Sunday 1 September 2019

BaoziInn London Bridge

London Bridge casual Chinese den


Char siu pork

The first Baozilnn in China Town is somewhat an iconic Chinese restaurant known for its regional Sichuan cuisine. Fast forward to 2019, Baozilnn is now a mini-chain with 5 sites across London. The latest one is located in London Bridge and is the biggest restaurant in the group. Looking at the menu, it doesn't appear to be in the mood of Sichuanese style like its Chine Town counterpart. Instead, the majority of the items on the menu are mostly Cantonese dishes, ranging from wonton to roasted meat. In fact, you would see most dishes in many restaurants back in China Town. So when Baozilnn London Bridge is charging around 30% than the standard cost if I compare to China Town, it better be good.

Vegetable dumplings
Cold chicken and salad in chilli dressing

I ordered the vegetable jiaozi, a Northern Chinese dumpling that poached in a light stock. The seasoning was fine, but perhaps it was cooked a little bit too much as the pastry layer was pretty solid. Up next, it was the prawn wonton, a Southern Chinese dumpling that cooked in a fish stock. Baozilnn's version was poor, the prawn lacked any flavours and I could taste from the stock was saltiness. For the main event, I had the Cantonese roasted duck and it was decent enough, the spice rub and soy sauce mixes were very inviting, it had a great depth of umami taste, the meat was also pretty tender. My problem, it costs 
£23 for 10 pieces of duck, you can get similar quality elsewhere, but for almost a whole duck at that price.


Wonton soup
Roasted duck

I got to say BaoziInn London Bridge is a pretty average place overall, the food is half decent but none of the food I have tasted deserved to be charging such a premium price. Without drink and service, you will be spending about 
£30 just for food, but the quality is more or less similar to most China Town restaurants. I suspect you are paying for the decor as I got to admit it is pretty slick and stylish, just a shame the cooking quality doesn't match that. The service was also pretty weak, while not as bad as some classic Chinese restaurants in London, it was very slow. This is a big issue as it wasn't even busy when I visited it. London is a very competitive market so I wonder BaoziInn London Bridge can do well at all based on what I have experienced.



Food 2/5


Average cost without drinks and services:

£30

34-36 Southwark St, London SE1 1TU


https://baoziinn.com/

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