East Meets West

Quick glance:
+ wholesome Szechuan and Beijing flavours
+ passionate «host»
+ good for parties
+ karaōke wall
— priced on the higher end
Full review:
After visiting Wing Yip supermarket next door, my other half and I popped in for a quick dinner one evening. Going to East Meets West is like walking into a homestay. We were greeted by the owner with a kind smile and warm welcome. He was very helpful in recommending and explaining the dishes on the menu, and the other staff, who were most likely family members, were kind and attentive.
The restaurant isn’t very big, but the tables are modular so they can accommodate parties of various sizes. In fact, on the evening that we were there, there was a birthday celebration of about 12 – 15 people in one corner with tables arranged in a square (rather than long and thin rectangular, if that makes sense) so everyone can see each other. Parties do share the same floorspace as all other patrons, but if you don’t need privacy for whatever you’re celebrating, it’s a great venue. There’s even a karaōke wall on one end, which was playing a selection of Chinese and English songs in the background as we dined.
Prices are a little bit high. For a starter, two mains, a special fried rice, two bottles of beer and a tea, the bill came to £50 for our dinner, but this included a seafood starter and seafood main. It is worth paying a few extra pennies for tasty food.

Heard about this place from a friend that loved the food and we have to agree the food is very good, especially as Szechuan food is hard to find in this part of London.
It is located at the back of the ground floor in the business centre, where there was previously a Japanese fusion place. It was totally empty while we were there, being Hollowe’en I guess people had other things to do. This did give us a chance to talk to the owner about the place the food. He can speak Chinese and good English.
The name is a bit misleading, this new restaurant is not fusion. It is north east Chinese food, so that means lamb is on the menu and also lots of Szechuan pepper and spices you don’t usually see in Chinese food such as cumin.
We had seasonal vegetables with garlic, Chongqing Chicken, tofu and seafood and three types of bbq — pork, lamb and chicken wings. All very good.
The vegetables were lovely (£6.50) with plenty of garlic, nice and crunchy stems with light oil. The bbq pork and lamb (£1 each) were flavoured with cumin and chili. Now my wife usually won’t touch lamb (she is from Taiwan) but she took a bit and enjoyed it. The chicken wings (70p for 3 wings) were nice and juicy, certainly nothing wrong with them but nothing wild or exciting either, just good solid food and a great price.
The tofu and seafood (£8) came in a bowl and was made with very soft tofu, almost like pudding tofu, lightly fried it seems. Seafood was squid, mussels, prawns and baby octopus. This wasn’t spicy at all, although we did ask for some fresh chili to be added.
The Chongqing chicken (£7.50) was made of fried bite size bits of chicken on the bone in chili and Szechaun pepper. It was spicy and very nice.
Overall and lovely meal and we are sure to be back.
Total bill for 2 was £35 inc. rice, tea and 10% service charge (cash only).