A Decent Chinese?
Neil is a worried man. He says:
I was pretty dismayed to see Blackheath's Laughing Buddha has shut up shop after 25 years of trading. A while back we also had the much-missed Treasure of China in the centre of Greenwich, but now we just have the tourist fodder of Noodle Time and similar even-faster-food establishments. Is there anywhere in the area offering quality Chinese food these days? I know only of Mr Chung's, which is impossible to park outside even if you're just picking up a takeaway.
The Phantom agrees.
It was a sad day when I walked past that golden belly and saw that Laughing Buddha was no more. And we have bloomin' little other choice. Frankly I wouldn't even put Noodle Time as being good enough to be counted "tourist fodder" - I'd say that was far too kind. Now the execrable Pizza Luna and the unaccountably-awful Alamo have gone, IMHO it's slid into second position for "worst restaurant in Greenwich," just behind Tai Won Mein which defies description (from me, at least.)
But onto the good stuff. Yes, Mr Chung is very good indeed. Parking isn't great, granted, but there's always Christchurch Way opposite - not ideal, but do-able. The other place that always was good was the Peninsula restaurant at Holiday Inn - an unlikely setting, I'll grant you. They get very, very packed out for the weekend lunchtime dim sum. I have heard rumours that it is no longer what it once was, but I haven't been for a while. I would welcome opinions from anyone who's been recently.
To be honest I haven't done nearly as thorough job of testing Chinese restaurants and takeaways as I have with Indian (I just love curry...) so please pitch-in here and give Neil some ideas...
I was pretty dismayed to see Blackheath's Laughing Buddha has shut up shop after 25 years of trading. A while back we also had the much-missed Treasure of China in the centre of Greenwich, but now we just have the tourist fodder of Noodle Time and similar even-faster-food establishments. Is there anywhere in the area offering quality Chinese food these days? I know only of Mr Chung's, which is impossible to park outside even if you're just picking up a takeaway.
The Phantom agrees.
It was a sad day when I walked past that golden belly and saw that Laughing Buddha was no more. And we have bloomin' little other choice. Frankly I wouldn't even put Noodle Time as being good enough to be counted "tourist fodder" - I'd say that was far too kind. Now the execrable Pizza Luna and the unaccountably-awful Alamo have gone, IMHO it's slid into second position for "worst restaurant in Greenwich," just behind Tai Won Mein which defies description (from me, at least.)
But onto the good stuff. Yes, Mr Chung is very good indeed. Parking isn't great, granted, but there's always Christchurch Way opposite - not ideal, but do-able. The other place that always was good was the Peninsula restaurant at Holiday Inn - an unlikely setting, I'll grant you. They get very, very packed out for the weekend lunchtime dim sum. I have heard rumours that it is no longer what it once was, but I haven't been for a while. I would welcome opinions from anyone who's been recently.
To be honest I haven't done nearly as thorough job of testing Chinese restaurants and takeaways as I have with Indian (I just love curry...) so please pitch-in here and give Neil some ideas...
Labels: Chinese food Greenwich, Eating Out, Takeaways
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:52
25 Comments:
Vietnam Restaurant on King William Walk is amazing. It's not strictly Chinese, but the menu is quite mixed and offers a lot of the old favourites.
Their weekend evening Choices Menu is fabulous. It's a bit pricier, but if you're looking to spend about £15 a person for food, they will give you a menu full of treats.
Depending on the size of your party, you get a minimum of 6 starters, a duck course, 4 main courses and all the rice, special fried rice and noodles you can eat.
Generally lovely and tasty stuff, but I would generally avoid the beef as in most chinese places in Greenwich...
You know - I've never tried that place - but with such a glowing report, I need to go very soon indeed...
I would also recommend Vietnam Restaurant. Of course if you are on the Deptford side of Blackheath you could venture our way - the high street has at least one Chinese (regularly packed with Chinese customers, always a good sign) and quite a few Vietnamese restaurants, some of them very good.
Sorry guys - the Vietnam Resturant - that serves no vietnamese barely passes as chinese. It is no way close to traditional food, but what i would describe as British Chinese food, it is more chinese than vietnamese. I am not saying the food is bad though - just not my cup of tea
It is amazing that we really don;t have many good chinese resturants in Greenwich though - they all send their kids to the chinese school on old woolwich rd, and we have the best selection of chinese supermarkets in See Woo and the other one near Topps Tiles near ASDA.
I would reccomend the Pensiluar - it is very good and always full of chinese - a great sign.
But my favorite is the floating boat in canary wharf, it is a 20 minute walk from cutty sark and serves a very good dim sum. I have to admit i have never had anything else there though
We really like Kam Hong on the Woolich Road just down from Cafe Massala, very cheap and always tasty.
Royal China in the Wharf is good. Parking is ample and one day the DLR may even work again.
Whilst on the subject of Vietnamese and a little off the beaten track in Brockley - did anyone try "Love You Long Time".
Great simple fresh food with friendly service - tiny little restaurant bring your own booze.
