Four Seasons (London Chinatown)

"Come on Jon, decide where to eat," I grumbled. I get grumpy when I'm hungry. A full day of classes meant I hadn't had anything to eat all day. Jon listed out nearly every restaurant in Chinatown before settling on Four Seasons. I've already eaten there once, but I never say no to Chinese food. Especially since self-catering at uni means poor eating, at least for someone of my culinary skills. I'm great at eating, but I can't cook to save my life.

Anyways, they seated our party of three downstairs in the corner, where the ceiling is so low they had to post a sign that says "Mind Your Head." Fortunately for them, I'm only 5'0''. You know that Four Seasons is one of the more authentic Chinese restaurants situated in the heart of London Chinatown--they have an adequate number of Chinese locals dining there. I'm always wary of the restaurants that have a lot of touristy customers; I don't mean to be discriminatory, but it's a fairly accurate rule of thumb.

My Cantonese is barely good enough to order food, but it limits me to what I can remember how to pronounce. I assume that the non-Chinese customers were able to order in English, so I guess language really shouldn't be an issue. But since Jon is fluent in Chinese, he did all the ordering for us. We originally ordered four dishes, but somehow, the spare ribs failed to materialize. The other three dishes were ma po tofu, garlic ong choy, and 3 meat combination dish.

First, the ong choy. I thought this dish was really nice. It wasn't available at the last Chinese restaurant we ate at, so it was a real treat to be able to order it here. I don't like eating any kind of choy if it feels wilted or if it's too bland. Jon mentioned that some places make it too salty, but the ong choy was just the right amount of crunchy and garlic.

The second dish was the 3 combination meat dish--duck, pork belly*, and char siu. I don't understand why restaurants in London list it as "belly pork". It just doesn't make sense to me. From what I've read online, Four Seasons is supposed to be famous for their duck. Jon complained that the duck and char siu tasted dry because they weren't fresh. They tried to make the meat moist by covering it with sauce. That made it too sweet for my taste, but it was still edible. Everything tastes all right when you're hungry like I was.

Our last dish was the ma po tofu. I've seen this dish in many forms. My favorite is the red hot Taiwanese version. The ma po tofu at Four Seasons was a more meaty dish. The tofu was really smooth, the sauce had a nice kick (though not as spicy as I usually like), and overall, I thought it was very flavorful. Ma po tofu can sometimes be too heavy, but I liked the consistency of this dish. I definitely had multiple helpings.

All three dishes, along with tea and white rice, came out to about 35 GBP. For those visiting London, eating out is generally quite expensive, Chinese food in particular. It was a bit pricey, even splitting the tab three ways, but not wholly unreasonable. I have my own opinions about the state of customer service in England, but the waiters were efficient (if not friendly) and I appreciated that they didn't rush us out after all of our fellow customers had gone. In the end, I was pretty content and very full. Review by Lynnette

*Note: I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but pork belly has both fat and meat, and the skin is salty and crunchy. It's been described to me as deep fried pork skin...

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 starfishes

- 2/3 good dishes

- a little more expensive than I like
- decent service


Four Seasons Restaurant
12 Gerrard Street
China Town, London W1D 5PR
+44 20 74940870