The Times
Giles Coren was reeled in by the terse poetry of the menu at a new Chinatown ‘pan Asian’ restaurant – nowadays a derided 90s category, but in this case mostly Malaysian/Singaporean/Chinese. “Pork trotters (boneless) ancient taste. Genius… They had me at ‘pork’, as the saying goes. But they had me all over again at ‘trotters’. And then once more at ‘boneless’.”
He was rewarded with “a bamboo tube containing the most aromatic, fluffy and gentle coconut rice imaginable, with a pile of shimmering pork meat, fat and collagen, all cooked slow and low and long, so that each morsel trembled like a shy child’s lower lip, in a rich, sticky braising sauce”.
‘Street-food style oyster omelette’ and ‘Guinness crispy chicken’ were equally delicious – the latter “new to me but clearly a dish for the ages”, while the staff “unusually for Chinatown are superfriendly, upbeat, welcoming to all guests (Asian and Cheesy Big Nose alike), talkative, funny and up to endless japes and banter with each other.”
Giles even dropped into Tao Tao Ju, a dim sum joint next door, for another excellent meal, concluding that “Chinatown, so long maligned, is clearly having a moment. Be there or… miss out on the poetry.”
Giles Coren - 2024-07-28
Drinks
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