I'm a regular at the Vietnamese and although I wouldn't rave about it you can't really go wrong. Sorry to lump all Asian food together in this way, but Kum Luang Thai restaurant is a great alternative to Chinese.
Or watch "Chinese food made easy" on BBC1 (and online) and make your own!
Friends used to rate highly the Chinese restaurant in the Holiday Express next to the dome
I too miss the Treasure of China, especially considering the horror of what it was replaced with.
But there's one ample compensation. Mr Chung do deliveries, without a fee if, I think, you spend more than £20; billed as 45 minutes, it's normally half an hour, we've been thru most if not all of the fish/seafood items on their menu (not at once, honest) and there's hardly a duffer in the whole bunch.
WHen we moved into our house, half-finished, no cooker, we ate a Mr Chung takeaway sitting on a bare floor, and it was one of the best meals i've had in my life...
I actually found the Laughing Bhuddha a bit average, in fact the take away at the bottom of Tranquil Vale is just as good I think. I used to live in Christchurch Way tho, and Mr Chung has always been the best in the area.
One could always take the boat over to Royal China whilst the DLR is being done up. Arrive in style!
the Peninsula is still the best chinese in the area by far - you even need to queue up to get in for Sunday dimsum
We do still have the Laicram Thai restaturant in Blackheath Grove. I've always found the food and service to be excellent - tasty dishes that they are!
Badger: I've been to the Long Time Cafe. Agreed on the quality of the food — would have preferred a little spicier (and I'm no chilli freak, just wanted a little bit of heat), but it all tasted fresh and like it had had some effort put into it. And it really is tiny! You don't feel like you're in a cafe/restaurant really; it's more like the young chaps who run it realised people wanted to eat in occasionally and so made some room among their bits and pieces to squeeze a few small tables in. Handy though, since it's right by the station.
Longer writeup and photo here (hope it's OK to link).
Loved Mr Chung years ago, until the time four of us sat chatting for a while and had the teapot refilled a couple of times -- the bill included £16 for tea, and sure enough, the menu said £1 per cup (you know those teeny ones?) (That was just after they posted a rave writeup in their window and seemed to have doubled their prices.) Haven't been back since. Grudge? Me?
What about Kaya House at Deptford Bridge. While Malaysian, they also do a good range of Chinese food and the couple who own the place are fantastic hosts.
We used to live just off Christchurch Way, now up the hill in Charlton - for evening meals as everyone says Mr Chung's is the one, and for dim sum it's the Peninsula. But with so many fans how come Mr Chung's is always empty when we go in?
You know what though? I don't think Tai Won Mein is so bad... and it's not just me - my family lived in Hongkong for 14 years and my Dad once was entertaining some business guests from China in London and took them to TWM - apparently at least one of them was so impressed that he thought that there was a business idea for back home in the way it was set up. Noodle Time is dire, though.
I agree Charlton nic - I don't know why TGP disses Tai Won Mein so much - it's not that bad!
I'm chinese and have grown up in the catering business so this is my opinion:
Vietnam serves "westernised chinese" which at best is average - pretty standard fare really.
Absolutely recommend Peninsula: service is a bit haphazard sometimes but the food is great, especially dim sum at the weekend. There are actually 2 menus in the evening: one offered to english diners with all the usual suspects e.g. sweet and sour chicken etc, and the other with much more authentic and less familiar fare. If you're feeling adventurous and fancy some real chinese food (drunken chicken anyone?), ask for the "other" menu next time!
TWM was actually quite good a few years ago, but the quality has slowly gone downhill. Look at the prices though, are you suprised? You get what you pay for...
Fascinating stuff, Kazaa. I'm deffo going to try the "alternative menu" next time at the Peninsula...
Put me in the pro-Tai Won Mein camp too, maybe I'm lucky with what I order (the crispy squid and duck/pork noodles generally) but it's nearly always been excellent.
Mr Chung up on Trafalgar Road is pretty good for takeaway.Occasionally hit and miss quality wise but on the whole really good.
I'm beginning to wonder whether I've just had humungously bad luck whenever I've been to TWM. The food was totally inedible - I hated every second - we've left it virtually uneaten - and from someone who was brought up to clear their plate, that's a confession indeed.
The question I have to ask myself is can I bear to give it another try? Should I? Or just move on?
Walking past Tai Won Mein today, and with this debate in mind, I had a good look at the diners. It was probably 50% oriental people, which is usually a yardstick of authenticity/quality?
We used to go to TWM all the time, but it then became a bit hit and miss - and then there were more misses. The quality of the meat is ahem, questionable - we haven't been for a couple of years now and found that for a couple of quid more Zin on Trafalgar Rd was much, much better.
looper is right though, we used to always order the crispy squid and my other half always had duck & pork with ho fun or boiled rice: not fried - really don't understand this thing people have about fried rice, or sweet and sour for that matter, it's just inferior 99% of the time.
I wouldn't say I'd never go there again but would be very careful about choosing what to eat. The food can be authentic but the quality could be so much better, problem is to keep the prices cheap something's gotta give.
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