The Real China

I'd noticed the new Chinese restaurant in Hammersmith Broadway a couple of weeks ago, occupying as it does what used to be the Russian restaurant across the courtyard from The Trout.    One of the big attractions was that it had an eat-all-you-like buffet for £4.95, much cheaper than the current cost at Aroma in the West 12 Centre, and the food looked quite good as well.   So I tried it one evening, and this evening invited a friend to go there with me for dinner.

They apologised for the reduced number of dishes on offer and invited us to go in and have a look before paying.   We had a look, and although not every pan contained food, there was plenty that looked appetising.   So we went in, and I had a cup of Chinese tea to accompany the meal, while my friend had, as usual, English tea.   Frankly, if you've going to a Chinese restaurant, I think it's nice to drink their local drink - and anyway, I like Chinese tea.

The real China isn't very big, with low ceilings, and I don't think the owners are even Chinese, although they obviously come from somewhere in the East.   This evening, there was a large party of what seemed to be Chinese and Filipinos there, all young, all obviously happy and enjoying themselves.    It's always a good sign if a Chinese restaurant is packed with Chinese.

The food is a mixture of English and Chinese, with things like chips and hash browns and potato balls along with friend rice, noodles and variour meat curries - which i didn't try, being vegetarian.

It was all well cooked, and the great thing about places like that is that you can take just a little of each dish, and then go back for seconds, or even thirds.   You never feel you ought to eat things you don't really like, as you get to choose exactly what you put on your plate.

I just hope that as it becomes more well-known and popular, they won't put up the prices, as Aroma did.