Restaurants in London in General: Mekong Restaurant (Restaurants in London in general)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	Restaurants in London in general
Date:	09/02/06 (369 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious oriental food and good service

Disadvantages: Rooms downstairs are tiny and restaurant is often booked up

Introduction
I love going out for dinner and unfortunately have been spoiled in the past because I lived abroad and on my expatriate wage, I could afford to (and invariably did) go out for dinner several times a week. Then I came back to London, where I earn not very much over and above basic living costs, and so sadly had to say goodbye to my going out to dinner days. Luckily though, the reason for coming to London was because of my partner's job, so occasionally I make him feel guilty about the fact that I'm now not too well off and he takes me out for dinner. However, the rare time that I do go out, I do expect to get good food and service for my money (or rather his money) and so am always delighted to find somewhere such as this restaurant, where not only is the food delicious and the service good, but the price is not too bad either!

Location
The restaurant is located in Pimlico, within walking distance from both Victoria tube and train station and Pimlico tube. It is also very near to Vauxhall bridge and therefore the Tate Gallery. It is on a fairly quiet street, so you will need a London A to Z to find it. The address is:

46 Churton Street (off Belgrave Road)
London SW1
Tel: 0207 834 6896

The décor
If the décor of a restaurant is more important to you than the food, then this may not be your cup of tea. The ground floor area is fine, light and airy, with minimal decorations - brick walls painted in rose pink and green. Downstairs though, are two other rooms, both quite small and of course under ground, which makes them a little claustrophobic. Tables are packed in fairly tightly, so you do tend to overhear your neighbour's conversations, particularly if they are noisy. Again, the walls and painted in rose pink and green, with some paintings, but it is clear that decorating is not the owner's top priority. Having said that, I don't think that this is important - the good things about this restaurant more than make up for the lack of interior design.

The food
This is the best bit. The restaurant is Vietnamese, but also serves Chinese and Thai cuisine. I know very little about Vietnamese cuisine, but I do know my Chinese, having lived there for many years, and I can categorically say the Chinese food here is not only delicious, but is far more authentic than any other Chinese restaurant I've been to in London. The only thing missing is the monosodiumglutamate, which can only be a good thing. I've been to this restaurant twice now. The first time, my partner and I chose a set meal for two, which cost just £13 per head. This included spare ribs, meat wrapped in rice pancakes, spring rolls, three main dishes (including sizzling beef), rice, a desert and coffee to end. There are three other set meal choices, ranging from £15 to £17. This last time, we had hot and sour soup, made the proper Sichuanese way (although there were peas in it - I've never come across a pea in China!), Saigon chicken (not too hot), sizzling beef with lemongrass and French beans cooked in a garlic sauce, accompanied by egg-fried rice with spring onion. All was fantastic - fresh and mouth-watering.

The service
There seem to be only three people waiting on - the owner and two young girls - yet the service is very quick and polite, and we were asked during the course of the meal if they could do anything else for us. I noticed a number of people coming into the restaurant that the owner clearly knew well, again, the fact that people come back must be a good thing.

The price
I think for food of this quality, the price is excellent. Both times we have paid no more than £35 for a filling meal and a bottle of white wine. There are few places in London where you can get food and service of this quality for less than £50. The restaurant has apparently been praised in Time Out's cheap eats.

Conclusion
As you can probably tell, I love this place. Luckily my partner lives very close to the restaurant, so I am hoping to become a regular. Highly recommended if you like authentic oriental food for a good price and aren't too bothered about the décor.

Summary: Fabulous food and service