If you’d said to me a few years ago do I want to go out for dinner and eat an all Vegetarian menu – I’d have politely declined. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, but we’ve been so spoilt with our food offerings here in London that the promise of meat (for those of us who eat it) always seems like we’re missing out if we don’t get our fix during meal times. I visited the Chinese Cricket Club at the plush Crowne Plaza Hotel during National Vegetarian Week and I can now say – I’m completely converted. Full vegetarian and all – almost.
The Chinese Cricket Club is headed up by head chef, Ken Wang who trained back in China for 20 years, subsequently brining his skills here to London – along with some Sichuan spice to the City of London. Part of our incredible (and it really was) vegetarian menu here, were these delectable steamed vegetarian dumplings which surprisingly tasted a lot more meatier in flavour then you’d expect – they had a real depth of flavour which veg can sometimes lack. The dumpling pastry was excellent too, a little thick some people may say but for me it’s just the way I like it.
Fried Buddah’s delight was a dish I had my reservations about, but once it arrived, we knew we were in safe hands. Asparagus, egg tofu and mushrooms make up a very unusual dish which was full of textures. The soft, but firm tofu – meaty aubergine and lashings of crunchy (garlic?) pieces. To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure what I was eating, but either way it was too good to matter and we couldn’t refrain from spooning it all up. Textures continued to surprise us and the sponge like tofu used its sauce soaking skills in this dish of sautéed vegetarian abalone with lettuce wrap. A huge pile of crisp lettuce leaves are on hand to spoon this dish into and created a wrap. A little messy, but well worth every bite. Again there was that meaty depth to the dish – yet not a piece of meat had gone anywhere near these dishes. Singapore pineapple rice was as expected – pineapply, and was the perfect accompaniment to every dish here at the Chinese Cricket Club.
One of the highlights of our meal here was without a doubt this gorgeous yu shang aubergine. It arrived nothing liked we’d expected it too but instead rather modern in its presentation and styling. Chunks of lightly fried aubergine were piled high and doused in a lovely sweet, Sichuan chilli sauce whose heat was mellow, but left a nice tingle in the back of the throat. On comparison our least favourite dish of the evening, but by no means bad – was the stir fried mixed greens with cashew nuts. The whole dish had a rather strange glutinous coating whose texture I just couldn’t quite fall in love with. The vegetables themselves were all perfectly cooked however. Another standout dish was the wok-fried water spinach with garlic sauce – crunchy, juicy, well-seasoned and heavy on the garlic. When it comes to greens, it really doesn’t get much better than this, I could have eaten bowls of the stuff.
We finished our meal here with an exotic fruit platter, which really wasn’t very exotic – but tasty enough. I can’t remember the last time I ate a meal somewhere and left feeling incredibly full, but still feeling healthy. That’s what happens when I subject myself to endless plates of meat I guess. It was a refreshing dining experience visiting the Chinese Cricket Club and eating a full vegetarian meal, which not only had bags of flavour, but everything looked just as great too. You can really taste the passion in the food here and I for one can’t wait to come back and eat my way through the rest of the menu. If you’re looking for quality and authentic Chinese food that won’t break the bank then look no further, because it really doesn’t get much better than this.
8/10
