I am dining again with the ex, one of our biggest mutual appreciations in life is food and restaurants. After some basic internet research of restaurants near SW6 that accept taste London cards (world’s best invention) he proposed China Boulevard. Upon entering this establishment you may be a little surprised to see a tuk tuk and various lanterns leading to a mysterious staircase. This was a Monday night and I had the beginnings of a cold so was starting to wonder what I had let myself in for.
The restaurant itself is pretty vast, with what can only be described as an elaborate Chinese wedding reception perfectly set on the downstairs section. I asked the waitress what this was for and she said it was for Wednesday night’s party! There are several tables upstairs overlooking the wedding reception and also pleasantly, the river Thames. After a large glass of white wine (I have heard alcohol anesthetises the throat) we ordered off an extensive menu of Chinese dishes. I was disturbingly tempted to order the shark fin soup having watching Gordon Ramsey’s documentary but instead went for dim sum/ pork gyoza to start and garlic, soy sauce Dover sole for a main with spicy aubergine on the side. The ex had chicken in a fruity sauce with chow mein noodles. The food was good, I thought my fish was slightly overcooked, but the sauce it was cooked in was very flavoursome.
However, there were a couple of crucial clangers throughout the evening that meant the experience was slightly tainted. Firstly the ex had quite an old taste London card which evidently has a different format to the newer cards- the waitress who refused to crack a single smile throughout the entire duration of the evening basically accused him of trying to scam her and went back and forth photocopying/scanning the sodding card, which became quite tiresome. Secondly, the steel clarinet recorded soundtrack that was prevalent from start to finish only boasted a repertoire of about 6 songs, the fifth time I heard ‘memory’ from the cats soundtrack I was ready to cry (the combination of excess food, wine and my cold medication had left me feeling a bit peaky and sorry for myself).
I liked the setting, the food and the concept. I didn’t like the service, music and thought it was on the pricy side. Without the Taste London card I would have paying off that Dover Sole for the next three months.
1 The Boulevard, Smugglers Way Wandsworth London SW18 1DE UK
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