Cheap and fun (Wong Kei)

Member Name: Ali72

Product:	Wong Kei
Date:	13/02/05 (847 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Fun, Fast

Disadvantages: Arguably, not the highest quality food (but not bad either)

Wong Kei’s (pronounced “wonky’s”) is a well-known Chinese restaurant on Wardour Street, off Leicester Square in London. I had the pleasure of eating there last night, and this is a review of that visit.

I have eaten at Wong Kei several times but had not visited for a number of years before last night. The restaurant is famous for its cheap food, fun and informal atmosphere, and most of all, rude waiters and I was interested to see whether the place was as I remembered it.

The restaurant is spread over several floors and sure enough, when my husband and I entered, we were told “upstairs…please”. We joined the queue on the stairs, and after a few minutes, we were shown to two spare seats on the first floor. One thing to note about Wong Kei is that you do share tables with other diners, and this is usually part of the fun. However, we noticed immediately that most of the old, large tables for eight or more people had been replaced by a larger number of small tables for four people. We were shown to a table where a young Chinese couple were busy having an argument. Oh dear. We smiled at them as we seated ourselves, but they avoided eye contact and ignored us, so we did not impose ourselves on them any further.

Immediately we were seated, a pot of jasmin tea and two teacups were placed in front of us; this comes free with every meal. We had already decided what to order, as the menu is prominently displayed in the window of the restaurant, so we waved aside the menus and gave our order. As I mentioned, the food is cheap. You can get a set menu for £7 per person: this buys you, for example, rice, vegetables, sweet and sour pork and chicken in black bean sauce. However, it’s worth noting that this is for a minimum of 2 people, so is no good if you are dining alone (and this is one restaurant where you can comfortably done alone, particularly at lunchtimes).

However, we decided to push the boat out, and ordered the “special set menu” for £12 per person. Hey, my husband knows how to spoil me ;-) Looking around the room, I could see that the place was packed full. The clientele were mainly young, and mainly Chinese, with the exception of a group of loud Aussies and us. The waiters toiled non-stop between tables and a counter in front of the four “dumb waiters” that brought food up from the kitchens below.

First to arrive, and quickly, was a plate of mixed hor d’orves, comprising fairly standard barbeque spare ribs, pancake rolls, crispy seaweed and surprisingly good sesame prawn toast, which wasn’t at all greasy (one of my pet hates). Next we had crispy aromatic duck and pancakes, which was delicious. “Bad” examples of this dish can be overcooked – too crispy, to the point of being dry and inedible – or wet and fatty, but this was neither; it was perfectly cooked, with a pleasant aromatic flavour. We even had some banter with the waiter who bought the duck to our table and shredded it (curiously, using a spoon and fork, not a knife). I began to suspect that the staff had been on a customer care course since my last visit.

The arguing couple left, and the staff promptly re-set their side of the table. This wasn’t difficult, as the pink tablecloth was covered by a square of disposable white paper on each side of the table. No “crumbing down” here – just fold and remove, and replace with a clean piece! The other “cheap” thing about the table setting is that you eat from plastic bowls and plates (with a lovely Chinese pattern in red and green). Even the spoons are plastic - and of course, the chopsticks. Do not ask for a fork, unless you want to provide entertainment for the other diners.

The last part of our meal was a large bowl of egg-fried rice, vegetables, crispy shredded chilli beef, and chicken in black bean sauce. The egg fried rice was a bit stodgy, more steamed than fried but I prefer that to it being coated in many-times-fried oil. The vegetables were standard, and the chicken was passable, although the sauce had a distinct “MSG” signature to it. The beef was very good, in a thick sweet sauce with plenty of fresh chillies.

All in all, the meal was very enjoyable, and you can’t argue with the prices. Unfortunately, the restaurant can’t guarantee to seat you with people who want to make conversation. It’s also worth noting that you can only pay cash – presumably due to the dubious residency status of some of the employees. Not somewhere you’d want to take a new love you are hoping to impress, but a very pleasant evening for two old married who are glad to have escaped the kids for the evening.

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