I love my friends. I love them even more when they introduce me to their favourite hidden-gems of local restaurants. Fia and Jerome first introduced us to Tayyabs, and they'd also a couple of months ago taken us to an amazing Korean place - Myung Ga (okay, it's in Soho so not their local and not really hidden, but we were the only non-Koreans in there, so it felt like a hidden gem). This time it was Laura and Ruari's turn to impress us with their very local Szechuan restaurant, Gourmet San.
As much as I like Chinese food, I'd yet to find somewhere that was exceptional. But I had high hopes knowing that this place would have to be pretty authentic to live up to Laura's standards after her year in China. As I mentioned in the previous post, my love of online restuarant research had found me this review, which amused me and had given me an idea of what to expect, but when I arrived, I really was taken aback by how not only was this a 'shabby on the outside' place, it was not looking good inside either! The restuarant was small and crammed full of people, and as I headed up the steep narrow stairs to the first floor, I couldn't help but notice the worn carpet and generally dilapidated interiors.
But I wasn't worried. I could see the huge dishes of food on the table, appealing to my every sense. As is our custom when someone takes us to their favourite restuarant, we let Laura order for the table, and we weren
't disappointed. Instead of the usual Chinese-restuarant fare we were treated to incredibly flavoursome and authentic dishes. We had an aubergine, potato and green pepper dish with lots of garlic (all wonderful things, which worked really well together) , spicy fried chilli chicken, sweet potato noodles, kung po chicken with lots of cashew nuts (as Laura said "made how it was supposed to be" and it certainly tasted so much better than I'd had at other chinese resturants, and the Pièce de résistance; a huge tray of giant pork kebabs - amazingly tasty and really tender from the marinade.
We couldn't believe it had taken us all this long to find this place - as cheap as Tayyabs, but with a much larger menu and huge portions, and food with flavour that would not be matched. They even do home delivery (and I was very jealous that I didn't live in East London at that point). I enjoyed every dish I sampled, and the atmosphere in the upstairs room was laid back enough for us to take our time and not feel at all rushed (unlike Tayyabs where the staff are efficient to get you out and get those queuing seated).
Overall:
Food quality: Amazing. Everything was full of flavour, at the right level of spiciness without being overpowering. The food seemed truly authentic.
Atmosphere: It was packed and manic downstairs, but we were a group of 10 in a small but more light and airy upstairs room, so noise level etc were all about right.
Service: We didn't see staff too often so we were able to have a leisurely meal once we'd ordered, which suited us perfectly.
Value for money: We paid £11 a head for food and drink and the portions are huge. The value for money couldn't be any better.
Toilets: I can't remember them so they must have been fine (which is a really positive thing, considering that the place is really not very visually appealing).
Marks out of 10: 9.5/10 - I really loved this place. The food was the best and most authentic Chinese food i'd ever had.
As much as I like Chinese food, I'd yet to find somewhere that was exceptional. But I had high hopes knowing that this place would have to be pretty authentic to live up to Laura's standards after her year in China. As I mentioned in the previous post, my love of online restuarant research had found me this review, which amused me and had given me an idea of what to expect, but when I arrived, I really was taken aback by how not only was this a 'shabby on the outside' place, it was not looking good inside either! The restuarant was small and crammed full of people, and as I headed up the steep narrow stairs to the first floor, I couldn't help but notice the worn carpet and generally dilapidated interiors.
But I wasn't worried. I could see the huge dishes of food on the table, appealing to my every sense. As is our custom when someone takes us to their favourite restuarant, we let Laura order for the table, and we weren
't disappointed. Instead of the usual Chinese-restuarant fare we were treated to incredibly flavoursome and authentic dishes. We had an aubergine, potato and green pepper dish with lots of garlic (all wonderful things, which worked really well together) , spicy fried chilli chicken, sweet potato noodles, kung po chicken with lots of cashew nuts (as Laura said "made how it was supposed to be" and it certainly tasted so much better than I'd had at other chinese resturants, and the Pièce de résistance; a huge tray of giant pork kebabs - amazingly tasty and really tender from the marinade.
We couldn't believe it had taken us all this long to find this place - as cheap as Tayyabs, but with a much larger menu and huge portions, and food with flavour that would not be matched. They even do home delivery (and I was very jealous that I didn't live in East London at that point). I enjoyed every dish I sampled, and the atmosphere in the upstairs room was laid back enough for us to take our time and not feel at all rushed (unlike Tayyabs where the staff are efficient to get you out and get those queuing seated).
Overall:
Food quality: Amazing. Everything was full of flavour, at the right level of spiciness without being overpowering. The food seemed truly authentic.
Atmosphere: It was packed and manic downstairs, but we were a group of 10 in a small but more light and airy upstairs room, so noise level etc were all about right.
Service: We didn't see staff too often so we were able to have a leisurely meal once we'd ordered, which suited us perfectly.
Value for money: We paid £11 a head for food and drink and the portions are huge. The value for money couldn't be any better.
Toilets: I can't remember them so they must have been fine (which is a really positive thing, considering that the place is really not very visually appealing).
Marks out of 10: 9.5/10 - I really loved this place. The food was the best and most authentic Chinese food i'd ever had.
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