it’s very good value.

Catching up since July

I’ve been a bit remiss these last months, but here is a quick summary of places visited in the second half of the year. I no longer have all the details of what everyone had, and not all the prices, but I still have the memories!

India Club, Strand:  threatened with closure because of re-development, this throw-back to the 60s/70s was granted a reprieve. It used to be a traditional haunt of our Varsity match group, so we went along to celebrate. The room is basic – though the tables are no longer secured to the floor.  Drinks are obtained from the bar on the floor below – don’t expect anything beyond a Kingfisher or gin. Starters are standards – samosa, onion bhaji, plus a remarkably dangerous chilli bhaji. Mains are also fairly standard - lamb, butter chicken, dhal, aloo sag - but with good portions of rice and breads.  At £30 a head, it’s great fun.

Mar I Terra describes itself as “contemporary Spanish tapas”.  We’ve been before in the evening, but on this lunchtime visit after the Picasso exhibition at the Tate, we sit outside in the garden which is very pleasant.  Chilli prawns, crab-stuffed peppers, chicken livers, chorizo and morcilla with beans, chick peas are all good. Bill (with probably two bottles) comes to £92. Excellent – definitely recommend it if you are in the area. On a second visit in the early evening a couple of months later we have garlic prawns, sardines, chicken livers, beef, beans and jambon, chick peas (£75).

Guiseppe’s in Borough High Street has become B’s “go-to” restaurant. We went just the two of us first to research it, then as a group of 6, and then B went again with 4 other ex-colleagues. It’s as  clichéd as an Italian can be, short of candles in Chianti bottles. There are specials on the blackboard and all the traditional dishes you can remember.  Starters have included bresaola, scallops, prawns, calamari. Mains, spaghetti “My Way” (under a photo of Frank), veal Holstein, chicken Milanese with penne arrabiatta.  Good choice of Italian wines; generally around £50-£70 a head. Fine, convenient, but not sophisticated.

Ivy Market Grill . There are loads of Ivy spin-off places now, some of which have had unflatteringly reviews, but I think this in Covent Garden may have been the first one when the original restaurant closed for refurbishment for a while.  We went one lunchtime with S&L, and were sat next to Nicholas Lyndhurst (though he did ask to be moved!).  I had steak tartare followed by sea bass fillets and the bill came to £105 for the two of us. A very good experience. B went back again and that was good too.

Babur Brasserie I have reviewed before, but it remains worth the visit to Honor Oak Park.  Regional dishes feature strongly – this is no ordinary curry house. My meal this time was prawns and gourd to start followed by rabbit. At £106 for two this is good value.

The Oxo Tower Brasserie is a good place for a celebration. This time it was J’s 30^th, and there were 16 of us, on two tables of 8 with good river views. It’s not cheap though, and the wine does make the bill mount up. I had grilled crispy squid followed by chicken breast in a herb sauce and a tart.

Sticks ‘n’ Sushi, Wimbledon has rather less charm than its Covent Garden sister, the room being bigger and more open, with several refectory style tables, but has the same interesting menu and would be a nice reliable place to have on your doorstep. After the usual spicy edamame beans, we had beef tataki, crab croquettes, crudities and miso. Then shrimp rolls, crispy chicken rolls, duck breast and scallop and bacon sticks. With two bottles this is good value for £109

Chez Bruce:   I’ve reported on it several times, but it is still a reliable favourite for a good lunch. The parmesan crisps are still gorgeous and the atmosphere and service top-class. This time I had fishcakes with boquerones, followed by calf’s liver and then a caramel crisp. The set lunch price means this comes to £150 with a good amount of wine (though you have to hunt through the wine list to keep the cost down).

A Wong in Victoria has been around for a while, but though we’ve tried a couple of times we’ve not been able to get into this Michelin starred Chinese. So with S&L we book one evening and take on the challenging menu. It’s hard to decide how much to order, and I think in the end we were a bit conservative  for 4 Choices between us were prawn cracker, crab and prawn fritter;  duck and pancakes, lamb slider; kung pao chicken with peanuts, waygu beef, pork belly, “gold fish” dumplings, abalone, rice. £150 for two with not a lot of wine. Not yet convinced, but worth another try.

Our local tapas bar has been closed for refurbishment, but its sister, Las Fuentes in Selsdon was P&M’s choice for a birthday celebration for around 16 people. B and I had wild boar skewer, kidneys, chorizo, gambas pil pil and mussels. As good as the Purley version, with similar ambience.

After wine tasting we need something to soak up the alcohol, so twice in quick succession we go with T&K to Dim T in Victoria.  Each time we begin with beef wontons, chicken gyoza, edamame beans and various dim sum. The first time we go round again on the dim sum, but on the second visit we move on to firecracker prawns, special chicken stir-fry, chilli beef, pad thai, and Singapore noodles. It’s a big place, so generally no need to book. Coincidentally it cost £80 each time.

My colleagues organise a “round the world” series of lunches and this time we are in Jamaica at Cotton’s, Curtain Rd.   It’s a fairly basic place (though another outlet in Vauxhall is rather smarter) and being a “rum shack” does a good line in cocktails. I have the trio of vegetarian fritters followed by a lunchtime special of oxtail and bean stew with boiled rice. With one cocktail and a modest amount of wine my bill was £25.

Imperial China in Chinatown has become a regular dim sum place. After a wine tasting over in the City, we fetch up and order soft-shell crab followed by steamed king prawns, fillet beef and Singapore noodles. All for £100.

