Name: Canton Chinese Restaurant
Type: Chinese
Where: Canton Chinese Restaurant, 11 /Newport Place, London
Nearest Tube: A mere stones throw away from Leicester Square Underground.
Prices: Like most Chinese restaurants the prices vary quite substantially between dishes. However, whatever you say about Canton it s certainly cheaper than most; diners can comfortably get a main meal for a fiver – even if they have to wash it down with tap water.
Rating: ££
Crawling out of bed on Saturday morning – after a Friday night of one too many gins – the prospect of Chinese food made me want to chunder quicker than Kerry Katona before the filming of her new fitness DVD. However, a boy’s gotta do what a boy’s gotta do, so with images of greasy prawn crackers and fatty duck skin in our heads, Balls and I dragged our sorry asses to China Town in search of cheap eats.
Perusing the menu of Canton we thought we might be on to something: an array of rice and chicken/vegetable/duck/tofu dishes for a fiver.
The décor of the restaurant is unappealing, communal seating is not pulled off in a trendy Wagamama fashion, and the one-roomed eatery feels cramped with too many tables and chairs forced into the limited space. A stony-faced waiter looked unimpressed as we ordered two tap waters and browsed the menu further eventually deciding upon chicken with vegetables and rice (for myself) and duck with vegetables and crispy noodles (for Balls).
£5 to feel repulsed.
Despite the appearance of the interior, the restaurant looked clean – and as the waves of nausea became less frequent I was actually quite looking forward to my dish. The portions are certainly hearty, and the food arrived remarkable quickly – in actual fact we only spent about 45 minutes in Canton overall. My dish was bland and littered with anaemic looking strips of chicken and green shoots reminiscent of miniature celery sticks. It did the job, I was full at the end of it and felt that £5 was more than a reasonable price to pay considering the portion, however it wasn’t particularly enjoyable. Look below if you want to see some nice hands.
bland.com
Fine if you’re looking for a quick cheap bite – but look somewhere else if you’re hoping to impress a date/client/escort. Balls’ meal looked unappetising, but I fear that was more to do with a poor order choice than the general standard of food. Her noodles both managed to look burnt and be soggy and the sauce that covered her duck and medley of veggies (that included broccoli) looked too thick and gelatinous. I’m not sure if it was the ambience, waiting staff, the night before, the company (sorry Balls) or the food, but Canton didn’t leave me feeling satiated. Mediocre.
londonfood4afiver 