Favourite Inn

Today, Folks, I bring you something a little out of town - but a secret that if you don't know it already, you will thank me for sharing with you...

We were talking recently about the lack of decent Chinese eateries, but when Henrietta asked me the other day about places to live, I was reminded of one that really deserves a mention.

Round the back of Woolwich Arsenal train (and soon to be DLR) station, lies the intriguingly-named, somewhat tatty Spray Street. And in the middle of Spray Street, about two minutes' dawdle from the station, lies The Favourite Inn. Brightly-lit, which makes it especially welcoming on a dark rainy night, you really can't miss it.

Don't expect anything glamorous - simple decor, with the ubiquitous plain-walls-bar-and-strange-fairy-lights combo - but what it lacks for in ambiance is more than made up for by the welcome - solicitous and attentive - and the food.

I have never eaten a bad meal at this place. I've had things I preferred to others - the King Prawns with Cashew Nuts were a hit where I wouldn't particularly order the Scallops with Ginger and Spring Onion again (nothing awful about it, just nothing exciting) - but it's always been well-cooked and nicely flavoured.

But the real ace in the hole for those with vegetarians in the group (as we often have) is the Crispy Aromatic Duck. It's wonderful - and for once the veggies don't have to sit around watching the carnivores with their tongues hanging out. I have no idea what is actually in the Crispy Aromatic "Monk's Duck" - but it's totally vegetarian and just as tasty as the real thing, so everyone can sit around together with piles of wafer-thin pancakes, dishes of hoi sin sauce and shredded spring onion, fighting over the last shreds of crispy seaweed.

Give it a try. This is an honest, simple place that has always come up with the goods when I've been there. I don't know what will happen to it when the whole area gets regenerated, but it's survived so far...

http://www.favouriteinn.co.uk/

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...