Masala Zone, Covent Garden  is another good place for a celebration, with lots of space and side rooms,  so we fetch up there for our housemate Christmas gathering. The Rajasthani  puppets dangling from the ceiling give it a great atmosphere, and despite the time of year we get good service too. There are 12 of us – any more and you have to have the set menu, but we are allowed to order individually. I have Delhi samosa, followed by Coondapur Duck, black dhal, spinach and steamed rice. With a good amount of wine this is £100 for two.  It would be interesting to try as a couple.

 

Easter on the Wirral

EASTER ON THE WIRRAL

We’re visiting G&S on the Wirral, and on Easter Sunday we’ve booked to go to the Burnt Truffle in Heswall, along with L.  B had spotted a review of the restaurant some time ago but this was the first time we’d had chance to go and try it out ourselves.  Chef  Gary Usher is also responsible for Sticky Walnut and Hispi near Chester. Burnt Truffle was launched with the help of crowdfunding – the list of backers is on the wall downstairs, including some well-known names.

We are seated upstairs in a corner area which is almost like a private room - apart from the fact that the waiting staff have to pass by to go to the back-room for wine etc. The place is nice and bright with an odd mix of things on the wall – from a poster of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road to a collection of menus from famous restaurants like the French Laundry.  And a long chalked up wine list.

Service is attentive and friendly, though oddly we are told to order wine from the printed list rather than the board, which is a shame because I’d already selected one. Anyway we go with the Viognier from the Northern Rhone at £29.50, and some sparkling elderflower for L.  The beer list looks good too, with bottles from local breweries.

The set lunch menu has five options per course at £22 a head.  Sourdough bread with an excellent truffle and walnut butter arrives first – we’d commented on the attractive loaves on the way in.  After we’ve ordered I comment that despite the restaurant name, there were no truffles in any of the dishes – so we order an extra portion of truffle chips with parmesan flakes.

For starters, three of us, including me, order wood pigeon breast with beetroot fregola (little round balls of pasta from Sardinia made red by the beetroot).  This is fantastic, just melt in the mouth; the beetroot flavour is very subtle and the pasta light. B has the pork cheek and tongue terrine with Armagnac  prune which is firm and full of flavour, while L has cauliflower soup, a rich, creamy bowlful topped with rocket pesto.

For main courses we split three to two. I have the crispy duck leg with cassoulet.  The duck falls away from the bone, and though crispy is not dry.  The cassoulet contains smoked sausage and pieces of ham, and is warming and filling, a fine example. Truffle chips are good too!  B has the grilled seabream with a pale taramasalata and watercress. Sensible size portions too, leaving room for dessert.

 As always if it’s on the menu I then have crème brûlée.  This comes in a shallow dish, so has a good ratio of brûlée to crème, but is not as vanilla flavoured as some (it’s hard to beat Chez Bruce).  B’s dessert is rather unusual: Tonka bean custard with fromage blanc, dark chocolate and hazelnuts. We had to look up what Tonka beans are – South American beans with a flavour similar to vanilla – nothing to do with Tonka toys. It’s an insubstantial, foamy sort of dish, perhaps not their best.  Other dessert choices were chocolate mousse with honeycomb, and sticky toffee pudding with honeycomb ice-cream.

 We’ve had three bottles of the Viognier, so the bill comes to an extremely reasonable £220 for five before tip.  As well as the good food, the atmosphere and timing of service have been excellent, so we come away feeling well pleased.  I’d certainly put Burnt Truffle as a contender for a Michelin star next year.

 

Other Wirral restaurants

On our first night with G&S we go into Parkgate to Britannia Spice the local Indian.  This has a long list of individualistic dishes, as well as the usual permutations.  B and I just have a mixed kebab and chicken chat to start but G&S insist we try their Britannia

Special too – deep-fried chicken tikka with cheese and omelette, interesting but a little strange.  B has some excellent tandoori king prawns for main, while I try the lamb gobi jaipura, with some channa masala, dhal,  mushroom rice and naan.  We also have a couple of bottles of Malbec between us.  Very good at £90 for four, including generous tip.

 Less successful is Gusto in Heswall.  We’ve booked for 8pm and arrive on time, but are told our table is not ready, and to have a  drink in the bar.  After a while, B decides to chase them up and pesters the greeter, who contacts her manager. This does result in a table being made available, fortunately near the entrance. I say fortunately because the place is heaving and loud, and the low ceilings and dark lighting would have it oppressive further in. Even then the table next to us are very loud and seem to be best friends with everyone who passes by.  We have some edamame beans while we choose what to order.  I start with meatballs (fine but unimpressive) and B with a smoked haddock risotto, a sensible small portion.  My main course pork belly is rather dry, and the crackling rather firm; B’s garlic prawns are OK.  £75 for two with wine.

 The last night is back to Parkgate for Chinese at Chow’s Eating House.  Again we have to wait in the bar for the table to be ready, but this is done much more sensitively. And when we are seated, it is at a nice big round table with plenty of space. The waitress intelligently asks at the start whether we’d like to book a taxi for later, as on a Saturday night it will be busy – and in due course the taxi arrives bang on time.  G&S have hot and sour soup to start, while we share pork and prawn dumplings and a duck spring roll.  For main we have Beijing prawns and Szechuan fillet steak; G&S have scallops in a bird’s nest and Beijing chicken. We’d been told Beijing sauce was hot, but it wasn’t too much – the Szechuan was hotter.  All very good and flavoursome, with friendly waitresses - £174 for the four of us with three bottles of Laughing Giraffe Shiraz from South Africa at £19 each.