Randomness Guide to London Menu

Hunan restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue in Chinatown. It opened in early 2010 on the site previously occupied by Chinese Experience. Its Chinese name is 好日子 (hǎo rì zi), which literally translates as something like "auspicious day".

Kake and nine friends visited in June 2010 (we'd booked in advance). Because of the size of our party, we managed to try a fair selection of the menu — around 14 dishes — and it was all good.

Smoked pork with white pepper and leeks (白椒臘肉/bái jiāo là ròu; £9.50) photo was one of the standouts, with an excellent smoky flavour to the meat and a pleasing texture too.

Hunan-style mashed aubergine (擂蒸茄子/léi zhēng qié zi; £6.80) was smoky and soft, and had a good seed-free texture. A dish of hand-torn cabbage (手撕包菜/shǒu sī bāo cà), recommended by our server as a "special" rather than coming from the regular menu, was perfectly cooked, neither too crisp nor too soggy.

Arriving last was another "special" — sliced steamed fish with chillies and garlic (香辣片片魚/xiāng là piàn piàn yú) photo. The presentation was great, with head and tail set at either end of the platter and cucumber "scales" running along each side. The fish had a lovely texture too.

See also:

• The Observer review (by Jay Rayner)
• Time Out review (by Guy Dimond)
• Chowhound thread
• Owlfish's writeup of our visit
• Sharmila On Food review