Review: Orient London

Orient London, a new restaurant owned by Chef and hospitality entrepreneur Patrick Cheung recently opened in London’s China Town (16th June, 2015). It’s the 4th restaurant by Cheung who also owns the Mizu Noodle Bars in Suffolk and Essex, and the Aqua Eight Fusion Restaurant and Bar in Ipswich.

Orient serves Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine alongside dishes from the northern regions of China, as well as specialising in seafood and dim sum. We recently visited Orient to explore all it has to offer in terms of experience, authenticity and price.

DECOR

With rich yellow and black tones, and walls adorned with Chinese art, Orient London has a modern decor which pays homage to its Chinese roots.

DRINKS

Orient London has a large selection of wines (largely French,with a few from Italy and Argentina) and spirits. We started the evening with a lovely Barolo to accompany our starters. The Barolo came chilled which was a first for us –  let’s just say there’s a reason why most red wines are served at room temperature.

STARTER

We chose crab baked with garlic, chili and peppers and a sharing dim sum platter.

MAIN

Having left our adventurous streak at home, we initially went for special fried rice, seasonal Chinese vegetables, and beef in black bean sauce as our main course. Luckily, the manager encouraged us to try a special or two, so we settled on lamb in chili & seabass in a sauce of chili and glass noodles, topped with even more chili. All that chili did put the fear of God in us but it turned out to be quite mild. I’m told this is because the chilies were dried as opposed to fresh. Anyway, it turned out to be the dish of the night, it was exquisite and well worth a try – once you ignore all the chilies heaped on.

After all that, there was no room for dessert so we decided to try a very potent moutai which is not for the faint hearted (53% alcohol)

VERDICT

We really enjoyed our dining experience at Orient London for many reasons; mainly because it had such a relaxing atmosphere. The staff were super friendly and even the managers were on hand to talk us through the menu and make recommendations. I noticed this wasn’t just for our benefit because they were doing this with other patrons as we entered the restaurant. We thought this was impressive especially since most restaurant managers are virtually invisible unless there’s a problem.

The food and drinks menu is quite extensive with a large selection of wine and spirits. Majority of the wines were French but there were a few from Italy and Argentina. There was also two food menus, one in Chinese with English descriptions and one entirely in Chinese. I’m told they are similar except for a few Chinese delicacies (think goat’s tongue, lamb ears, chicken guts etc.) in the Chinese only menu.

Price wise, food starts from about £3.80 which is very competitive, lower than other restaurants in the area in fact which is great considering the atmosphere and dining experience is of a higher quality.

Orient London is at 15 Wardour Street, London W1D 6PH.

Home