Randomness Guide to London Menu

Chinese restaurant in Upminster. They also do takeaway and delivery.

There are around 10-15 tables inside in a rectangular space, separated down the middle. Tables are laid out with heavy tablecloths and napkins, and the darkened windows mean that even in the sun, the ambience inside is fairly subdued.

Kake, Ewan, and Liz visited on a Monday evening in July 2009. We all decided to go for the vegetarian set menu at £14.50/head (minimum two people).

Mixed appetisers photo included decent enough and not overly-greasy crispy seaweed, spring rolls, and crispy wontons, but the star of the platter was the spicy bean curd; good-quality tofu combined with competent frying to create a soft interior and a crisp, salty, flavoursome exterior.

An intermediate course of vegetarian lettuce wraps was also fine, with a well-flavoured chopped vegetable filling, though the lettuce leaves were perhaps a little too crisp to fold properly.

Finally, main courses were a mixed bag. Sweet and sour vegetables were unremarkable, while sea spicy aubergine photo arrived with great ceremony on a sizzling platter but was disappointing in flavour, quite bland and with very little spiciness. However, fried bean curd with Chinese mushrooms photo had excellent tofu, again, with the sauce soaked nicely into the tofu pieces, and enjoyably chewy mushrooms.

Kake's verdict: This place carries no surprises; they serve a fairly standard Anglicised Chinese menu, but what they do, they do well enough. I wouldn't make a special effort to come here, but it may well be one of the better options in the area.

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