Cucumber Salad Cucumber Salad
Mamalan

Mamalan

8 The Pavement, SW4 0HY, London, United Kingdom

Cafés • Asian • Pasta • Noodles


"We walked past as our daughter pointed out they make bubble tea, whilst ordering the bubble tea we decided to eat in, having previously gone to a mama lan in Brixton, although we had waited a long time there we didn’t get to try the food, so it has been a long time coming to taste what the menu has to offer, we ordered sriracha noodles, sweet chilli chicken rice and I decide to order the chilli prawn rice, the more expensive item on the menu, the first two came and when my pram chilli rice came there was a lot of rice a few bits of broccoli and 4 small prawns, looking at my daughters sweet chilli chicken rice I had expected as the price was more for my prawn dish to be some what similar in offering If not bigger, the irony is that the menu states this is a family run business that they would have a children’s option on the menu, they didn’t so we ordered her the chicken rice and this happened to be bigger than both of our meals despite outlets being more expensive on the menu, I politely spoke to the man seating at the back of the restaurant, supposedly the manager, said straight away yes you have 5 prawns, maybe I had to look through the amass of rice to locate the last one, he gave me a fake smile and no sincerity, walked away, I picked up a menu from a vacant table and the second I picked it up he got from the back of the restaurant to replace it, it all seemed very passive aggressive, so I still have not sampled the menu. But what I can say through visiting this franchise is that their service is very lacking. The family said the food was okay so have given it an extra star for this so 2 stars all in all"

My Old Place

My Old Place

Middlesex Street, London I-, United Kingdom, E1 7EZ

Fish • Asian • Chinese • Szechuan


"Good hole in the wall Szechuan. I used to live in Shoreditch and frequent Gourmet San in Bethnal Green. My Old Place near Aldgate have the same owners and I was happy to have this replacement near the new flat. If you live local, it is better for takeaway that eating in at the restaurant. Though the atmosphere is convivial, the decor is basic with fluorescent tubes on the ceiling. There are a lot of hard surfaces, so acoustics are poor when the restaurant is crowded. It was crowded on a Saturday night. It's always a good sign when a Chinese restaurant is packed with Chinese people. One of my go-to Szechuan dishes is braised potato, green pepper and aubergine. As usual this dish was delicious, pungent and garlicky. It's a little hotter than usual here. Some of the green peppers were sweet paprikas but there were also smaller, thinner fleshed, hot peppers in the mix. If you can't handle heat, be careful to pick over the peppers. Yu-Shiang Beef was very good. Beef was extremely tender. I liked the fact that the julienned bamboo had been soaked in water which removed that distinctive woody taste I dislike. However, they did add a lovely crunch. Made with a nice black vinegar (the Chinese equivalent of balsamic) and ever so slightly sweet and a subtle hint of dried chilli. I'd order this again. Smashed cucumber was flavorful with lots of garlic and fresh coriander. One order is a lot of cucumber salad for two people. In the future I will order this when we are a larger table. We had a single serving of plain rice which was actully enough for two people. A copious takeout order with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch was £27. That said, the portions although generous, were not out control huge like I remember at Gourmet San."