A visit to Chinatown is always a treat, and even more so when I get to see my gorgeous nephew from the north.  He is a tall, good-looking young man and he carried my shopping for me!  There are ‘Chinatowns’ in most major cities across the world but the one we went to was in Gerrard Street in London.  We wandered around, chose a restaurant to eat in – The Royal Dragon, (thanks to trip advisor for the reviews) confusingly for me next to the Golden Dragon, and did a bit of shopping. 

When you live in a more rural area then a trip to the big city is always exciting and I happily spent time wandering around the Loon Fung Supermarket picking up bottles and jars that I normally have to order on the internet.  Now I am ready for a chinese cooking session but what to cook?  I shall spend some happy hours flicking through my cookery books.  Ken Hom is obviously the master but Ching He Huang has some lovely modern recipes, however I also have my first ever chinese cookery book, given to me when I was about 16, which isn’t by anyone famous but has loads of delicious tried and tested (by me) recipes.  Not sure what I’m going to do with the Japanese Panko breadcrumbs yet but I’ve wanted to try them for ages.

At the Royal Dragon we ordered the Peking set menu.  I don’t think it was because it was the first thing my sister-in-law saw on the menu….  The staff were very patient whilst we waited for my husband to arrive; so many of the reviews about all the restaurants said about being hurried.  There was an initial flurry of ‘can we take your order?’  But once they realised we were waiting they didn’t hurry us.  The selection was good, the food cooked well and the proportions about right.  So definitely a restaurant our little group would recommend.