Plain Steamed Rice
Mien Tay

Mien Tay

45 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JJ, London, SW63JJ, SW11 5TQ, United Kingdom

Soup • Meat • Seafood • Noodles


"When you dine out, it’s not just about the food but the experience as well. While we enjoyed the food (though perhaps a bit on the salty side) our experience at Mien Tay was quite poor. While the tables around us got their food within ten minutes, we were left waiting for more than 30 minutes for our meal to arrive. We ordered a couple of beers, a starter, and a main. However, from the moment the order was taken to its late arrival we were not once visited by our server – never to say that the food was going to take a bit of time nor that it was almost done. Just silence. The beers did arrive 10 minutes after we placed our order, but given they were just bottles even that seemed late. The water we asked for never arrived, which proved to be problematic given the over salty fish. We had specifically ordered a starter to allow the lengthier cooking time we assumed for the sea bream. This, apparently, was lost on the staff. We were actually just about to walk out in disgust when the food arrived. When I expressed our displeasure to our server, he simply said “I just work here, talk to the bar downstairs.” Hardly an acceptance of fault nor any attempt to make up for the extremely lengthy delay. We raised the point again at the till as we were leaving, but we were simply brushed aside: “the fish takes a long time to cook.” There are so many Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Think carefully about choosing this one if you care for a timely meal and for properly being waited on."

Barshu

Barshu

28 Frith Street London, W1D 5LF, W1D 5LE, United Kingdom

Asian • Chinese • Sichuan • Szechuan


"I absolutely adored this restaurant! It's a must-try, especially if you don't have access to authentic Szechuan cuisine where you live. It's definitely going on my list of places to revisit in London and to recommend to others. The atmosphere is charming and the service is good. It's a small venue, so it can feel a bit crowded. I suggest visiting during non-peak hours. Having a late lunch or early dinner at 2 or 3pm worked perfectly for us! We enjoyed everything we ordered, although we ended up ordering too much. You can easily share 4-5 appetizers or small meat dishes and still leave satisfied. The specials consist of large bowls of assorted meats, which are enough for a meal for two and are incredibly tasty. From the pork roll appetizer (thinly sliced carrots rolled in pork) to the smashed cucumber (a refreshing vegetable dish) to the spicy cold sliced beef with beef tongue, everything was delicious. The beef and onions were tender and flavorful, perfect for even the pickiest eaters. The special Mocai dish was served in a large bowl of spicy broth with fish balls, tripe, prawns, thinly sliced beef, luncheon pork, and more. I added pork intestine, but I would recommend getting it cooked in a dry wok for a crispy texture. The chicken feet were my least favorite, as they were a bit too sweet for my liking. Perhaps they could be ordered in a different sauce for a better balance of flavors."

Barshu

Barshu

28 Frith St., Soho W1D 5LF, London, United Kingdom

Full • Wine • Chinese • Szechuan


"The Michelin guide included restaurant was really crowded and people were lining up outside when I got there. There's a good reason for thr busy sight. Their yuxiangqiezi eggplant sauteed in spiced garlic sauce) is probably the best you can get around fitzrovia or even Chinatown. Many restaurants overuse vinegar for this dish, which makes it into a completely different dish and for me that ruins the totality of it. Here the sauce is thick and flavoured, well combined with soft-textrued eggplant, the entire dish is like a mildly spicy paste and is mouth watering especially with some rice. The same commentary could go to their suancaiyu picked fish in soup) as well, easily beats the nearby restaurants. A lot of the restaurants make this dish as if the whole dish is soaked in oil, and fish is usually cut thin. Here ud get fairly firm yet tender fish cutlets with delicious vermicelli in a well balanced flavourful soup. The hongshaorao soy-sauce pork) is mediocre. Not nearly as saucy or flavoured as it should be. Probably because the owner here isn't from southern China as reported by my two friends from the northern part, and probably just like the owner they had no idea what this southern dish should be aiming at. It's acceptable if it doesn't call itself with that name. And same comment could go to what I post below. The biggest disappointment of this month has unfortunately been found here at barshu, namely their suannibairou pork belly with mashed garlic). You might say the photo down below looks alright. It might even be a good photo to showcase if I spent a good time editing it. I would say you are not wrong. But this dish. Is simply not what it says it is. I won't call a pork dish a pork dish when 90% of the dish is in fact carrots. When I make a saltimbocca I wouldn't say this is sage leaves with pork on the side. might go easy on the soy-sauce pork but not for this one. Also this dish is Hella sweet. The sauce it uses is already sweet and the carrots are sweet also. So it's just sweet on top of sweet. Im almost totally convinced that this dish is for the Michelin guide person to be impressed. Well this is not impressive to me at all. And I wouldn't pay 9 pounds or whatever price it was)for this. I'd rather have it authentic with actual combination of good flavours. Call it whatever you like. Bitesize Carrots in sweet sauce with thinly cut pork may doesn't sound good but that's what it is. The seats we got were in a karaoke place looking room and unlike our neighbors we didn't have a service calling device so my friend suffered a lot of running to get bills and orders etc. We joked about not paying the service charge cuz he was allegedly half our server but I'm not being picky here it's a small restaurant with loads of work to do. Only mentioning this so just in case someone else get the seat and feel frustrating. Anyhow I think the restaurant is absolutely capable of delivering good food but sometimes they just make confusing choices in my opinion. For now I wouldn't highly recommend it cuz it's not cheap at all. It's an alright choice but I'd like to see it presenting it's full potential."