New Fortune Cookie

Greatest hits reboot

Wonton soup

Proper traditional Chinese dishes are a dying art in London, while there are still many great Chinese restaurants around the capital, many old school dishes are left behind due to labor reasons and are not as popular in the UK vs back in China. Some traditional dishes require days of preparation by a very skilled chef and high-level chefs are hard to come by these days. New Fortune Cookie in Bayswater has been around since 1995, it was shut down for over a year. It had recently reemerged with a revamp along with a website, and what interested me is its chef's menu that contains plenty of old-school dishes, which is not in its standard menu or listed on the website.

Beef and radish clay pot

Garlic chive and prawn paste

For my visit, I selected a few dishes that were all listed on the chef's menu. The deep-fried pork chops marinated in red bean cured had just a hint of sweet soybean flavour but I expected it to be a little stronger, perhaps the chefs don't want it to be too strong as it is an acquired taste. The batter itself was excellent, very thin and the meat was tender. Braised beef brisket with white radish hot pot was a perfect winter dish, with the slow-cooked beef aborted all the wonderful soy and five spices taste. The steamed egg was another well-executed dish, cooked just to the right level as the egg white was really smooth and well seasoned by soy sauce and preserved salted egg, a great dish to serve with rice.

Pork chop marinated in red bean paste

Steamed egg white and salted egg

Bayswater is blessed with so many excellent Chinese restaurants, in fact, I think the overall quality of these places is better (and cheaper) than what you can find in Chinatown. This is my to-go-to place for great value for money Chinese food for sure. For Seafood, Mandarin Kitchen is the place for you. For dim sum and roasted meat, you have the wonderful Gold Mine. Come to New Fortune Cookie for classic Cantonese sharing dishes. You will find some rare dishes on its chef menu, things that you likely won't find in Chinatown. I am already thinking about when to return next.

Food 3/5

What I paid: 
£35 per person with tea

Average cost without drinks and services:
£25

1 Queensway, London W2 4QJ

https://www.nfcrestaurant.co.uk/