The City is giving a lot right now in terms of food. Once a place for drinking after 5pm – it’s slowly becoming a rather magnificent foodie mecca too. Restaurants in the City are generally bigger and more glitzy for the suited crowd. Alot of them have superb views over the city or some such as the Chinese Cricket Club are located centrally to just about everything. This isn’t the first time I’ve visited the Chinese Cricket Club and for two years or so it’s always been a place I’ve loved visiting and each time the food has always managed to satisfy.
Simple dishes such as their dim sum and duck spring rolls are done so well. The latter in particular. Huge crispy rolls, stuffed to the brim with moist shredded duck and spring onions – served with a side of fantastic homemade hoisin sauce for dipping.
The biggest strength of the Chinese Cricket Club is its dim sum. The prawn har gow here are absolutely stunning. Vivid, exciting to look at and steamed to such perfection. It’s then all topped off with marbles of glossy caviar. If you love dim sum then I highly recommend you get yourself over here.
Oh and the prawns, succulent and fresh – smothered and marinated in a sticky Shanghai style sauce. The head had been loosely removed for ease and the skin cooked to an almost gelatin, crunchy state which meant if you really wanted to – you could gobble the entire thing up. A really lovely dish and priced under £10 it’s a bit of a bargain if you ask me.
The soft shell crab was another winner. Crispy, spicy and full of flavour. For once the actual crab underneath felt fresh too and with so much juicy meat inside. The spicy salt and chilli topping was lovely too. A must order when visiting the Chinese Cricket Club.
The sizzling lamb, served on a hot iron plate was my favourite dish from our dinner. Juicy lamb, smothered in a rich and glossy black bean sauce. Very classic and very traditional – but when it’s cooked as well as this it can be incredibly satisfying. The Singapore noodles on the other hand were a little disappointing. Again cooked well, but lacking much flavour or heat – two things these noodles are usually famed for.
We had a lovely evening at the Chinese Cricket Club. It’s not going to be winning awards for the best Chinese restaurant in London, but when it comes to the City and a craving for classic Chinese food, it’s a fantastic choice. The food is good value, the dim sum is excellent and everything packs so much flavour. Next time we’re in the City and our craving for Chinese food comes a-knocking – we know where we’ll be booking.
You have me drooling over those prawns!! What a shame about the Singapore noodles but it sounds like everything else was great xx
That dim sum really does look scrumptious!
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so well presented! Gary x