The Good Earth, Wandsworth Common and other stories
Apologies for the long absence but I have returned to work and don’t have so much free time on my hands. It doesn’t mean to say I haven’t been out there eating and assessing. This week I was out for a walk and noticed that a branch of the Good Earth Chinese restaurant on Bellevue Rd, Wandsworth Common had opened. I seem to remember the original one got rave reviews.
The restaurant is quite long and narrow with crisp, white table cloths and napkins, stylish wine glasses and smart looking staff. We decided to order some starters and have a tapas type meal – fried soft shell crab, pork dumplings, lamb wrapped in lettuce leaves, a quarter duck with pancakes and some choi sum with garlic and chilli to provide a contribution to our 5 a day.
The food came pretty quickly and looked really good – well presented but was woefully under seasoned. The softshell crab was lovely and crispy, not greasy but the fried garlic and chilli sprinkled on top had no bite or spice. The lamb was very ‘lamby’ which would make me suspect it was at least hoggit if not mutton, had no seasoning or added flavour. It came with a tasteless dark yellow goo and ice berg lettuce leaves so pretty disappointing. The same could be said for the choi sum – no spice or taste in the garlic and chilli and expensive – almost £10 for a vegetable side dish. The duck was fine but nothing special. We had one bottle of sparkling water then tap and the bill with tip was almost £80 – pretty pricey and for pretty poor food.
I was lucky enough to be invited for drinks and dinner at the Institute of Directors this week.
I had lamb chops which were cooked perfectly to my request, well seasoned and beautifully tender and flavoursome. They came with a healthy portion of pretty good chips. The setting is rather grand and the service is very attentive however the 2 wines we tried were both very disappointing. In fact the kitchen was about to close when we asked if we could eat and they stayed on to cook our meal which was pretty impressive. There is a selection of wines by the caraf and we started with some Chablis – the strangest one I’ve ever had and my dinner partner agreed. I would expect Chablis to be light and crisp; this had more body and was dry but cloying somehow – a pinot gris perhaps? We tried a caraf of Cote de Rhone for our main course which was of little substance or fruit. If I am lucky enough to be invited to the IoD again I’ll be going for a bottle so I can see what I’m getting to drink. I suspect the chablis wasn’t. Food a definite thumbs up but jury out on the wines.
epicuriousengineer 