ontrary to what you might think Young Cheng Restaurant on Shaftsbury Avenue was not named after the Chinese youth who founded it back in 1993.In fact, it's the Chinese nickname for Guangzhou City. So there is a clue: here you get mainly Cantonese fare.
It is easy to write ecstatic or indignant reviews: words just flow and flow. With Young Cheng neither is the case. The lamb and ginger hot plate and lemon-crusted shrimp we had were... okay, I guess. There was really nothing to tip the balance between good and bad here to the either side. Just one thing: the portions were quite smallish. But then the rice bowl was just big enough to make good for that. The seating was crammed but the service was prompt. For every minor drawback there was a tiny compensation, freezing the overall experience in the twilight limbo of nothingness. Even the bill was neither cheap nor hefty.
All in all, it falls into place with all my impression of London's Chinatown so far that fluctuates somewhere between hideous and utterly forgettable. There might be some great Chinese restaurants there but I am yet to discover them.
And as always, the dinner was saved by delightful company. Rie is a multilingual business culture trainer. For all her stellar education and career, she is a spiritual person. It is so much fun talking to her, switching between languages and topics from reincarnation and pantheism to branding and. Driven and passionate, she's the exact opposite of neither-nor. Next time we will find some place that won't block me for words to describe it.
Young Cheng Restaurant, 76 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6ND Tel: 0871 0759124
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