Three Chinese restaurants for two-point-five days in London? Either I was after a very detailed Chinese restaurants write-up in the heart of London's Chinatown or... I kid. After slightly more than ten days without very-Chinese-food, cultural roots and eating habits are hitting back in the form of cravings. So.. let's go:

Status: Extremely ravenous. We were stumbling around like hungry bulls in Chinatown at slightly past nine in the evening. It wasn't the best timing to find food as most restaurants were winding down then. At that time, what was commonly know as 'mixed-vegetables stalls' were becoming active for locals who have just knocked off late. We also realized that many restaurants require a minimum spending of 10-pounds per person as we scrutinized the fine print at the bottom of the menus.

The Experience: Fantastic rebound into the comfort zone for this bunch of (Southeast) Asians, complete with loud Malaysian accents yelling for orders, and unabashed assumptions that we can speak in Cantonese by our black hair and yellow skin. Roasted chicken, char kuay teow and Yang Zhou fried rice in London? It feels like a little private space-time dimension portal back home while holidaying in Europe. Seeing that we have the same roots and that they had some honeydew sago leftover, they decided to give us a huge serving each. And orange slices too. Gawd, it was so heartwarming I could cry on the spot.

2. Lido Chinese Restaurant (丽都)

W1D 5QF41

Gerrard Street
London United Kingdom

Status: "Chinese dinners in London" have proven to be highly rejuvenating, at least to the parents. Like drug addicts back for more, we reappeared on Chinatown streets on whim. Once again, we reached at almost nine in the evening due to underestimation of the time we needed at the attractions. With no wifi or data on hand, we weren't able to determine which restaurant was rated highly on Trip Advisor... so this was the restaurant we chosen randomly.

The Experience: This was the restaurant which was very popular among tourists despite its very professional but distant service. With pinkish, reddish, and orangey lights blinking at a corner of the restaurant from a synthetic plant, it was all very peculiar. The roasted meats and char siew were not particularly fresh - I guess because we were almost the last customers. The familiar charsiew sauce was greatly comforting then, and being surrounded by family then was the best part of the meal.

3. The Black Bean Restaurant

W1D 6JF

18 Gerrard Street

London United Kingdom

Status: Shuffled into this restaurant soon after realizing that the return trip by bus to Paris was booked wrongly - on the day after what was intended. One of the most stomach-churning meals ever... still had the mood to capture food photographs anyway. Much of this meal sustained me for twenty-four hours. If I had known, I would have chowed down way more than I did.

The Experience: We were seated right next to a large window, which provided some really good lighting. Well... my exact inappropriate thoughts at that time of emergency.  I succumbed to my natural stomach and taste inclinations. I remembered eating a lot of that fried rice and not much of char kuay teow because the latter was so oily... that's all. More on this story soon...

 Never miss a post again!

I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @spherepiece and Facebook page!