Chopstix

Chi Ka Yan

Posted in London restaurants | 16 August 2006

Last week I visited Chi Ka Yan, which has just opened in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. My Time Out review is now online.

Tags: bushey heath, chi ka yan, chinese restaurant.

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Dim sum: dish up a dinner with a difference

Posted in Quicklinks | 23 July 2006

'Small and intricate, dim sum may be fiddly to make, but with a little practice you'll soon be dazzling guests, says Bill Knott.' I'm not so sure. The recipes in this feature, from London's Shanghai Blues restaurant, are seriously cheffy, requiring ingredients such as roast duck and jellied chicken stock. One of the recipes also fails to advise readers to wear gloves when slicing taro, a problem when the majority of the population will get itchy hands without.

Tags: dim sum, shanghai blues.

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Fuchsia Dunlop on how to eat like Chairman Mao

Posted in Quicklinks | 23 July 2006

More from Observer Food Monthly: Fuchsia Dunlop on how to eat like Chairman Mao. There's a recipe for Chairmain Mao's red-braised pork in this excerpt from her new book on Hunan cooking, The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. I guess this means I can talk about the book now - Fuchsia asked me to hold off until the Observer published.

Tags: fuchsia dunlop, hunan cooking, revolutionary cookbook.

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Alan Yau's top five UK Chinese restaurants

Posted in Quicklinks | 23 July 2006

Restaurateur Alan Yau has named his top five Chinese UK restaurants for Observer Food Monthly. They are Maxim's (Ealing), Royal China (Bayswater), Dynasty (Bristol), Dragon-I (Glasgow) and his own Yauatcha - he claims he was forced to include it by the OFM team. Sadly my own recent meal there was abysmal.

Hunan in Pimlico also gets a mention in the piece, as does Singapore Garden in South Hampstead. Alan also recommends Bayswater's Four Seasons and their 'deserved reputation for its chef's ways with duck'. This is unfortunate - the place changed hands well over a year ago and promptly went downhill. The chef moved on... just down the road to 'Gold Mine'.

Tags: alan yau, chinese restaurants, yauatcha.

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Dragon Castle the best Cantonese Giles Coren has seen in ages

Posted in Quicklinks | 22 July 2006

Giles Coren reviews Dragon Castle, not once but twice. Unusually, I agree with Giles - this is the best London Cantonese in ages. I'll provide an update to my original review for Time Out here in the next week or so.

Tags: cantonese food, cantonese restaurant, dragon castle, london chinese restaurant.

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