Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 3 and Version 2 of Maotai Kitchen, W1D 5BP

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category='Chinese Food,Featured Article,Hotpot,Restaurants'
category='Chinese Food,Hotpot,Restaurants'

Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, specialising in food from Guizhou province. Its Chinese name is 農家大院. It also does Chinese hotpot.

The premises have been occupied by a steady stream of short-lived restaurants over the past few years; Maotai Kitchen is the fifth or sixth to open up at the same address in just three years.

Kake and bob visited on a Tuesday evening in July 2013. There were a fair few people in when we arrived around 6:30pm, but the staff had no problem finding us a table on the first floor. Music was playing quietly.

Marinated cucumber with tomato and chopped garlic (農家拍黃瓜; £4) photo was very savoury and fresh, with a zing of spice and fresh herbs.

Hot and sour fern root noodles with shredded chicken (雞蕨根粉; £5) photo was fine; although it was our least exciting dish, this is only because the competition was so strong. (It also possibly wasn't made with actual fern root noodles, judging by the colour.)

Stir-fried vermicelli with cabbage (包菜炒粉絲; £6) photo had a nice combination of textures from the crisp cabbage, soft egg, and chewy glass noodles.

Villagers' spicy bowl (山村毛血旺; £16) photo was a combination of meatballs, cubes of pig's blood, spam, king prawns, squid, pork intestines, beef tripe, Chinese leaf, and black fungus. The spam was very tasty, the black fungus was nicely softened but not overcooked, and the squid and king prawns had the perfect texture; the tripe, however, was extremely chewy and seemed to have been undercooked. The meatballs had great flavour and texture.

Kake's verdict: Liked it a lot, definitely want to come back and try more of the menu.

Accessibility: A couple of steps to get in, and much of the seating is up additional flights of stairs.

See also:

Last visited by Kake and bob, July 2013.

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