Name: Baiwei
Where: 8 Little Newport Street, London, WC2H
7JJ
Cost: Starters/appetizers from £4.90, mains
from £6.50, average spend per person £20 or less excl. drinks
About: Baiwei (100 Flavours in Mandarin),
is the latest venture by successful restaurateur Shao Wei, who introduced us to
Barshu, Bashan (reviewed here) and Baozi Inn in Soho, with food consultancy by writer and
Chinese food specialist Fuschia Dunlop.
Baiwei is the most casual and also the most
affordable addition to the group. Situated in a tiny townhouse on Little
Newport Street between Leicester Square and Charing Cross Road, the restaurant
stretches across a number of tiny rooms and floors. Most of the rooms fit no more
than two tables, and the walls are dotted with hand-painted images from the Mao
era. It specialises in comfort food from Sichuan and northern China.
Service is efficient, fast and helpful –
our waitress was very enthusiastic to explanation all our queries (there were
many!) on the various dishes on the menu. I rarely come across a menu which
intrigues me as much as to make me want to try most of its dishes – Baiwei’s
was certainly one.
What We Ate: One of Baiwei’s signature
dishes, the catfish with sizzling chilli oil (£8.90), actually made from fresh
cod on our visit, was served in a huge earthenware pot in chillied oil and
beans sprouts, the cod was succulent and delectably flavoured with cooling, lip
numbing Sichuanese pink peppercorns. A delicious and umami-laden dish.
Smacked cucumbers with garlic and fresh
coriander (£4.90) is a favourite of mine and a must for any Sichuanese meals –
Baiwei’s did not disappoint, it was a refreshing, cooling accompaniment to the
other hotter, spicier dishes.
The twice-cooked belly pork with black bean
and chilli (8.90) stir-fried with peppers and leek was also flavoursome and
tender.
Another Sichuanese favourite is the fish
fragrant pork slivers (£8.90) with picked chilli, ginger, garlic and spring
onion. This was very good, with mildly hot and refreshing sourness and acidity
from the fish fragrant sauce.
The spicy stewed beef with tofu knots was
both intriguing and well flavoured (£12.90) – the stewing broth had an intense
richness with flavours of star anis, cinnamon and Sichuanese peppers, while the
brisket beef was meltingly tender and gelatinous, a real joy.
However the tofu
knots had a chewy and unfortunate stale flavour about them – this is something
I sometimes encounter in Chinese dishes with deep-fried tofu as factories will
sometimes re-use oil which should have been discarded for deep-frying. This
stale flavour can be partially avoided by rinsing the tofu in running boiling
water before cooking, something I always do when cooking deep-fried tofu.
The Northern Chinese dish of spicy sizzling
lamb with cumin (£14.90) is such as staple and one I nearly always order.
Baiwei's take was good despite being served with green peppers rather than
green chillies as described on their menu (none the worse for that though in my
opinion).
To accompany this protein-chilli laden
feast, we had our token vegetable dish - dry fried green beans with minced pork
and preserved mustard greens (£8.90), which was a perfect example of its kind
and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
What We Drank: We enjoyed brown rice tea at
£2 per person. The restaurant has a limited drinks menu with soft drinks and
juices at £2.50 per glass, bottled water at £2.50, and one beer Tsing Tao for
£3.50 a bottle.
Likes: The menu is large and
well-illustrated, with a good range of Sichuanese, Hunanese and Northern
Chinese dishes, with abundant dried and fresh chillies, Sichuan pepper, garlic
and gelatinous cuts of meat. Service is
friendly and informative.
Dislikes: Drinks menu is a tad limited – a
glass of Coke for £2.50 is a little steep too. Tap water should be offered free
of charge.
Verdict: A good & very affordable
addition to the growing number of Sichuanese restaurants in Chinatown,
introducing Londoners to regional Chinese dishes beyond the more familiar Cantonese staples.
Recommended.
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