My family and I have been going to Shanghai in Dalston for many years now, but since it has changed hands a year or so ago, we saw quality plummeting, although the friendly camp waiter is still there. Emily went there the other day and pronounced it to have the best Cantonese food she's tasted in London, so I feel it is probably worth a repeat visit soon.
But this post is not about Shanghai, but about a restaurant in even darker depths of town. Most people have no reason to go to Elephant and Castle, unless they are fans of subways smelling of wee, or need to take their bulletproof vests out for a walk. However, ever since Dragon Castle 金龍堡 opened a few years back, I keep on hearing consistently good things about it. My favourite review of the place is this one by Giles Coren in The Times - I still can't decide whether I really dislike the guy, or have more of a crush-of-shame on him, but I liked the fact that in this review, for once, he doesn't pretend to know what he's talking about.
And upon arrival at Elephant and Castle, we discover that maybe it isn't that scary after all. The place is about a 8 minute walk from the tube station, and you do have to go down the dodgy subway, but the entrance of the place is pleasant enough, with fake Chinese doors and the prerequisite stone lions outside. Inside, it is very much like a big Chinese banquet restaurant that you'd find in Hong Kong, with the tacky chandeliers and waitresses in chongsams. The clientele is also very interesting - a very clear split between big Chinese families, and equally big Afro-Caribbean families too. The carpets were of a nice thick red pile.
We had a very good crowd of 4 Chinese and 4 token Chinese with us, so we were able to sample quite a large variety of the food. Yes, you will find the awful set menus with sweet and sour pork, spring rolls, and special fried rice, but you will also find lots of little gems that I haven't seen anywhere else before. For example, the crispy duck we ordered came with these little buns rather than pancakes, and it was clearly all about the skin. For those of you who take skin off duck, look away now:
They also were very skilled at doing fried things here, certainly not greasy or 油膩, such as this fried aubergine with salt, pepper, and chilli, which was very light:
The dish I ordered was a bit of a disappointment, but I think nothing will beat the 回鍋肉 or double cooked pork I had in Sichuan. It had the right kick of spice, but the pork was a bit bacony for me:
My favourite dish of the night was also potentially the most adventurous we had - eel balls with fermented tofu 腐乳脆鰻球, not sure anyone would order it if they'd just read the English. Again, they manage to fry it so it's not greasy, and the fermented tofu sauce gives it a sweet tangy taste. Not sure what happened to my camera here, hope you get the gist. It really reminded me of that wonderful eel dinner I had in Peakhurst, Sydney with Uncle Mak:
The other things we loved loved loved were all really the things our mums cooked us at home. Jess rightfully ordered a steamed sea bass with spring onion and ginger, which us 4 Chinese were soon mixing gleefully into our rice. We also loved the 豆苗 or pea shoot, which for once was the same price as all the other vegetables, and simply stirfried with garlic was probably the dish that disappeared the quickest.We had about 10 dishes between 8 of us, and the bill came to around £17 a head including tip. Not bad at all given that we'd completely stuffed ourselves, and at least it made us feel more bulletproof for the walk back to the tube station. I think if I brought my parents here, they would like it, and probably order better things too. The only slight reservation is that the English translations were very dodgy - e.g. 麻婆豆腐 or mapo dofu was translated as 'tofu mummy style'. I really should explore job opportunities in the Chinese menu translation industry...
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