Golden Pagoda 金滿樓 - London China Town

Another adventure into a Chinese Restaurant? Yep... Miss Pinky and I just missed the dim sum serving time and it was a 45 minute wait at Golden Dragon on a wet Chinese New Year Day. So we started exploring for food and shops (well, we didn't go far and beyond as it only lasted for 2 minutes)...

We ended up in this place Golden Pagoda 金滿樓. Miss Pinky is becoming a very fussy person and she doesn't like to venture into different restaurants unless someone has recommended it, and says this is the place to go. She really wanted dim sum, but we just missed out... (She was not happy! Tough luck :P, she didn't mention it to me earlier, so we don't get dim sum! - Mean Geek!). 

Outside Golden Pagoda

At the door waiting outside

So as we were waiting I casually asked a couple of people at the door who were waiting outside with us (it was a 20 minute wait, but we waited for 10 minutes... so lucky!) who I believe has dined at this restaurant before. And they said they've been to this place several times, and they always got what they wanted, items could be swapped around etc., etc... So that was good to know! And I was quite pleased to have asked, and Miss Pinky was ok with that! ^_^

Finally inside - New Year's decorations

As soon as we sat down, and as soon as we opened the menus, Miss Pinky wanted to leave because all the set menus had prawns in it! Well there was one set menu that didn't. And they don't do duck noodle soup, that's if she couldn't have a set menu... In Cantonese I would say 救命呀 (gau meng ah - save me)! Let's just stick to this place, I've never been in here before!

Free prawn crackers

Thankfully we stayed because it was cold, and we were sat in a corner which meant no one could bother us too much... In the end we ordered the G1 set menu, 2 scallops and Tsing Tao beer!

Tsing Tao Beer

Starters - mixed hor d'ourves - spare ribs are good!

Steamed scallops

Crispy duck and pancakes - the pancakes were lukewarm

The mains...

Pak Choi - this was so-so

Chicken with peppers and onions in black bean sauce - not fantastic but it was ok

Spicy crispy pork - I liked this!!

The G1 set menu was definitely enough for two people!

Total price came to £64.10. A bit expensive... £19.50 for each person, and we did have two beers each, and the scallops were £3.50 each!!

My geeky rating: 4/5 Although the food was good, I would say this place isn't the best of all in China Town but would definitely try it out again for the dim sum.

Good points:
- Ok service
- Food was filling and tasty but pancakes were warm

Bad points:
- A little bit on the expensive side compared to other Chinese restaurants
- Service was ok, but I could sense they were under pressure, unlike at Golden Dragon the waiter at the door wasn't
- Didn't have duck noodle soup on the menu (Miss Pinky - not me)

Address: 15A Gerrard Street, London W1D 6JD
Telephone: 0207 434 2888

View Larger Map